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Show | Crossfade to black Members of oft-challenged rock bandfinally cash in, quit day jobs Alan Sculley rossfade bassist Mitch James admits he's eager to write and record the group's next record — senti- Seether, with Crossfade and mentthat makesperfect sense consideringit’s been three yearssince the bandessentially When: Sundayat 7:30 p.m. Where:UtahState Fairpark, 155 N. 1000 West,Salt Lake City Tickets: $24 advance, $29 day of show,available at Smith's Tix finishedits first CD. But then, exercising patience aw is something James and his bandmates, singer/guitarist Ed Sloan and drummer James Branham,havehad to do more than oncein their career. Afterall, Crossfade's history extends back to the early 1990s, and the band went through several names and musicalstyles before things started to fall together musically and professionally around locations (800-888-TIXX, www. smithstix.com) Info: (801) 538-8440, www.utah-state-fair.com in Columbia,S.C., in the early 1990s in a bandcalled The Nothing, which also included drummer Brian Geiger. 2001. Thenafter the band had been The Nothing, which had a heavy Metallica-influenced signed to Columbia Records in early 2003, the debut CD wentinto limbo, and Crossfade — whichis appearing Sunday at the Utah State Fair, opening sound,eventually morphed into anew group called Sugardaddy Superstar. Just before the group assumedits new identity, a club for Seether — hadtowait out D.J., Tony Byroads, joined a 16-month period before the thelineup, andhis use of sam- record wasfinally released. pling and turntable scratching “They were probably some broughta newelementtothe of the darkest days of our lives, knowing that weweresigned sound, which had alreadystarted to move awayfrom metal James said in a recent phone interview. “Everytime we'd get excited and get prepared to get readytogo out onthe road something else would postpone aboutfive years agoin signing on with Ta Los Angelesbased company that helps toa majorlabel and we were still working ourday jobs, it into moreofa straightforward hard rock direction. The group made a key move bands develop their sound and their songs. Jamessaid the “Wehad no ideafrom one dayto the next if we would get dropped before we ever got the people at Taxi helped the group chance,” hesaid. sound. workedout well for Crossfade since the CD wasreleased. The lead single, “Cold,” became a “They're not afraid to tell you if your songs suck,” James said. “They're very brutally honest about your songs.” Of course, things have majorhit on rock radio, and, learn to write songs that had a moreaccessible, radio-friendly Taxi’s personnel obviously in fact, ended 2004 as the most liked what they heard in Sug- radio. A ardaddy Superstar, because in 2001 the group wasone ofonly three Taxi acts invited to play played song on activerock ondsingle, “So Far becamea topfive rock radiohit, and a newsingle, “Colors,” has reached the top 10 on“Billboard” magazine's mainstream rock chart. Staub. ThenCrossfade waited for the releaseofthe CD. Andwaited. buzz within the music industry, andafter the bandfinished Records, whose A&R executive, Doug Ford,then arranged & tobe apart oflife for James andSloanas theytried to get a break in the music business. The two first got together already recorded anddid little remixing with engineer Randy That show helped build a luckyand privileged to be do- latest single. “Wefeel very (“So Far Away"and “The Unknown”)to gowith the eight Rally” music convention. eight songs that would eventually be on the “Crossfade” CD, the group wassignedbyF ing this fora living.” Fora long time, day jobs had Crossfade Crossfade are James Branham, drums; Ed Sloan: lead vocals/guitar andMitchJames: bass /backing vocals. The group1s at the Utah State Fairpark onSunday with Seether and Dark New Day. the company’s annual“Road “We're justthrilled thatit's doing so well,” hesaid of the 5 Daily Herald, Thursday, September 8, 2005 Dark New Day to have the groupsigned to Columbia Records. After signing, the band changedits nameto Crossfade, recorded two additional songs Andwaitedstill longer. By thetime the “Crossfade” CDwasreleasedin early 2004, Geiger had decidedto leave the band and wasreplaced by James Branham. But once “Crossfade”arrived in stores and the song “Cold” wasreleasedto radio, things started happeningfast as the song scaled the rock radio charts. The success of “Cold” makes sense. The song's sturdyguitar rock sound, punctuated by a surprisingly graceful vocal melody and open-heartedlyrics that find Sloan apologizing to anex-girlfriendfor his uncar- ing ways, isn’t far removed from the sound of popular mainstream rock bands suchas 3 Doors Downand Nickelback “Colors” and “Starless.” While things have been going swimmingly for Crossfade mostofthe time, the band did encountera setback in June when Byroadsleft the group. “I think hedidn't feel as mucha part of the band as the rest of us did,” Jamessaid of Byroads. Jamessaid Crossfade has not made anyplansto replace Byroadsand are touring as a Therest of the “Crossfade” CD mostly follows a similar stylistic blueprint, as heavyguitars are leavened by melodic vocals guitar-bass-drumstrio. “We're on rockerslike “So Far Away,” transitionto get back to that.” fine as a three-piece,”he said. “That's how westarted, as a three-piece, soit wasn't a big |
