Cold
Oct 24, 2011
Cold, who at the time were called Grundig, formed in 1996 with the line-up of Scooter Ward (vocals, guitar), Sam McCandless (drums), Jeremy Marshall (bass) and Matt Loughran (guitar). The band, initially based in Jacksonville, moved to Atlanta hoping to get a break in the industry. During this time, Matt Loughran left the band and was replaced by Sean Lay, who also left the group. Kelly Hayes then joined the band, and they all later returned to Florida.
Following Cold's progress in the Jacksonville scene was local Fred Durst. Impressed by what he had heard, he invited Ward to record two acoustic tracks, "Check Please" and "Ugly." The two demos were passed on to producer Ross Robinson, who was also impressed by what he had heard, leading the recently renamed Cold to record their debut album titled Cold, which was released in 1998. The record was a minor success under A&M Records - now an imprint label under Interscope Records.
That same year, the band released the Oddity EP. Its cover photo, taken by the wife of McCandless, depicts their pet tarantula named Wednesday, crawling on the face of her doll. The band sought a signature element that fans could remember them by, and Wednesday served as the inspiration; McCandless gave a particularly favorable image of a spider to a friend and tattoo artist who transformed it into what would become Cold's official logo.
Following the underground success of Cold, Geffen financed their second album titled 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage, which was released in 2000. 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage proved to be Cold's breakthrough album with successful singles in "End of the World" and "No One" frequently played on hard rock radio. "Just Got Wicked" was also a surprise hit, being featured in the soundtrack to the game Jet Grind Radio, and helped add to their fan-base. Year of the Spider, which was released in 2003 has been to date the band's most commercially successful album, debuting at #3 on the Billboard Album charts, with over 101,000 copies of the album sold in its first week of release. The album's first single, "Stupid Girl," has been the only Cold single to crack the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #87. Following the release of the album's second single "Suffocate" to radio stations, plans were set-forth for a video to accompany the song. However, a music video was not made due to Geffen not giving approval. The stalemate with the label led to frustrations within the band, and in early 2004 Terry Balsamo departed, replacing Ben Moody in Evanescence. Balsamo was later replaced by ex-Darwin's Waiting Room guitarist Eddie Randini.
By September 2004, the band had added former member Matt Loughran and was signed by Atlantic Records, where they set about recording a new album. The album was to be produced by Elvis Baskette and slated to be released in December 2004. However, Cold suffered another blow with Eddie Rendini leaving the band. The new album was scheduled to be released in spring of 2005. Before releasing the album, Cold went back in the studio to record several more tracks. The album titled The Calm that Killed the Storm, was released on 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. The album debuted at #26 on the Billboard Albums charts, with more than 36,000 copies sold. The title track was released as the second single, but Atlantic did not fund another video. The majority of A Different Kind of Pain was written in Ward's sister's bedroom while she had a long battle with cancer, and is said to have been the root of the subject matter on the album. Other subjects include the end of his relationship to his fiance/mother of his daughter, and the physical abuse of a 14-year-old girl by her own father, and also had an alcoholic mother (a theme echoed from each of the three previous albums). The album has sold over 160,000 copies in the US.
On November 17, 2006, a MySpace post announced that Cold had decided to disband permanently. In January 2009 Cold officially announced the first dates of its reunion tour on the band's MySpace page. On July 19th the band officially released their reunion album, SuperFiction, after pushing the date back several times. Their first official single from the album "Wicked World," is impacting Rock Radio now.
