Crossbreed

Crossbreed is a six member industrial metal band from Clearwater, Florida, formed in 1996. They were signed with Artemis Records before being dropped from the label in 2003.

History

Early years

Crossbreed was formed in 1996 as a four-man band consisting of James Rietz, Chris Nemzek, Charlie Parker & Travis Simpkins. A year later they added keyboardist Jason Troph who left in 1998 to front the Orlando-based band Irrational. He was replaced by Phil "Flip" Marquardt. Their self-produced album .01 was released in 1998 with only 1000 copies made. In 1999, Dan "DJ" Izzo (then under the monicker "D.J. Balistick") joined the band as their DJ/2nd Keyboardist. It was at this time that he began developing their stage show using black lights and glow paint, which helped bring the band to the attention of the music industry.

2000-2005

On April 29, 2000 Crossbreed played Tampa's 98Rock's radio festival, Livestock, where they met the girls from the band Kittie. They gave them a copy of their 3-Track demo, which found its way to the A & R Rep for Kittie's label Artemis. Crossbreed were signed to Artemis by the end of the year and their debut album, Synthetic Division was released nationally on May 8, 2001. Their first single Underlined debuted on MTV2 & MTVX. The video for that song was nominated for a Billboard Award. In the summer of 2001 they toured the U.S. and Canada with the German band Rammstein and did a short run with Static-X. Synthetic Division has sold to date a total of over 50,000 copies. In what would be a sign for the future, bassist Charlie Parker left the band after a show on April 20, 2002. Crossbreed then parted ways with their label in 2003 and after a show with Orgy on May 2, 2004, bassist Bishop, keyboardist "Flip", and drummer Simpkins left the band as well. Later that year, Izzo would also leave the band. James Rietz & Chris Nemzek chose to continue and re-form the band with new members.

2005 - Present

With a new line-up and manager (Bill Aucoin, former manager of KISS), Crossbreed spent their time writing new material and doing shows in Florida, including opening for Orgy, Mushroomhead, and Mindless Self Indulgence. On July 25, 2005 they released their self-produced EP New Slave Nation and toured the Midwest with Mushroomhead and Dope on the "Music for Freedom" Tour. The following spring, they went out with Nothingface and Silent Civilian for a brief time before dropping off the tour due to conflict. Since that time they have toured again with Mushroomhead as well as alone throughout the Eastern U.S. and several other countries.

As of May 14, 2008, it was noted on Subkulture's Myspace Blog that Kem Secksdiin is co-writing and performing numerous songs on the upcoming Crossbreed album.

In July 2008, Crossbreed opened up their own audio-visual recording studio. Dubbed "The Candy Factory", the studio is located in the warehouse district of Downtown Clearwater, Florida and served as the studio where Crossbreed's new record K.E 101 was recorded.

In June 2008, Crossbreed signed with "Driven Music Group", the new label of ex-Korn guitarist, Brian "Head" Welch. According to the band's MySpace, their new album K.E 101 was scheduled to be released in late spring/early summer 2009 via Ryko distribution, but due to the company going under, they have decided to sign with Crash Music, an affiliate of Driven Music Group. Due to this and several other issues, the new album KE 101 will now be released on September 15th 2009.

Members

Current members

Vocals - James Rietz (1996-present)
Guitars - Chris Nemzek (1996-present)
Bass - Corey Floyd (2004-present)
Keyboards - Ian Hall (2005-present)
Keyboards - Kem Secksdiin (2006, 2007-present)
Drums - Jay Diesel (2008-present)

Former Members

Bass - Charlie Parker : 1996 - 2002
Drums - Travis Simpkins : 1996 - 2004
Electronics - Dan "DJ" Izzo - 1999 - 2005
Keyboards - Phil "Flip" Marquardt : 1998 - 2004
Bass - Bishop : 2002 - 2004
Drums - Mike Cais (2007-2008)
Drums - Chris Morris : 2004 - 2006
Drums - Dan Fox : 2006 - 2007
Keyboards - Jason Tropf - 1997 - 1998, 2004(live)
Keyboards / Programming - Travis Inskeep : 2004 - 2006

Discography

Demos

• 3-Track (Baby Doll) (1999)
• 5-Track (Blue Guy) (2000)

LP's

• .01 (1998)
• Synthetic Division (2001)
• KE 101 (2009)

EP's

• 2Twenty2 (1998)
• New Slave Nation (2005)

External links

• Official Crossbreed Website
• Official Crossbreed MySpace
• Crossbreed Official Street Team on Myspace
• Crossbreed Official Forum
• Driven Music Group
• The Candy Factory Studio on Myspace