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Sam McCandless
(October 2003 Issue)
Turning Up The Heat In 1998, Florida-based
metal band Cold released its
self-titled debut album, a dark, intensely
brooding musical vision. But the band's strong songwriting, combined
with
impressive musicianship, allowed them to avoid being lumped in
with bands treading similar ground. Drummer Sam McCandless
will tell
you straight, Cold was never part of the nu-metal thing. "We always
thought we were more of an alternative band, like
Jane's Addiction," he
explains. The drummer's powerful, yet intricate, and tribal drumming,
which permeates the
band's latest release, Year Of The Spider, certainly supports that view.
Between 2000 and 2001, Cold
spent eighteen months on the road with
bands like Marilyn Manson, Godsmack, and Staind in support of their
gold-selling
sophomore release, 13 Ways To Bleed On Stage. But Sam believes the cumulative experience of touring with such
seasoned acts helped prepare the band for recording Year Of The Spider.
"We're all influenced by '70s bands
like AC/DC and Led Zeppelin," the
drummer notes. "We wanted to make a classic-sounding record of thirteen
really great
songs. I can do the programming thing, but this album is
more natural'more rock 'n' roll'so we didn't
do a lot of that this
time."
McCandless's main objective for Year Of The Spider was
to "go
big" with his drum sound. "I wanted to sound bigger than
Bonham," he jokes. "Bay 7 Studio, where we recorded, is
really
dialed-in, so the drum sounds on this album are really
insane - especially the toms. The drum sound is the best
I've had on any
of our records."
Gail Worley
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