Pepsi Smash Interview

In an interview for Pepsi Smash, Scooter Ward and Sam McCandless describe their
first encounter. Scooter remembers back, "Me and Sam were in junior
high together and he lived only a block or two away from me." Sam responds,
"I came up to you at your locker and was like 'Hey, I heard you played guitar.
You wanna jam?’” The two went on to high school at Fletcher High School
in Jacksonville, Florida where they went on to meet their future bass player,
Jeremy Marshall. The new band started in 1986 under the name Grundig after
picking up Matt Loughran as the band's guitarist. After playing some
gigs in Jacksonville decided to move to Atlanta once they turned 21. The
quartet lived with Jeremy's father while trying to make it in the music business
in Atlanta. Matt ended up leaving the band and Sean Lay (now current guitarist
of the Atlanta-based band Eden) replaced Matt. The band desperately
tried to find their niche in the music scene and releasing two EPs (Into Everything
& Live at Furies), but as Scooter describes in an interview with WRCX,
"Atlanta was more into the college scene and that was something they weren't a
part of." Sean, wanting to expand his songwriting skills and abilities,
leaves Grundig. With an empty slot, the band searches for a new guitarist.
In the process of finding a replacement, the band goes out to a
local strip joint with a prospective replacement. Once they went to the bar,
they instantly knew this was their guy since he knew everyone there. This guy,
Kelly Hayes, would become COLD's current lead guitarist. Kelly Hayes
grew up in Lithonia, GA as told in an interview with Atlanta-based radio
station 99x. After being fed up with the music scene in Atlanta, the
band moved back home to Jacksonville in 1996. The guys held jobs in
Jacksonville while their music took off. Scooter worked at a golf course,
Terry was an electrician, and Sam, Jeremy, and Kelly worked at the Jolly
Fisherman. With the band almost calling it quits, Scooter Ward lays
down a few tracks ("Check Please" & "Ugly") at Fred Durst's house and is given
to Ross Robinson. Once Ross Robinson hears the demo, he is
instantly intrigued and demands that he produces their first CD. Scooter calls
Jeremy and Kelly back to record their first CD along with Sam. Fred Durst gets
COLD signed to A&M Records and the first CD, COLD, is
recorded and released on June 2nd, 1998. A few months later, A&M defunct to
Geffen Records. Geffen wants COLD to make a new record. The band decides
that Scooter needs to be freed from his guitar so he can concentrate more on
singing and interacting with the fans. The band tried out many guitarists, but
decided to go with a hometown friend, Terry Balsamo. Terry Balsamo once
played for a short bit with Limp Bizkit before they became popular. With
Terry's help, COLD releases 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage on September 12th,
2000 and Year of the Spider on May 13th, 2003. In the fall of 2003,
COLD goes on tour with Evanescence on the Nintendo Fusion Tour. After this
North American tour, Evanescence goes to Europe where their guitarist,
Ben Moody, abruptly leaves the band. Terry becomes a permanent member of
the band, leaving an empty spot in COLD. Looking for a replacement, COLD
finds Eddie Rendini of Darwin's Waiting Room to fill the spot. Five days
before the next tour wih Sevendust, COLD part ways with Kelly Hayes and have
Matt Loughran fill in the spot.