Crossbreed is an American

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine In ...

band from

Clearwater, Florida Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2020 census, the city had a populat ...

, United States, formed in 1996. They were signed with

Artemis Records Artemis Records was a New York-based independent record label, founded in July 1999 by Danny Goldberg with Daniel Glass as President, and closed in April 2006. The label was acquired by E1 Entertainment. Artemis had a leading share of the U.S. i ...

before being dropped from the label in 2003. The band released two EPs and three full-length albums before disbanding in 2010.

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 1,000 copies made; the album featured a cover version of "

Wicked Game "Wicked Game" is a song by American rock musician Chris Isaak, released from his third album, '' Heart Shaped World'' (1989). Despite being released as a single in July 1989, it did not become a hit until it was featured in the 1990 David Lynch ...

" by

Chris Isaak Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. He is widely known for his breakthrough hit and signature song "Wicked Game", as well as other songs such as "Blue Hotel", "Baby D ...

. In 1999, Dan "DJ" Izzo (then under the moniker "D.J. Balistick") joined the band as their Turntablist/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 Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

, where they met the girls from the band

Kittie Kittie is a Canadian Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in London, Ontario in 1996. All of their material has been released through independent record labels, which to date includes six studio albums, one video album, four extended plays ...

. They gave them a copy of their Babydoll EP, which found its way to the A & R Rep for Kittie's former label

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

. Crossbreed was signed to

by the end of the year and their debut album, ''

Synthetic Division In algebra, synthetic division is a method for manually performing Euclidean division of polynomials, with less writing and fewer calculations than long division. It is mostly taught for division by linear monic polynomials (known as the Ruffini' ...

'' was released nationally on May 8, 2001. Their first single, "

Underlined An underscore, ; also called an underline, low line, or low dash; is a line drawn under a segment of text. In proofreading, underscoring is a convention that says "set this text in italic type", traditionally used on Manuscript (publishing), man ...

", debuted on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

MTVX MTVX was a Viacom-owned American hard rock music video channel. MTVX was available exclusively on digital cable providers, being the first network made available in the "MTV Networks Digital Suite". Format MTVX aired no advertising outside of M ...

. The video for that song was nominated for a

Billboard Music Award The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

. In the summer of 2001 they toured the U.S. and Canada with the German band

Rammstein Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, ...

and did a short run with

Static-X Static-X is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1994. The line-up has fluctuated over the years, but was long-held constant with band founder, frontman, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Wayne Static until his ...

. ''Synthetic Division'' has sold to date a total of over 100,000 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 In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party consisting of at least five members where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex. Swingers' parties do not always conform to this designation, because at many swing ...

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.

2005–2010

With a new line-up and manager (

Bill Aucoin William Martin Aucoin (December 29, 1943 – June 28, 2010) was an American band manager, well known for his work with the rock band Kiss and Billy Idol. Biography Born in 1943 in Ayer, Massachusetts, Aucoin attended Northeastern University an ...

, former manager of

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

), Crossbreed spent their time writing new material and doing shows in Florida, including opening for

Mushroomhead Mushroomhead is an American heavy metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in 1993 in the Cleveland Warehouse District, the band is known for their avant-garde sound and horror film-inspired imagery which features masks and costumes as well as ...

, and

Mindless Self Indulgence Mindless Self Indulgence (often referred to as MSI) is an American electropunk band formed in New York City in 1997. Their music has a mixed style which includes punk rock, alternative rock, electronica, techno, industrial, hip hop, and breakb ...

. On July 25, 2005, they released their self-produced EP ''New Slave Nation'' and toured the Midwest with

and Dope on the "Music for Freedom" Tour. The following spring, they went out with Nothingface and

Silent Civilian Silent Civilian is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band originating from Los Angeles, California. Following his departure from nu metal band Spineshank in 2004, frontman Jonny Santos felt he wanted to move in a different direction mus ...

for a brief time before dropping off the tour due to conflict. Since that time they have toured again with

as well as alone throughout the Eastern U.S. As of May 14, 2008, it was noted on Subkulture's Myspace Blog that Kem Secksdiin (former touring bassist for

Celldweller Celldweller is an American electronic rock project by multi-musician Klayton. Celldweller songs have been featured in many films, movie trailers, television shows and video games. Career Precursors: Circle of Dust and Angeldust (1992–1999) The ...

) was 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 was located in the

warehouse district This is a list of notable warehouse districts. A warehouse district or warehouse row is an area found in many urban setting known for being the current or former location of numerous warehouses. Logistically, warehouses are often located in indust ...

of Downtown Clearwater, Florida and served as the studio where Crossbreed's new record ''KE 101'' was recorded. In June 2008, Crossbreed signed with "Driven Music Group", the new label of ex-

Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream. Originally formed in 1993 ...

guitarist,

Brian "Head" Welch Brian Philip Welch (born June 19, 1970), also known by his stage name Head, is an American musician. He is one of the guitarists and founding member of the nu metal band Korn and his solo project Love and Death, where he also provides vocals. ...

. According to the band'
MySpace
''KE 101'' was scheduled to be released in late spring/early summer 2009 via Ryko distribution, but due to the company going under, they decided to sign with Crash Music, an affiliate of Driven Music Group. Due to this and several other issues, ''KE 101'' was released on September 15, 2009. Crossbreed played on December 17, 2010, at The State Theatre in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Hiatus and other projects

Frontman James Rietz released this statement on the band's hiatus: "I will start out with nothing is official cause nothing stays gone, but, as of now, Crossbreed and its members will be moving on to other projects. We have had a great run, but after all these years, some of us have never had a chance to expand beyond Crossbreed. Personally, Chris and I (James) have been doing this group on paper for 14 years and have never had a chance to do anything else. As some of you might know, we have our studio which will be running as usual, but there has to be a point where some journeys end to begin new ones. Now, I’m not saying there will never be another Crossbreed show, I’m only saying that Crossbreed will no longer be the primary focus any longer for our members." Members of Crossbreed James Rietz and Ian Hall teamed up with Tamara Kemp to form a band called "Shu-Tang". They released their first EP "Drink Til You're Hott" on March 1, 2011. In September 2012, they released a video for the song "Dance Like A Zombie". Kem Secksdiin released solo album called MerGe-n-EvoLveon January 12, 2010. The album features guest appearances from Crossbreed's singer James Breed on the song "Night (Replace The day)" and F@mu$ (aka Famus, also known for work with XXX Car Ride) for the song "rEZuRekdEAD".

2021–Present

Crossbreed reunited in 2021, featuring the return of long time vocalist James Rietz and Ian Hall -Keyboardist/Programmer/Spark Maker, for a live performance on July 3, 2021, in Cleveland at The Odeon. The guys partnered up with long time friends Rick Thomas (of Mushroomhead/Ventana fame) and Dan Fox (of Dope/Ventana fame) to bring the band back to the life (The Rebirth Show), that also featured co-headliner Ventana.

Members

Current members

* James "James Breed" Rietz –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Ian Hall –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, programming * Rick "Stitch" Thomas – keyboards, programming * Justin Kalenits –

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* The Dro –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Kriz D. K. –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Former members

* Chris Nemzek – guitars, programming, keyboards * Charlie Parker – bass guitar * Travis Simpkins – drums * Jason Tropf – keyboards * Dan "DJ" Izzo –

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, programming * Bishop – bass guitar * Corey Floyd (Died December 2021) – bass * Chris Morris – drums * Travis Inskeep – keyboards, programming *

Angel Bartolotta Andrew "Angel" Bartolotta (born November 26, 1981) is an American drummer. He is best known as the drummer for American alternative metal band Dope and for industrial metal band Genitorturers. He is also the founder of the large collaborative ...

– drums * Kem Secksdiin – keyboards * Mike Cais – drums * Jay Diesel – drums * Dan Fox –

* Derek Obscura –

* Sally Bartolotta – bass (studio) * Jay Schmidt – guitar (studio)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:950 height:350 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:50 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:1996 till:2021 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:redorange legend:Drums id:Keyboards value:purple legend:Keyboards id:Lines value:black legend:Releases id:Turntables/Electronics value:lavender legend:Turntables id:Programming value:lightorange legend:Programming Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:1996 LineData = at:12/14/1998 color:black layer:back at:05/08/2001 color:black layer:back at:07/25/2005 color:black layer:back at:09/15/2009 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Rietz text:"James Rietz" bar:Nemzek text:"Chris Nemzek" bar:Parker text: "Charlie Parker" bar:Bishop text: "Bishop" bar:Floyd text: "Corey Floyd" bar:Marquardt text: "Phil "Flip" Marquardt" bar:Tropf text: "Jason Tropf" bar:Inskeep text: "Travis Inskeep" bar:Hall text: "Ian Hall" bar:Secksdiin text: "Kem Secksdiin" bar:Izzo text: "Dan "DJ" Izzo" bar:Simpkins text: "Travis Simpkins" bar:Morris text: "Chris Morris" bar:Bartolotta text: "Angel Bartolotta" bar:Fox text: "Dan Fox" bar:Cais text: "Mike Cais" bar:Diesel text: "Jay Diesel" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Rietz from:01/01/1996 till:end color:Vocals bar:Nemzek from:01/01/1996 till:12/31/2010 color:Guitar bar:Parker from:01/01/1996 till:06/01/2002 color:Bass bar:Bishop from:06/01/2002 till:01/01/2004 color:Bass bar:Floyd from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2010 color:Bass bar:Simpkins from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/2004 color:Drums bar:Morris from:01/01/2004 till:01/01/2006 color:Drums bar:Bartolotta from:01/01/2006 till:06/01/2006 color:Drums bar:Fox from:06/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:Drums bar:Cais from:01/01/2007 till:01/01/2008 color:Drums bar:Diesel from:01/01/2008 till:12/31/2010 color:Drums bar:Marquardt from:01/01/1998 till:01/01/2004 color:Keyboards bar:Inskeep from:06/01/2004 till:01/01/2006 color:Keyboards bar:Inskeep from:06/01/2004 till:01/01/2006 color:Programming width:3 bar:Tropf from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/1998 color:Keyboards bar:Tropf from:01/01/2004 till:06/01/2004 color:Keyboards bar:Izzo from:01/01/1999 till:01/01/2005 color:Turntables/Electronics bar:Secksdiin from:01/01/2006 till:12/31/2010 color:Keyboards bar:Hall from:01/01/2005 till:end color:Keyboards bar:Hall from:01/01/2005 till:end color:Programming width:3

Discography

Albums

* ''.01'' (1998) * ''

'' (2001) * ''KE 101'' (2009)

Demos

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

EPs

* ''2Twenty2'' (1998) * ''New Slave Nation'' (2005)

References

External links

Chris Nemzek Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crossbreed (Band) American alternative metal musical groups American industrial metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups disestablished in 2010 Nu metal musical groups from California Musical groups reestablished in 2021