13 Ways to Bleed on Stage

Background and recording

About a year prior to recording 13 Ways, the band enlisted guitarist Terry Balsamo; frontman Scooter Ward, who had sung and played guitar, wanted to focus solely on singing. After trying a few musicians from Los Angeles, Cold chose fellow Jacksonville native Balsamo, who'd played with its members since the age of 18.

The main song structures for 13 Ways were written prior to entering the studio. Using C tuning (the main tuning used in Cold's catalog), the band then experimented with various sounds and dynamics in the studio. Balsamo primarily used an Ibanez RG570 and Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier.

Often considered Cold's darkest record, 13 Ways bears generally dark themes such as drug addiction, relationship troubles, and social indifference. Guest vocalists include Aaron Lewis of Staind and Sierra Swan who would also appear on the band's next album.

Album art

Cold's second album marked the first appearance of the band's spider logo and corresponding text. Its CD booklet design depicts a tattered old book held shut with rubber bands. The liner notes feature morbid figure illustrations and imagery of X-Acto knives and other cutting utensils.

Touring and promotion

Following the album's release, Cold toured for a year and a half to promote it. They embarked on a three-week tour with 3 Doors Down and a month with Marilyn Manson before joining Limp Bizkit and DMX on the Anger Management Tour for a few weeks. Cold (along with The Offspring, Weezer, Social Distortion, Incubus and Adema) was on the bill for the first annual Inland Invasion, which took place on August 25, 2001 and was hosted by the Los Angeles radio station KROQ.

Singles for the album included "Just Got Wicked", "End of the World", "No One" and "Bleed". All of the said tracks had music videos which saw moderate airplay on MTV2. The majority of singles from 13 Ways also received significant radio play and were instrumental in launching Cold into the mainstream music scene.

"Just Got Wicked" appears on MTV: The Return of the Rock, Vol. 2, ECW: Extreme Music Vol. 2: Anarchy Rocks, and the soundtrack to the video game Jet Grind Radio. "No One" is featured on the soundtrack to the film A Walk to Remember.

Personnel

Additional personnel

Production

Charts

Album – Billboard (North America)

Singles – Billboard (North America)

Acoustic EP

An acoustic EP was released as a free bonus disc with the purchase of 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage.

Track listing

1. "No One (Acoustic)" – 3:16
2. "End of the World (Acoustic)" – 3:37
3. "Just Got Wicked (Acoustic)" – 3:59

Track 1 & 3

Track 2

Credits