Switched (previously depicted as Sw1tched) was an American

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, with a metal umlaut) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop music, hip hop, funk, industrial music, industrial, and grunge. Nu ...

band from

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

History

Forming in 1999 as Sw1tch, the band played shows around Ohio and released a demo entitled ''Fuckin' Demo''. The songs "Anymore", "Wrongside", "Inside", "Darkening Days", "Last Chance", and "Skins", which appear in their demo versions on this CD, went on to appear on the '' Subject to Change'' album. This demo was later re-released on disc two of the "Ghosts in the Machine" album in 2006. Since a funk band already had rights to the name Switch, the band had to change their name to Sw1tched, and was later signed to Immortal/Virgin Records. After recording all of the bass for the '' Subject to Change'' album, bassist Shawn May left the band for unknown reasons, and was replaced by

Chimaira Chimaira ( ) is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in August 1998, the band's name is derived from the word Chimera (mythology), Chimera, a monstrous creature in Greek mythology. Throughout its history, ...

drum tech Jason French. French did play bass on one song on the album, though, since the band re-recorded the song "Walk Away" before the album was released. Switched rose to prominence playing at popular festivals such as

Ozzfest Ozzfest was an annual music festival tour of the United States and sometimes Europe and later Japan, featuring performances by many heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Sharon Osbourne and her husband O ...

in 2002 and on the

Vans Warped Tour The Warped Tour is a touring rock music festival that toured the United States and Canada each summer from 1995 until 2019, and returned in 2025 for its 30th anniversary. By 2015, Warped was the largest traveling music festival in the United S ...

in 2001 and 2002. Their debut album titled, '' Subject to Change'' was released via

Immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

in 2002, and went on to sell over 100,000 records worldwide. In mid-2003, the group severed ties with both their label

Immortal Records Immortal Records was an American independent record label/imprint label based in Los Angeles, California. The company helped launch the careers of such influential acts as Korn, Thirty Seconds To Mars, and Incubus over the years. The label had a ...

and their former management team. Bassist Jason French was replaced by former

Stuck Mojo Stuck Mojo is an American rap metal band from Atlanta, formed in 1989 by bassist Dwayne Fowler. The band is considered to be one of the pioneers of rap metal. They have toured alongside bands such as Machine Head and Slapshot. Stuck Mojo's most ...

and

Stereomud Stereomud was an American nu metal band from New York City and Georgia. They were active from years 1999 to 2003 before breaking up, releasing two albums—'' Perfect Self'' and '' Every Given Moment''. History Stereomud released their first al ...

bassist

Corey Lowery Corey French Lowery is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and engineer. He is the guitarist and backing vocalist for South African rock band Seether, and a former member of Saint Asonia, Stuck Mojo, Stereomud, Eye Empire, and Dark ...

, who would eventually leave the band to join

Dark New Day Dark New Day was an American hard rock supergroup formed in 2004 featuring Brett Hestla of Virgos Merlot, Clint Lowery of Sevendust, Troy McLawhorn of DoubleDrive, Corey Lowery of Stereomud and Stuck Mojo, and Will Hunt of Skrape. Their ...

. During the recording phase for their second album, they had planned to adopt a new name, Sky Fall Down, by January 2004 – a reflection on the new direction the band was taking. Instead, the band went on a two-year hiatus, with several members of the band moving on to other projects. Former bassist Shawn May, who had left the band in 2001 prior to the release of "Subject to Change", started a custom bass shop in Michigan. Drummer

Chad Szeliga Chad Szeliga (born December 23, 1976) is an American drummer from Elyria, Ohio. Formerly the drummer of rock band Breaking Benjamin, he joined Black Label Society in 2013, replacing Mike Froedge. In 2017, Szeliga replaced Jimmy DeGrasso in ...

joined Leo in 2004 and then later joined popular

post-grunge Post-grunge is an offshoot of grunge that has a less abrasive or intense tone than traditional grunge. Originally, the term was used almost pejoratively to label mid-1990s alternative rock bands such as Bush (British band), Bush, Candlebox, Colle ...

group

Breaking Benjamin Breaking Benjamin is an American Rock music, rock band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, formed in 1999 by lead singer and guitarist Benjamin Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummel. The first lineup of the band also included guitarist Aaron Fink an ...

in 2005. Bassist

helped form

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...

group

, and later formed

Eye Empire Eye Empire was an American rock band formed in 2009, consisting of Corey Lowery and B.C. Kochmit, Donald Carpenter, Garrett Whitlock and Dixie Duncan. Will Hunt joined the band in 2010 before departing in 2011, replaced by Ryan Bennett. ...

. Lead guitarist B.C. Kochmit joined then left

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

group "Rikets" to form his own projects, called "Tinjen", "Shambella", and "My Alter-Ego Experiment." He was the lead guitar player in

for a short time, and

with Lowery and also was a member of the band

Nonpoint Nonpoint is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The band currently consists of vocalist Elias Soriano, drummer Robb Rivera, rhythm guitarist Rasheed Thomas, bassist Adam Woloszyn, and lead guitarist Ja ...

. Vocalist Ben Schigel found success as a producer working with bands such as

Drowning Pool Drowning Pool is an American rock band formed in Dallas, Texas, in 1996. The band was named after the 1975 film '' The Drowning Pool''. Since its formation, the band has consisted of guitarist C.J. Pierce, drummer Mike Luce and bassist Stevie ...

,Bravewords.com > News > CHIMAIRA Producer Ben Schigel
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, Rikets, Bleed the Sky, Solus Deus and Allele. With help from their first manager, Thom Hazaert, now co-president of Californian

indie label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

Corporate Punishment Records Corporate Punishment Records (abbreviated CPR) is a Los Angeles–based independent record label. The company was formed in 2004 by Thom Hazaert and Eric Nielsen, also co-founders of Loudside.com and Total Assault Street Teams. The label's most p ...

, the group reformed (with a modified lineup) and released their second album titled, '' Ghosts in the Machine'' on January 10, 2006. The two-disc album contains rarities, b-sides and demos. The first disc includes eleven tracks that were intended for the band's second Immortal release, while the second disc includes four live songs plus several demos and the unreleased track "She Blinded Me with Science". The quality of the first disc can be described as "rough" as the tracks weren't yet mastered and still in the demo phase. A repackaged version of ''Subject to Change'' was also released which features the

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

track "Spread", the

Howard Benson Howard Michael Benson (born July 20, 1956) is an American record producer from Havertown, Pennsylvania. He has been nominated for two Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2007 and 2008, among two wins and 16 total nominati ...

produced alternate versions of "Walkaway" and "Inside" and the Rick Will mix of "Inside". Two videos for "Inside" are also included.

Current status

Switched declared a second hiatus after '' Ghosts in the Machine'' but as of January 2010, according to Ben Schigel, there are no plans to continue with Sw1tched. Ben Schigel currently works as a producer at Spider Studios in Olmsted Falls, Ohio. He has produced bands such as Ringworm, Chimaira, Bleed The Sky and Solus Deus; just to name a few. Bassist

and guitarist B.C. Kochmit have since formed hard rock supergroup

with solo artist Dixie Duncan and former members of

Submersed Submersed (sometimes typeset as SubmerseD) is an American rock band from Stephenville, Texas. They first disbanded in 2008, reuniting in late 2021, early 2022. History Submersed was signed to Wind-up Records, and worked with Alter Bridge ...

singer Donald Carpenter and drummer Garrett Whitlock. Lowery has also been a member of the bands

Saint Asonia Saint Asonia (stylized as SΔINT ΔSONIΔ) is a Canadian-American rock supergroup consisting of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Gontier, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist and backing vocalist Cale Gontier, and drummer Cody Watkins. ...

and

Seether Seether are a South African Rock music, rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng. The band originally performed under the name Saron Gas until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion with ...

. Ben Schigel produces bands at his Spider Studio. He also plays drums for pop rock band

SomeKindaWonderful SomeKindaWonderful is an American rock band from Cleveland, Ohio, consisting of Jordy Towers on vocals, Sw1tched singer Ben Schigel on drums, Justin Andres on bass and keys and Sarah Dryer on percussion and vocals. Towers, a singer-songwriter ...

Band members

;Last known lineup * Ben Schigel – vocals * B.C. Kochmit – guitar, vocals * Joe Schigel – guitar * Joshua Jansen – bass * Angel Bartolotta – drums

Former members

– bass * Chris Nelson – guitar * Jason French – bass * Shawn May – bass *

– drums

Discography

References

External links

Switched at Myspace
* {{Authority control American nu metal musical groups Heavy metal musical groups from Ohio Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups disestablished in 2010 1999 establishments in Ohio