Cross Off

Template:Infobox single

"Cross Off" is the first track on Mark Morton's debut studio album, Anesthetic. It features posthumous vocals and lyrics by Chester Bennington, bass guitar by Paolo Gregoletto and drums by Alex Bent (both from Trivium). The song was scheduled for a January 8, 2019 release as the second single from the album, but it was mistakenly released on December 18, 2018 through digital stores and streaming services, being removed the following day. The song was premiered by Zane Lowe on Beats 1 on the scheduled date.^[1]

The single debuted at No. 18 on the Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart dated January 19th, with 2,000 downloads and 209,000 U.S. streams over the tracking week.^[2] It was nominated for the best hard rock song of the year on SiriusXM Octane.^[3] Morton said of the song's response, "Chester was just a really genuine, loving, compassionate, creative, brilliant dude, and I'm just really fortunate to have had the opportunity to write and record a song with him. So when it came out, it was just mind-blowing, man. It was a hit at radio stations, and more important than that, it impacted a lot of people and they let me know it. So I was super proud of it and super grateful to have had that chance."^[4]

Background

On April 11, 2017, Chester Bennington posted a couple of clips on his Instagram story showing himself at Energy Studios with Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton and long time Lamb Of God producer Josh Wilbur.^[5] Later on his Twitter, Chester confirmed he recorded a song with screams with Mark Morton, saying it was "sick" and he couldn't wait for fans to hear it.^[6]^[7]^[8] It has been confirmed by Mike Shinoda that the song was recorded for Morton's solo album.^[9]

Amidst Randy Blythe's (Lamb Of God's frontman) trial for manslaughter in 2012, Mark Morton started working on solo music with some friends. That year, he released the instrumental "Make Sure" for free download,^[10] which was followed by two more tracks in 2016 titled "SnowBound" and "Love Heals". The songs differ a lot from Lamb Of God's metal sound, having influences that range from hard rock and blues to jazz fusion and progressive rock.^[11]^[12] The first studio sessions for Anesthetic would start later that year, in September of 2016, after Morton and Jake Oni conceptualized the idea of an album where they would start recording these songs in the studio and bringing people in to play and perform on them.^[13]

Following Chester's death, Josh Wilbur posted a picture from their sessions together saying, "This pic was taken after an absolutely great session. I left that day raving about what an amazing talent and person Chester was. We talked about music, family, life, struggles, and our musical journeys (oddly that had crossed paths back in NYC when hybrid theory was being made). He was just an incredibly nice person. He personally picked up the phone and called me just a few weeks ago to share his excitement about some music. If you're from my hometown you remember the tragic loss of Mark Meattey. I guess this is part of why this hits so hard. Chester reminded me a lot of Mark. The loss of people so young leaves us with so much hurt, ironically as we are reminiscing about wonderful times. But this..... why.... why like this? Chester, I barely knew you, but you left a lasting impression. My heart aches for those who were truly close to you. If I have any friends who have ever contemplated suicide. Please, pick up the phone. Call me, or anyone. I promise, you are loved."^[14]

In September, Mark Morton took part on Ryan J. Downey's Speak N' Destroy podcast where he talked about their time together: "I didn't know Chester very well but I have worked with him and I did know him a little bit through that. And I had the opportunity to work on some music with him, you know. And, in that experience, it was interesting because we didn't really know each other really well, we had mutual respect. And to have the opportunity to work a creative project with him, it takes a certain amount of like trust. You have to sort of have with somebody to actually get creative and to really, if you're really doing it and you're really putting yourself into it, you gotta trust. That that other person's not gonna turn on you and that they're not gonna, you know what I mean, you have to feel safe, I guess. And I found for me it was very easy to feel that way with him and to really just give in to the process of trying to make something cool happen creatively, because he was just so open and so honest and so clearly clearly excited about music. And just a really good dude, man. Just an easy person to be around... And I feel really fortunate to have had the chance to spend some time with him, and to talk about music and to talk about parenthood, to talk about, you know, so many other things that surround the music industry. And it was a real special moment for me. I'm glad I got to have it."^[15]

Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed revealed during his podcast, The Jasta Show, the track was originally meant for him, but he took too long to work on his version and Mark Morton eventually gave the track to Chester. Jasta said Chester's version ended up a lot better than his own and the line "Turn the hate I breed into what I need" could be a reference to Hatebreed.^[16] However, Mark Morton said "This is not an accurate account of that chain of events." He explained, "There was an early demo of a song called “Cross Off” that was presented to Jamey to consider for one of his solo projects. The basic chord progression of the chorus was the same, but it was a rough, undeveloped, instrumental demo. Jamey passed on the song after that it sat on my laptop for a while. I pulled it back out & re-wrote the music…the presented the re-written version which now also included some of the lyrics & vocal melodies to Chester…he LOVED it…we got in the studio & finished it together. So that’s the story. I just didn’t want it to sound like Jamey was supposed to do the song but he dragged his feet & Chester took it. There was a lot more to the journey than that."^[17]

During a Q&A on Twitter in October 2018, Mark Morton confirmed the track with Chester Bennington was still going to be released^[18] and updates on his solo album would be coming soon.^[19] On December 12, he posted, "Hey y’all. So... I’ve been quietly working on a solo album for the last couple of years and I am stoked to announce that it will be released in 2019! I’m beyond proud of this project and so grateful at having had the opportunity to work with so many amazingly talented friends, new and old. The album is called “Anesthetic”, and we’ll be debuting the first song all day tomorrow on @SXMLiquidMetal... stay tuned!"^[20] The debut single, "The Truth Is Dead", was officially released on December 14th and features vocals by both Randy Blythe from Lamb Of God and Alissa White-Gluz from Arch Enemy, bass by David Ellefson from Megadeth and drums by Roy Mayorga from Stone Sour.^[21]^[22]^[23] Pre-orders for the album started on the same day, revealing its artwork and tracklist.^[24]

On an interview to Kerrang!, Mark Morton explained how "Cross Off", his collaboration with Chester Bennington, came together, "Like many songs on this album, this came from pieces and parts just sat around collecting dust in my files of ideas. As I’d go through, I’d evaluate them and see if they were usable for Lamb Of God – obviously that’s my main band. A lot of the music was the stuff I compiled out of things I liked but in no way could ever end up in my band. Cross Off started kinda on the fence, there are parts I could have fed through the LOG machine and it would have worked. When me and Josh Wilbur, my producer, initially started working on this project, this was one song we both gravitated to right away. It felt pretty hot, had a good groove, was both heavy and melodic… but it went through a lot of changes. That’s how him and I write, we’d sit on things for a few days and move things around a bit like Lego, seeing what we could build together. There’s a couple of party tracks on this album, this is definitely one of them. I was heavily involved with the lyrics, it was when I was coming out of a pretty heavy time in my life. I was thinking about rebirth and a fresh start… so the lyric references all of that, with a bit of ‘Fuck you!’ in there too, which mainly came from Chester!"^[25]

Trivium members Paolo Gregoletto and Alex Bent recorded bass guitar and drums, respectively, for the track. Alex wrote, "Was in the studio recording The Sin and the Sentence (Trivium) when Paolo and I got asked to be on this track (I also did "Sworn Apart"). We learned it later that night and recorded it the next morning with Josh Wilbur at Hybrid Studios."^[26]

When questioned if he had plans in making more music with Chester, Mark Morton said, "We did actually discuss it. When we started, When we got together to write “Cross Off,” we were there just to work on that. We were gonna finish writing, I had the music done and chorus idea for it, but Chester and I finished up the bridge and the verses together. That was our objective and that’s what we did and then that’s “Cross Off” that you hear. We were both pretty jazzed on that song, we were pretty excited about how it turned and so, just corresponding with him after the fact and texting back and forth, he was like, “Let’s do another one, man.” And I was like, you tell me when you’re ready and I’ll be there, you know. That was actually the last time I corresponded with Chester. It wasn’t long after that he wasn’t with us anymore. I don’t know if that was just excited banter, but I meant my part of it. I’ll tell you this, I know he really loved that song. He was excited about it when he heard the demos. He was excited about doing it, you can really hear it in his performance. He was having a blast with that song."^[13]

Tracklist

Digital Single

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	Cross Off (feat. Chester Bennington)	Mark Morton, Chester Bennington, Josh Wilbur, Jake Oni	4:13

Radio Single 1

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	Cross Off - Rock Edit (Clean)	Mark Morton, Chester Bennington, Josh Wilbur, Jake Oni	3:38
2	Cross Off - Album Version (Clean)	Mark Morton, Chester Bennington, Josh Wilbur, Jake Oni	4:13

Radio Single 2

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	Cross Off - Rock Edit (Clean)	Mark Morton, Chester Bennington, Josh Wilbur, Jake Oni	3:38
2	Cross Off - Alternate Edit (Clean)	Mark Morton, Chester Bennington, Josh Wilbur, Jake Oni	3:38

Music Video

A lyric video for "Cross Off" was released on January 8, 2019 on Mark Morton's official YouTube channel.

On March 5, a music video directed by Robert Schober (credited as Roboshobo) was unveiled. Following the same concept of the lyrics, about dealing with turmoil and mental illness, the video tells a story of a man in a parking garage being tormented by an invisible force, which turns out to be his own demons. The scenes are coupled with footage of Mark, Paolo and Alex performing the song beside an empty microphone stand — with no singer.^[27]

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Cross Off (feat. Chester Bennington)	Cross Off (feat. Chester Bennington) Anesthetic	4:13	2017	January 8, 2019
Cross Off - Album Version (Clean)	Cross Off (feat. Chester Bennington)	4:13	2017	January 8, 2019	Censored.
Cross Off - Rock Edit (Clean)	Cross Off (feat. Chester Bennington)	3:38	2017	January 8, 2019	Shortened intro. No scream in the second chorus. Shortened bridge. Scream is considerably lower in the last chorus.
Cross Off - Alternate Edit (Clean)	Cross Off (feat. Chester Bennington)	3:38	2017	March 2019	Rock Edit with additional backing vocals. No screams on the first and second pre-chorus.

Live

In support of Anesthetic, Mark Morton announced a co-headlining tour with Light The Torch that kicked off March 13th, 2019 in Richmond, Virginia, and run through March 26th in Phoenix, Arizona. Moon Tooth opened the shows.^[28] Morton's touring band consisted of Mark Morales (Sons Of Texas) on lead vocals, Doc Coyle (Bad Wolves) on guitar, Nick Villarreal (Sons Of Texas) on bass and Art Cruz (Prong, Winds Of Plague) on the drums.^[29] The setlist consisted of the album in its entirety with "Cross Off" closing the shows. The song was dedicated to Chester Bennington.^[30] Paolo Gregoletto (Trivium), who recorded bass on the studio track, came out at the Chicago concert on March 21st to perform the song.^[31]

Personnel

Band

Mark Morton - Guitar
Chester Bennington - Vocals
Paolo Gregoletto - Bass Guitar
Alex Bent - Drums

Production

Executive Produced by Jake Oni
Produced by Josh Wilbur
Mixed by Josh Wilbur. Engineered by Josh Wilbur
Additional Engineering by Paul Suarez, Jay Robbins & Roy Mayorga
Mastered by Brad Blackwood
Recorded at The Mill Studio in Grand Cayman and Hybrid Studios in Santa Ana, CA
"Cross Off" also recorded at NRG Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Chester Bennington appears courtesy of Warner Bros. Records
Paolo Gregoletto appears courtesy of Roadrunner Records

Artwork

Art Direction & Illustrations by Daniel Danger
Morton illustration based on photo by Chad Lee

Management

Management: 5B Artist Management
Agent: Tim Borror
Legal: Jeff Cohen and Adam Mandell for Millen, White, Zelano & Branigan

Lyrics

Album Version

Cross off the days gone
Cross off the days gone
Gone by

Wasting away
A self-inflicted slow decay
What should've been, what never was
Became the end for both of us

Heavy is the hand that points the finger (finger)
Heavy is the heart that's filled with anger (anger)

So lay them all to waste
Years you decided to erase
And cross off the days

So black out and hide behind the lines
Keep staring down the sun and hope the
Light will finally blind your eyes from seeing
Cross off the days gone by
Cross off the days gone by
Cross off the days gone by

Cutting you free
The phantom limb was part of me
You have lived, you have lost
The separation's worth the cost

Heavy are the words that go unspoken (spoken)
Heavy are the promises now broken (broken)

Will you learn to love the taste
Of the destruction in your wake?
Cross off the days

So black out and hide behind the lines
Keep staring down the sun and hope the
Light will finally blind your eyes from seeing
Cross off the days gone by
Cross off the days gone by
Cross off the days gone

Gone by

Making my way back from the madness
Shifting my thoughts from the blackness
And the sadness, but the fact is
I'm swinging through life like a clenched fist
Fuck sanity, I wanna bleed
Can't kill the pain, it's everything
It's all I feel
It's what I breathe
Turn the hate I breed into what I need

Heavy is the hand that points the finger (finger)
Heavy is the heart that's filled with anger (anger)

Did you survey everything you laid to waste
And cross off the days?

So black out and hide behind the lines
Keep staring down the sun and hope the
Light will finally blind your eyes from seeing
Cross off the days gone by
Cross off the days gone by
Cross off the days gone by

Rock Edit

Cross off the days gone
Cross off the days gone
Gone by

Wasting away
A self-inflicted slow decay
What should've been, what never was
Became the end for both of us

Heavy is the hand that points the finger (finger)
Heavy is the heart that's filled with anger (anger)

So lay them all to waste
Years you decided to erase
And cross off the days

So black out and hide behind the lines
Keep staring down the sun and hope the
Light will finally blind your eyes from seeing
Cross off the days gone by
Cross off the days gone by
Cross off the days gone by

Cutting you free
The phantom limb was part of me
You have lived, you have lost
The separation's worth the cost

Heavy are the words that go unspoken (spoken)
Heavy are the promises now broken (broken)

Will you learn to love the taste
Of the destruction in your wake?
Cross off the days

So black out and hide behind the lines
Keep staring down the sun and hope the
Light will finally blind your eyes from seeing
Cross off the days gone by
Cross off the days gone by
Cross off the days gone by

Making my way back from the madness
Shifting my thoughts from the blackness
And the sadness, but the fact is
I'm swinging through life like a clenched fist

Heavy is the hand that points the finger (finger)
Heavy is the heart that's filled with anger (anger)

Did you survey everything you laid to waste
And cross off the days?

So black out and hide behind the lines
Keep staring down the sun and hope the
Light will finally blind your eyes from seeing
Cross off the days gone by
Cross off the days gone by
Cross off the days gone by