Codeseven on indefinite hiatus (1995-2005)

Winston-Salem-based Codeseven has disbanded. The group, which recently celebrated their 10th Anniversary, formed in 1995 shortly after some of the members graduated from high school. The band stressed that the split is not due to "personal or creative differences," but rather financial reasons.

The band explained the situation, saying:

Codeseven has collectivly decided to go on indefinite hiatus. The band is not breaking up but have no plans for touring or writing and will not be making any music for some time.

Yes, there is a possibility that the five of us may never play Codeseven songs together ever again but I am optimistic. We are all still very good friends and still hang out all the time. We are also still very passionate about music and the music we've created over the years.

The band most recently released, Dancing Echoes/Dead Sounds in 2004. You can click Read More to read the band's entire statement.

Codeseven is celebrating its 10th anniversary! Literally weeks after the oldest members graduated highschool in 1995 the band was formed and has never looked back. Well, not until recently anyway. Unfortunately with this milestone comes some news which we are not excited to tell you about. Codeseven has collectivly decided to go on indefinite hiatus. The band is not breaking up but have no plans for touring or writing and will not be making any music for some time.

Yes, there is a possibility that the five of us may never play Codeseven songs together ever again but I am optimistic. We are all still very good friends and still hangout all the time. We are also still very passionate about music and the music we've created over the years. Some of you may be asking well why are you taking a break? The majority of all bands split due to personal or creative differances but neither is the case for us!

Well, over the past few years Codeseven has had some amazing opportunities enabling us to become a full time band. With a fulltime schedule means the majority of your money is coming from the road. Yes he said it, money! Probably the most unfortunate of all reasons for a band to split, has crippled us. When you start a band the best advice you get is play whenever or wherever you can. Do it for free or drive 10 hours for one show, just do it for the exposure and experiance. Its great advice and it worked for us. It got us our dream which was to tour full time but by that time we had already spent many years sacrificing and putting everything on hold to achieve it. We knew if it didn't work then the future of the band would be up in the air.

When taking on this full time role it puts you in a situation where the exposure you get can pay off and give you an opportunity to do a moderate headlining run and alot of ground to build on if things go as planned. You do much bigger tours but get paid very little. Its the exposure your being offered. Its the same thing we had been doing for years but on a much larger scale except we are expected to stay on the road non-stop, which means no time for real jobs that actually pay the bills. Well, that quickly puts you in a make or break situation.

I do want to express we were never forced to do a tour and actually turned down alot more than we probably should have but knew if we over did it, we would be done for sure. We did everything to try and make this work. The majority of all our tours were definitely not an ideal audiance for us. Younger kids following the latest emo trend. Man, you probably couldn't put us in a worse market when your counting on exposure for your livelihood but you live by the motto one kid at a time right? Well we tried, hoping a tour better suited for us would come along and some did but not enough. When you spend all your time and resources knowing that the majority of the crowd your playing for will not get what your doing then its only a matter of time. You just keep going hoping it will work out.

We just feel like the momentum is gone for us. The light at the end of the tunnel has gotten much dimmer. Some of us are nearing 30. One has a wife and kid. You have to draw the line somewhere and realize it just wasn't in the cards. Hopefully over time, alot of the younger kids we always seem to play for will understand what we were trying to achieve. Right now its time for us to get financially back on our feet which means putting music on the side. I do want to add that while financial reasons may be why we are taking a break it did not break us. We would much rather come home after a 10 year jouney broke than tried to change to fit the cookie cutter formlula which you see on TV today. There are still a few things in life that are more important than being rich and successful. There is no compromise. Make yourself happy and thats it. Music means way more to us than money and while it would have been nice to get the best of both worlds, we have no problem coming home knowing what we created was for us and we loved it and anyone else that got it, well, that was just a bonus.

Finally, we would like to thank everyone that has supported us over the years and taken us in as family. From the best record label on the planet Equal Vision and our management at Heavy Hitter to the kids that put on shows for us, let us sleep on there floors and everyone that has came out to the shows with such enthusiasm. It would have never lasted this long without you guys. In our free time you can bet that we will all be dabbling with music in one way or another. While how much time is allowed to devote to it is uncertain but you can bet that some new things are on the horizon. We were made to create and it will come out whether we like it or not.

- Codeseven