Crossbreed is an American

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of Heavy metal music, heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating Heavy metal guitar, metal guitar riffs, sampling (music), sampling, synthesizer or music sequencer, sequencer lines, and Distor ...

band from

Clearwater, Florida Clearwater is a city and the county seat of Pinellas County, Florida, United States, west of Tampa, Florida, Tampa and north of St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies T ...

, formed in 1996. They were signed with

Artemis Records Artemis Records was a New York–based independent record label, founded in June 1999 by Danny Goldberg with Daniel Glass as president, and closed in April 2006. The label was acquired by E1 Entertainment. As of 2006, Artemis Records was owned b ...

before being dropped from the label in 2003. The band released two EPs and three full-length albums before disbanding in 2010. The band reformed in 2021, playing two "rebirth" shows that year. The new single "N.F.G." was released, along with a music video in December of 2022. "The Killer Inside" released on April 20th, 2023.

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 from his third album '' Heart Shaped World'' (1989). It was released as a single to little attention in July 1989 but became a sleeper hit when Lee Chestnut, an Atlanta radio station ...

" by

Chris Isaak Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. Noted for his reverb-laden rockabilly revivalist style and wide vocal range, he is popularly known for his breakthrough hit and sig ...

. 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 Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

, where they met the girls from the band

Kittie Kittie is a Canadian heavy metal music, heavy metal band from London, Ontario. The band was formed in 1996 by guitarist Fallon Bowman and drummer Mercedes Lander, with guitarist and vocalist Morgan Lander and bassist Tanya Candler joining the ...

. 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 religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

. 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 Ruffini ...

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

Underlined An underscore or underline 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 or typescript as an instruction to the printer. Its us ...

", debuted on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision. The channel launched initially as an all-music ...

MTVX MTVX was an American hard rock music music video, video channel operated by Viacom (1952–2005), Viacom's MTV Networks division. A sister channel of MTV, MTVX was available exclusively on digital cable providers, being the first network to be mad ...

. The video for that song was nominated for a

Billboard Music Award The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a Billboard charts, music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annu ...

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

Rammstein Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German 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, drummer Christoph ...

and did a short run with

Static-X Static-X is an American industrial 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, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Wayne Static until his d ...

. ''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 An orgy is a sex party 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 swinger parties the sexual partners may all know each other o ...

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. Early life, family and education Aucoin was born in 1943 in Ayer, Massachusetts. He had tw ...

, former manager of

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

), 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 b ...

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

and

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

Silent Civilian Silent Civilian is an American 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 musically and start f ...

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 Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

Blog that Kem Secksdiin (former touring bassist for

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

) 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 indus ...

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) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, originally formed in 1993 by James Shaffer, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and David Silveria, who were members of the band ...

guitarist,

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

. 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/Vocalist), for a live performance on July 3, 2021, in Cleveland at The Odeon. They partnered up with long time friends Rick Thomas (of Mushroomhead/Ventana fame) and Dan Fox (of Dope/Ventana fame) to revive the band in an event dubbed the 'rebirth show', that also featured co-headliner Ventana.

Members

Current members

* James "James Breed" Rietz –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

* Ian Hall –

keyboard 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 * Mus ...

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

Touring members

* JaKob SiN – keyboards, programming, backing vocals percussion * Chris "Manicotty" Maniatis –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s ,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* Keith Heisler – bass * Julius Caeser Mendoza –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Tamara Kemp – keyboards, percussion

Former members

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

turntables A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

, programming * Bishop – bass * Corey Floyd (Died December 2021) – bass * Chris Morris – drums * Travis Inskeep – keyboards, programming * Angel Bartolotta – drums * Kem Secksdiin – keyboards * Mike Cais – drums * Jay Diesel – drums * Dan Fox – drums * Rick "Stitch" Thomas – keyboards, programming * Justin Kalenits – guitars * Kriz D. K. – drums * Dro "The Dro" Simoes – bass * Jason Knotek – bass * Joey Aceto – drums * Derek Obscura – bass , guitars

Session Members

* John Sustar - keyboards, guitars, drums (studio) * Sally Bartolotta – bass (studio) * Jay Schmidt – guitars (studio)

Timeline

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
* {{Authority control 1996 establishments in Florida American alternative metal musical groups American industrial metal musical groups American musical sextets Heavy metal musical groups from Florida Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups disestablished in 2010 Musical groups reestablished in 2021