Soil, often typeset as SOiL, is an American hard rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1997. The band currently comprises vocalist A. J. Cavalier, guitarist and backing vocalist Adam Zadel, bassist Tim King and drummer Tom Schofield. The band's members are closely linked with the bands Broken Hope, Drowning Pool and Oppressor.

Soil's success came in 2001 when Pat Lynch of Orlando rock radio station WJRR, played the demo of "Halo" in heavy rotation. A major label bidding war erupted, the band chose J Records (a division of RCA Records). Music industry legend Clive Davis, responsible for signing such acts as Pink Floyd and Bruce Springsteen, signed the band, and stated that "you're gonna be my only rock band for now. You're going to be a priority, and I want to break this band".

History

Soil was originally formed in 1997 by members of death metal acts Broken Hope and Oppressor as a side project to their other band. Soil's first three releases, Soil (EP), El Chupacabra (EP) and their debut album Throttle Junkies, failed to break the band into the mainstream. It was around this time that all the members of Soil left their other bands to focus on Soil as their main project.

The original lineup of the band was Ryan McCombs (vocals) (currently of Drowning Pool) Shaun Glass (guitar) (currently of the band Dirge), Tom Schofield, Tim King, and Adam Zadel. Mccombs left in 2004 after the band departed from their label (J Records), to be with his family and later join Drowning Pool , and Shaun in 2007,citing musical differences and to focus on his new band, Dirge. Mccombs was replaced with vocalist AJ Cavalier, also of Diesel Machine.

The band experienced their highest success with their 2001 release Scars. Their success was helped by singles such as "Halo" and "Unreal".

In 2004, the band parted company with J Records after disapointing album sales of their second major album Redefine. Shortly after, vocalist Ryan McCombs announced his departure from the group. New York-based vocalist AJ Cavalier was introduced on November 15, 2005 as McCombs' replacement.

On July 20, 2005, McCombs was confirmed to be the new singer for Drowning Pool.

On September 21, 2005, Soil signed with New York-based independent label DRT Entertainment. Their album True Self was released on May 2, 2006. The album leaked onto P2P and BitTorrent sites on March 4, almost 2 months before its official release.

On October 20, 2009 the new Record "Picture Perfect" was released via Bieler Bros Records worldwide, except for The UK and Europe in which it was released by AFM Records. Picture Perfect was created by the all star production team of Grammy nominated producer Johnny K (Disturbed, Staind), Ulrich Wild (Deftones, Incubus) and Soil, with Dave Fortman (Mudvayne, Evanescence) handling mixing duties. The new Single "Like it is" is available on Myspace.

Band members

Current members

• A. J. Cavalier – vocals (2005–present)
• Adam Zadel – guitar, backing vocals (1997–present)
• Tim King – bass (1997–present)
• Tom Schofield – drums (1997–present)

Former members

• Ryan McCombs – vocals (1997–2004)
• Shaun Glass – guitar (1997–2007)

Discography

Studio albums

• Throttle Junkies (1999)
• Scars (2001)
• Redefine (2004)
• True Self (2006)
• Picture Perfect (2009)

Extended plays

• Soil (1997)
• El Chupacabra! (1998)

References

1. Soil | interviews | musicOMH.com

External links

• Official Soil Website