Crossfade’s Ed Sloan Talks Rock Allegiance Tour, New Album

Crossfade have much to celebrate this year as they recently unleashed 'We All Bleed,' their first album in five years. Moreover, the band is heading out on the road with Buckcherry, Papa Roach, Puddle of Mudd, P.O.D., Red and Drive A on the Rock Allegiance Tour, which kicks off Aug. 24 in Grand Prairie, Texas.

It's been a roller-coaster ride for Crossfade, who hit it big with their self-titled debut album on the strength of three Top 10 songs on the mainstream rock chart - 'Cold,' 'So Far Away' and 'Colors.' However, the band's second album, 'Falling Away,' failed to yield a major hit, resulting in the group being dropped from Columbia Records.

Now, on the heels of the release of 'We All Bleed' via Eleven Seven Music, the South Carolina rockers are starting a new chapter in their career. Loudwire recently caught up with Crossfade frontman Ed Sloan, who offered his thoughts on the Rock Allegiance Tour and some of his favorite tunes off 'We All Bleed.'

Crossfade are playing the Rock Allegiance Tour with Papa Roach, Buckcherry and P.O.D., to name a few. What's your relationship with the bands on the lineup?

Throughout the past seven years of being in the biz, so to speak, we toured with Papa Roach and Buckcherry for six months about four years ago. We just joined the same label as them. Papa Roach and I go back a little ways. I haven’t met Red or Drive A, but I’m a huge fan of theirs.

What can fans expect to see from Crossfade on this tour?

Well, obviously a lot of the new material, which we’re really excited about. Unfortunately, we are playing mostly during the day, but we do have an entirely new production set with our own lights; it’s a real kick-ass show. It’ll be a daytime show for Crossfade, so we’ll be up there sweating our asses off and blowing some faces off with some heavy rock. Mainly we’re just looking forward to seeing people singing the words to the new stuff.

How rewarding was it to finally release the album this year?

I think we celebrated for like a week; we were so use to being with that other label [Colombia Records], and the pressures of a label. This time around it took us three years to write and one year just decompressing before that, but the fact that it took so long, it became so much more of our baby. We got very attached to it. The day it was released, we celebrated and it felt so good to finally get back on that music map; going out and playing for fans. All these things that have come to us, it just made us feel alive again.

Did going through the ups and downs with record companies serve as inspiration for this record?

It certainly did. Once we left Columbia, and after being on tour for two years and coming back home and having no bus, no place to go play, it was definitely a shock for me. That year, it took me a little while just to get out of the mode of touring. Just the shock of being home, I started to write two years after that, that year in time was definitely inspiration for this music in a negative and a positive way.

Tell me a little about the first single 'Killing Me Inside' musically and lyrically?

That would be a better question for [lead guitarist] Les Hall -- that was one of the first songs he wrote for this record. As far as meaning behind the song, it’s a lot about going to sleep and having these dreams and then when you wake up and go back to life, the dreams you had haunt you throughout the day. It’s also about being lost inside, as well. It was one of the first songs Les was writing while I was sitting there watching TV in the studio.

Do you guys already have a second single picked out?

[We're] shooting the video for 'Prove You Wrong' ... and that will be the second single. We’re just waiting how far 'Killing me Inside' goes and we’ll get that second one out there.

What are some of your favorite songs on the album?

‘Prove You Wrong’ is my favorite song on the album because of where it came from in my heart. ‘Lay Me Down’ is actually my second favorite song ... that song means a lot to me. I also love ‘Make Me a Believer’ -- it never gets old for me. I listen to it over and over and I always find new things about it.

Now that you’re heading out on the Rock Allegiance Tour, what's the one thing you must take on the road?

I have this sound machine that my mother gave me that I have to plug in and its super loud. And if I don’t have that, then I can’t sleep because those other guys on the bus are jamming out to music and partying. So, if I don’t have that, I don’t sleep.

Watch the Crossfade 'Killing Me Inside' Video