Crossfade

Crossfade is a post-grunge and alternative metal band with nu-metal influences known for blending heavy riffage, emotional lyrics, and earworm hooks into a raw yet radio-friendly sound. Hailing from Columbia, South Carolina, the band achieved platinum status with the release of their 2004 eponymous debut, which featured the modern rock radio hit "Cold." The band issued two more studio albums, Falling Away (2006) and We All Bleed (2011), before going on hiatus in 2012. Crossfade reunited in 2024, marking their first live performances in over a decade.

Crossfade came together in the late '90s with the merging of singer/guitarist Ed Sloan with bassist/backup singer Mitch James and drummer Brian Geiger as the power trio the Nothing. Sloan, a Columbia native, had begun taking piano lessons at eight and been attracted to grunge and heavy metal music, joining his first band, Darkchilde, in the eighth grade. By the time he began attending the University of South Carolina and majoring in computer science, however, he was looking for new musicians to play with. Geiger, also a native of Columbia, had played drums since his childhood and was a member of another local band, Celestian Slant. For James, who took up the bass after becoming enamored of the instrument at a David Lee Roth concert, the Nothing was his first band. The group added singer and club DJ Tony Byroads, who had grown up in Buffalo, NY, playing in a band called Final Wave in high school, then moved to Columbia after graduation.

The resulting quartet renamed itself Sugardaddy Superstar. While building up a local following, the band recorded in its own Sugarstar Studio. It first gained recognition beyond its region when it attracted the interest of the Los Angeles A&R company Taxi and Los Angeles promoter Chris Long (who took over as manager), leading to an L.A. showcase in March 2002. That, in turn, led to a signing to the Earshot subsidiary of Columbia Records early the next year. The band then retooled its self-released album, Cold, under the auspices of mixer/engineer Randy Staub and renamed itself Crossfade. The revised album was released by Columbia as Crossfade in April 2004; the same year James Branham replaced Geiger behind the drum kit. Its first single, "Cold," did extremely well on modern rock radio (spending a staggering 65 weeks on the Active Rock chart) and, by August 2005, the album was certified platinum. By that time, the group was back to being a trio after the departure of a newly married Byroads. They continued touring in support of the record, including several overseas gigs the following spring for active personnel at various military bases. "Invincible" hit the airwaves in June 2006 to usher in the release of Crossfade's follow-up effort, Falling Away, released in late August. The LP spawned two more singles, "Drown You Out" and "Already Gone," but failed to move as many units as its predecessor, leading Columbia to part ways with the band.

A five-year gap that saw a move to Eleven Seven, the departure of drummer James Branham, and the addition of guitarist and keyboardist Les Hall preceded the release of 2008's assured We All Bleed, which adopted a darker tone and a more introspective lyrical approach. Upon returning home from touring in support of the effort, a faulty heater resulted in the band's home studio burning down, destroying decades of recordings, along with equipment and personal items. While they never officially disbanded, Crossfade went on an indefinite hiatus, returning to the stage in 2024 with a lineup consisting of Sloan, James, Hall, and drummer Paul Williams. ~ William Ruhlmann & James Christopher Monger