Crossfade with Strata Thursday, April 14th, Roseland Theatre
By Marc Halverson
After reviewing their latest release and reading countless articles about the success of Crossfade the past year, it was time see them bring it live. Also, I had never seen Strata live before. To be succinct, both bands played a high energy set and Crossfade were nothing short of awesome on stage.
First, Strata played a solid set of rock that kept the Roseland moving and singing-a-long. Their sound reminded me of Breaking Benjamin and Memento at times, with their own dose of straightforward rock. They played most of the songs off their self-titled album “Strata”, and were definitely a strong opening band that complimented Crossfade quite well.
Next, Crossfade took the stage and broke right into ‘Starless’, opening track off their self-titled album. Immediately, the crowd connected with Crossfade and it set the tone for the rest of the show. Next, they played ‘Death Trend Setta’ followed by ‘Colors’. They played a new song ‘Jagged’, which was another strong rocking song that the crowd responded well too. Ed Sloan (guitars, vocals) along with Tony Byroads (dj, vocals), perfectly executed their duo vocals, while Mitch James (bass) and James Branham (drums), compounded their sound and energy which rocked the Roseland Theatre. They went on to play ‘No Giving Up’, ‘Dead Skin’, ‘Drunk’ (new song), ‘So Far Away’, and ‘Deep End’. Then for their encore, they played their catchy and hit song ‘Cold’ and finished with a fast rocking song to close their set.
Afterwards, I was able to sit down with Ed Sloan, Mitch James, and their tour manager and have a few drinks. They are very down to earth and the nicest people I have interviewed or met in the music scene period. It was a great show and both bands put on excellent displays of straightforward rock which set the place off. Strata was just finishing up the current tour and getting ready to head back California to record a new album, while Crossfade is continuing to tour through May and play some more shows in July.
