Cold was 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.
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 as Matt Loughran left the band replaced with Sean Lay. They all returned back 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 Scooter Ward to lay down two acoustic tracks, "Check Please" and "Ugly". The two demos recorded were to be 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 Cold's sophomore effort 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage, often considered their best, with addition of local guitarist Terry Balsamo to play alongside Kelly Hayes. 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage released in fall 2000 out did Cold, proving that Cold could compete with the biggest names in the music industry inside and outside of the mainstream, releasing singles "Just Got Wicked", "End of the World", "No One" and "Bleed". 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 reached a commercial success that Cold or 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage could never attain, releasing singles "Stupid Girl" (co-written with Rivers Cuomo of Weezer) and "Suffocate", receiving large amounts of radio play throughout the USA 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 #3 on the Billboard 200 with over 101,000 copies sold in the first week. The song "Remedy" was the official theme song of WWE's Backlash pay-per-view event in April 2003. 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 between the two led to frustrations within the band, and in late 2003 Terry Balsamo departed, replacing Ben Moody in Evanescence, replaced by ex- Darwin's Waiting Room axe-man Eddie Randini, and by spring- 2004, Kelly Hayes' frustrations got the better of him and left for local band Allele, replaced by ex- Grundig member Matt Loughran.
