Cold (band)

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Cold is a hard rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, USA. With the release of its self-titled debut, Cold, in 1998, the band quickly became known for its angsty lyrics and the singer's distinctive voice. On February 27, 2006 the group supposedly disbanded. Very recently it was revealed that the band has decided not to disband.

1 History
2 Discography
- 2.1 Albums
- 2.2 Singles
3 Line-up
- 3.1 Final Members
- 3.2 Previous members
4 External links

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History

The band was initially formed in 1986 by Scooter Ward and Sam McCandless under the name Grundig, with bassist Jeremy Marshall and guitarist Matt Loughran. The band, initially based in Jacksonville, moved to Atlanta hoping to get a break in the industry while Matt Loughran left the band and was replaced by Sean Lay. They all returned to Florida with Kelly Hayes and Sean Lay.

Following Cold's progress in the Jacksonville scene was local Fred Durst. Impressed by what he had heard, he invited Ward to lay down two acoustic tracks, "Check Please" and "Ugly". The two demos recorded were passed on to producer Ross Robinson, who was also impressed by what he had heard, leading Cold to record their eponymous release. Released in 1998, Cold was a minor success under Fred Durst's A&M Records, which was later taken over by Geffen Records. Following the underground success of Cold, Geffen financed their sophomore effort 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage, often considered their best work, with the addition of local guitarist Terry Balsamo to play alongside Kelly Hayes. 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage was released in the fall of 2000 and outperformed Cold, proving that the band could compete with the biggest names in the music industry inside and outside the mainstream. The singles "Just Got Wicked", "End of the World", "No One" and "Bleed" were released in support of the album. 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage propelled Cold forward and Geffen once again financed their third release Year of the Spider, released in mid-2003.

Year of the Spider achieved commercial success that Cold or 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage never attained, releasing the singles "Stupid Girl" (co-written with Rivers Cuomo of Weezer) and "Suffocate". The album received large amounts of radio play throughout the United States and Canada but all three albums failed to make any major impact in other regions. Still, Year of the Spider shocked the music world by debuting at number three on the Billboard 200 with over 101,000 copies sold in its first week. Following the release of "Suffocate" to radio stations, plans were set-forth for a video to accompany the song. However, for reasons uknown, Geffen refused to promote the album any further. The stalemate led to frustrations within the band, and in late 2003 Terry Balsamo departed, replacing Ben Moody in Evanescence who was replaced by ex-Darwin's Waiting Room axe-man Eddie Randini. By spring-2004, Kelly Hayes' frustrations caused him to leave the band and joined Allele, replaced by ex-Grundig member Matt Loughran.

A short feud between Ward and Evanescence's Amy Lee began following Balsamo's departure. Lee leaked to fans that Cold would probably break up, and it would be due to Ward's drug habits. Ward had kept his personal demons relatively secret and felt heavily violated by Lee's comments -- both about the band and himself. He admitted to fans that he had been in rehab over the past few months for a heroin addiction, that he was deeply hurt that Lee would leak information she had been entrusted to, and that Cold would go on without Balsamo. Lee personally went on to Cold's Official Message Board and apologized to the fans, Cold, and Ward for her comments.

Hayes cited "not feeling the music" as his main justification for leaving the band, looking to keep fresh and play new music, despite Ward's earlier comments saying Hayes wanted a break from the music scene. A week after Kelly Hayes' departure, he officially confirmed his position as the guitarist in Jacksonville's modern rock outfit (Allele), a move that had been in the works from the time Terry Balsamo left the band. The departure of both Balsamo and Hayes left Cold's fate hanging by a thread, as the band made efforts to release another single, "Wasted Years", from Year of the Spider. However, Geffen stayed true to their earlier promise by not financing Year of the Spider further, or promoting it, and in mid-2004 the band asked to be dropped from the label.

By September 2004 the band was picked up by Atlantic Records and both new guitarists set about recording the new album, tenatively titled And a Sad Song Lives On. Produced by Elvis Baskette and slated to be released in December 2004, Cold suffered another blow with the loss of their third guitarist in almost a year; Eddie Rendini was fired from the band for undisclosed reasons. The new album was scheduled be released in spring 2005. Before releasing the album, Cold went back in the studio to record several more tracks. The album was originally to be titled And A Sad Song Lives On but was later changed to The Calm That Killed The Storm, and the suspected release date was moved to September 13, 2005. In June 2005 the band's official website noted yet another change to the new album's title, changing it to A Different Kind of Pain. "Happens All the Time" was the first single and video released, which made a decent impact on Rock radio, as the record debuted at number twenty-six on the charts with more than 36,000 copies sold. This was seen by many as a disappointment, since the new record hadn't achieved half of the first-week sales of their previous record. The title track was released to radio as a single but Atlantic did not fund another video. The majority of A Different Kind of Pain was written in Ward's sister's bedroom. His sister has had a long battle with cancer, and is said to have been the root of the subject matter on the album.

Cold also performed live in the film 18. Their scenes were filmed in early 2000, but the film has not yet been released. The film was directed by Brandon Fowler.

On February 27, 2006 Ward left a message on Cold's official message board saying the band has "bowed out gracefully" and has disbanded. After they finished their headlining tour the band stated they hadn't heard from their record label at all and figured it was over. Although Cold has ended, Ward said that he and McCandless are working on new music and "will continue to make music until the day they die." Also, a long overdue DVD is now in the works according to Ward, who is compiling footage captured throughout the years of Cold's existence [1]. As a parting gift, three unreleased tracks were posted on the Internet: A demo version and a Fred Durst produced version of "Sting Me", an old song that was never released, and "The Monster's Gone", a B-side from the Different Kind of Pain sessions. A piano version of "Wasted Years" was also released for free download on the band's MySpace page.

On their MySpace page, Ward anounced that he and McCandless have started a project called "The Witch".

Very recently, Ward's MySpace account was hacked by an imposter. Ward appologised for any comments the imposter made and announced that Cold isn't going to disband.

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Discography

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Albums

Album Cover	Date of Release	Title	Label	US Billboard Peak	US Sales
Image:Cold - Cold.jpg	June 2, 1998	Cold	A&M Records	_	_
Image:Cold - Oddity EP.jpg	1998	Oddity EP	Flip Records	_	_
Image:Cold - 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage.jpg	September 12, 2000	13 Ways to Bleed on Stage	Geffen Records	#98 (Top 200) #1 (Heatseekers)	Certified Gold (500,000 copies sold)
Image:Cold Year of the Spider.jpg	May 13, 2003	Year of the Spider	Geffen Records	#3 (Top 200)	Certified Gold (500,000 copies sold)
Image:Cold - A Different Kind Of Pain.JPG	August 30, 2005	A Different Kind of Pain	Lava Records	#26 (Top 200)	_

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Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions			Album
Year	Title	US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Mainstream Rock	Album
2000	"Just Got Wicked"	-	-	#25	13 Ways to Bleed on Stage
2001	"End of the World"	-	-	#24	13 Ways to Bleed on Stage
2001	"No One"	-	#13	#17	13 Ways to Bleed on Stage
2001	"Bleed" *	-	-	-	13 Ways to Bleed on Stage
2003	"Stupid Girl"	#87	#6	#4	Year of the Spider
2003	"Suffocate"	-	#21	#17	Year of the Spider
2005	"Happens All the Time"	-	#29	#21	A Different Kind of Pain
2005	"A Different Kind of Pain"	-	#38	#35	A Different Kind of Pain