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The bus. The band. The bills

Crossfade isn’t rich yet, but the ride’s getting better and the climb, higher

By Otis R. Taylor, Staff Writer
« Published: Sunday, Jan 9 » Columbia Tunes

Crossfade’s spring tour started in guitarist Ed Sloan’s conversion van.
Next came a small RV, then a midsize RV. The four Columbia residents still had to take turns driving.

“That’s when you know you’ve made it,” said drummer James Branham. “It’s nice. We can’t complain and we don’t have to drive anymore.”

The bus has been home since October for Sloan, Branham, Tony Byroads and Mitch James, and it’s more macked than anything they left behind when they hit the road in April.

It has 11 — count them, 11 — TVs, including a 42-inch plasma flat-screen in the front lounge. The back lounge has three computers and a laser printer.

The bus has eight bunks, two Playstations, a full bathroom and a kitchen. It even has a vacuum cleaner that sees regular use.

“And we have a driver,” said James, the band’s bassist. “It was the worst part before — working all day and driving all night.”

Now after loading up, the band members sleep as they are chauffeured to the next town.

The grayish-blue, nondescript bus idles in the parking lot behind Headliners on Dec. 17 as roadies load in Crossfade’s gear. The band, which hadn’t been back to Columbia since June, played two shows that weekend at the Vista club.

“It feels good to come home,” said vocalist and sampler Byroads. “But after a week, I’ll want to go back on the road.”

While in Columbia, James and Branham hung out with their daughters. Byroads showed his fiancee around Columbia (she’s from California; they met on the road), and Sloan hung out with family and friends.

Instead of going to his apartment, Sloan slept on the bus the night before the first Headliners show.

Not since Hootie and the Blowfish sold 16 million copies of “Cracked Rear View” has a Columbia band been so successful — though Crossfade hasn’t quite reached those heights.

Powered by “Cold,” the No. 1 single of the year in what’s called the “active rock” format, Crossfade has sold more than 250,000 copies of its self-titled debut, including 17,000 the week of the hometown shows.

“Nobody at Columbia Records had a clue,” James said. “It was a wait-and-see mentality.”

After more than 40 weeks, “Cold” is still charting high and might cross over to Top 40 radio, which undoubtedly would boost record sales.

No matter how big Crossfade gets, these guys always will remember where they got their start. The Dec. 17 show at the 900-seat club sold out, and Headliners added a Dec. 18 performance. In spaces in front of the stage with barely enough room to wiggle, fans somehow started body surfing. Several girls — singing along with each song — sat on people’s shoulders to get better views.

“That hasn’t been on radio, so they’ve got to have the record,” Chris Long, the band’s manager, said after “Colors.”

Branham ferociously beat the drums. James, with his spiked hair, thrashed the bass and Byroads was his usual laid-back self. Sloan, who has polished his lead-singer stance, played it cool, sometimes playing with a cold towel wrapped around his neck.

He didn’t want a repeat of Roanoke. “It was like 130 degrees in the club,” Branham said. “Ed got so overheated that he threw up behind his amp.

Saving the best for last, Crossfade played “Cold” during the encore on the first night. On the second night, the band performed an acoustic version of the song.

“The show was off the chain,” said 19-year-old fan Christina Bosworth. “I think it’s cool they’re from Columbia. It’s awesome.

After both shows, the guys hung out with the fans, signing CDs, T-shirts, posters, stomachs, jeans and pants.

“It’s like this all the time, my man,” said road manager Barry Corley. “This is nothing new.”

Sloan and James have stuck together from The Nothing, to Sugardaddy Superstar, to Crossfade.

That’s 13 years of name and lineup changes. James says the two knew “from Day One” they would end with a hit record.

“It was never a choice,” Sloan said of the partnership he and James formed in 1991. “We would’ve kept going until 2012.”

The determination that Sloan and James share led to a change in the lineup after Crossfade signed with Columbia. Branham joined the band in January. Branham says he’s lucky the band asked him to play, but Sloan sees it differently.

“From the first day he was here, the band has seen paramount improvements,” Sloan said. “It was very simple — almost like it was meant to be.”

Touring with bands such as Shinedown and Alter Bridge, Crossfade has criss-crossed the country, and on some nights performed in front of as many as 15,000 people.

“When you have that many people singing ‘Cold,’ it overpowers the amp,” said Byroads, who has a Crossfade tattoo on his left forearm. “And it’s a good feeling.”

Crossfade also has been a popular band on the talk-show circuit, with performances on Spike TV, Fuse, ESPN2’s “Cold Pizza,” the “Tony Danza Show,” “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Later this month, the band will be on the Sno Core Tour, which features Chevelle, Helmet, Future Leaders of the World and Strata.

And “Cold” has just broken into the New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles radio markets — which likely means another surge of album sales.

Sloan, who has become something of a heartthrob “for 12-year-old girls” on blogs, accepts the success as part of what was meant to be.

“It doesn’t get profound or surreal. It seems natural,” he said. “It doesn’t seem strange doing something we always wanted to do.”

With a quarter-million records sold, a No. 1 single and a tour bus, you might think Crossfade is rich.

The guys have enough money that they don’t have to work 9 to 5, but they don’t have “MTV Cribs” kind of cash. Not yet.

They have bills to pay such as album- and video-production costs, tour expenses and the bus lease. Sloan said a lot of the money the band made was reinvested in gear.

Columbia Records is pushing the album harder than ever; Long said it should reach platinum (1æmillion sold) this summer.

“Everyone at the label is trying to create something for the band so they can work with the band,” Long said.

For its end-of-the-year shows in Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach, Crossfade drove a van around the state.

The bus went to Nashville to be serviced, but it will be back this month to take the guys across the country again.

“I’ll get the itch to get out,” he said. “Just that feeling of being out there — that’s home to us.”

And then? “The next step is the biggest bus,” James said, “but then it’s all downhill from there.”

- review by Reach Taylor at (803) 771-8362 or otaylor@thestate.com | Columbia Tunes