13 Ways to Bleed on Stage is the second studio album by American rock bandCold, released in 2000. With four popular singles, it gained substantial commercial success, achieving gold status, and landed Cold in the mainstream rock scene.
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 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. The album has a Parental advisoryon the cover art for strong language and dark graphic themes such as drug addiction and its consequences, 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 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 stationKROQ. 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 gameJet Grind Radio. "No One" is featured on the soundtrack to the film A Walk to Remember.
