Cold – Interview [2005]

When the band retuned home to Jacksonville, Florida, Ward learned his younger sister was ailing. After a short stay in rehab and resolving to stay clean, Ward discovered that his sister had cancer. In the midst of so much despair, Ward returned to his music. And with the help of drummer Sam McCandless, the singer began to write the songs that would make up “A Different Kind Of Pain.”

We interview Scooter.

Hip: I guess you could have never imagined that making this record would have been based around such a troubled time.

Scooter: I think they all are Charlie. There is always a lot of drama and bad shit that happens. [pauses] Welcome to Cold.

Before the problem with your sister and everything else how was the writing process coming along?

Music for me you have to be in a certain state of mind and for a minute I wasn’t and then I was. It just depends. One minute I just woke up and knew I had to do this and didn’t know what was going to happen. It took something that was going to change my life so I sucked it up and made a record.

It must have been hard to focus on music.

Yeah, it was a hard time. I chose to write every song and I wanted every song to help me get a little better.

What would life been like if you didn’t have the music to get you by?

I’ve had it since I was five so I don’t know what it would be like not to have music in my head. It would probably be drastic.

Are you every pissed that you can’t kick songwriting into gear?

It actually happened when we first started writing the record. We got together in a room to write and the new lineup was strange. So Sam and I ended up setting up in my sister’s room to record. And we were there for about a week and just wrote. As soon as we got into Jennifer’s room the song’s started coming left and right.

Songwriting has to be natural and when it doesn’t flow it has to be hard.

Yeah. If you are in there writing and it doesn’t feel right. If someone comes up with something and I can’t come up with some lyrics right away it’s not a Cold song. Normally I can hear the lyrics right away. So we’ll do that all day. I’ll write a riff and hum a little melody to it and write another song.

Are you still stunned today that you can wake up and write songs?

We’ve been doing this for eight years. I never take that for granted.

Are there any tracks on the record that just hit you and you loved right away?

“When Angel’s Fly Away” isn’t really that personal to me… I was in Atlanta when I was on my way to do the record and I was in the smoking section. There were all these guards who just came back from Iraq, and a few of them were Cold fans. I talked to them and we went to a bar and I bought them some drinks and they were talking about their experience. I took that experience and wrote a song. Even though it wasn’t my experience I felt like I was doing something important.

Are there any songs that you perform that gets you choked up?

I’d like to say no but truthfully every song is like that. When I’m in the hotel I just try to chill but about an hour before the show I start throwing up and getting emotional.

The new album has a real deep feeling to it.

Almost like a God vibe.

Yeah.

It feels that way because of some of the songs but it’s not like that. I’d like to think that everyone in the world is happy all the time. I mean I’m in a rock band and I drive around and do shows all the time. And no matter how much money you have you could wake up tomorrow morning and it could all be taken away from you. If I can help people—that is why I do this.

I do believe that Cold is the kind of band you either love or you don’t, but not necessarily love or hate.

Yeah. You either love it or it’s too much. You are like ‘what the f**k. This guy is too much.’ You are like ‘where is the f**king sunshine?’

There is always other bands for that.

Yeah, I mean thank God for them, but that’s not what we do.

I love the Beach Boys but I don’t think anyone is writing them thanking them for saving their lives.

I love the Beach Boys too. I even love the beach, but there is no way I can write that way. It makes you feel good and I love that and know it’s a good song. But I also love music that makes me think about my life.

How great is it to get out on the road and feel the love from fans?

There isn’t a show that goes by where I hear from a fan that comes up to me and tells me how a song has changed their lives. Even parents come up to me and tell me how much a song has changed their kid’s life. They say that the songs are like rehab and it makes them think in a totally different way.

It’s not easy to have that as a band. I mean in my opinion it’s easier to sell a million records and disappear than touch someone’s life.

And you know how I know that? Because I have a lot of friends who have been in rock bands and then sold five million albums on the first album and then sold eight-hundred thousand records for the second. I don’t want to be that. I don’t want to be a band where fans only got one song. Our five-hundred thousand fans will always be there.

+ Charlie Craine