If you have listened to rock music at any point over the last two decades you have heard the band Collective Soul, which has has seven Billboard Mainstream Rock No. 1 hits and 19 Top 40 singles. You may or may not recognize the name, but your ears have certainly been tuned to the distinctive brand of power rock infused with gentle ballads and catchy lyrics that has set Collective Soul apart from the legions of alternative rock bands spawned in the mid-1990s.
For those unfamiliar with the band, a chance to rectify this travesty and finally put a name and face to the tunes is just around the corner. Collective Soul will be returning to Utah this summer when they play at the Sandy Amphitheater on June 12th at 8 p.m.
In an exclusive phone interview with The Chronicle, Ed Roland, lead singer for Collective Soul, reflected on the band’s 20th anniversary and how he never doubted that Collective Soul would be successful in an industry where bands often have the shelf life of a loaf of bread. In fact, Roland seemed surprised when asked if he ever thought the band would be still be around 20 years later.
“Yeah, actually I did, I mean, that’s the game plan,” Roland said “I love writing songs; it’s part of my daily routine. I still don’t see an end to it, I get enthused, it’s still fun.”
The band has been pals since they were kids. Roland’s brother Dean plays rhythm guitar, and Will Turpin, who plays bass guitar, lived right across the street from the Rolands.
“We all grew up together; we knew each other’s quirks. I’m ten years older than these guys, I remember them being born,” Roland said. “We knew when to be there for each other, and we knew when to smack somebody upside of the head, and it’s nothing personal. We all have the same goal to be the best band and put the best music out there.”
Another key to their formula is their unabashed rock ‘n’ roll style. They are proud of who they are and work hard to cultivate a sound that represents their brand, and the result has been millions of albums sold, including their 1995 self-titled album “Collective Soul” that went triple platinum, along with a rabid and loyal fan base that continually sells out shows. If the Blue Oyster Cult needed “more cowbell” in their sound, then what the music industry needs is more authentic rock ‘n’ roll in their offerings, and that’s exactly what Collective Soul provides.
“That’s what I personally write, that’s what I grew up listening to, and once again, I think rock ‘n’ roll cannot be defined. I go back to my heroes, the Beatles. One song would be a beautiful ballad, and the next would be tripping and screaming,” Roland said , “To me, once you start putting a label on what you’re doing, there is no way out. The only rule in rock ‘n’ roll is, truly, there are no rules.”
Sir Elton John has been another major influence on the band. He collaborated with them on the song “Perfect Day,” which was featured on their fifth studio album “Blender,” released in 2000.
Roland said Elton has always been his hero.
“It’s like the greatest reward a band could ask for, to have their hero part of any recording, especially having Elton sing a song that I wrote. It’s hard to explain, that the reason I started writing was because of him and then 15 years later he is singing with you. It’s the coolest feeling ever.”
In the music industry, fame can be as fleeting as a train passing in the night. Despite their second album going triple platinum, Collective Soul found themselves in a legal dispute with a manager and they began to wonder if their ride was already over. They pooled their money together from the $150 a week they were being paid and rented a cabin on a cow farm in Stockbridge, Georgia to record what would end up being their third album, “Disciplined Breakdown.”
“That one is special to us because we didn’t even know if we would continue to be a band because we were in lawsuit with our manager and we weren’t even supposed to be recording,” Roland said, “I brought the recording gear, and I wanted to make the recording personal. I wanted it to sound like when we were sitting at the kitchen recording this. It does have its own sound, a different sound, but it’s an honest sound, and that’s what I wanted. It was about catching that moment and what we were feeling at the time.”
That experience sums up the independent and creative nature Collective Soul uses to fuel their success and the love they have for making music. The struggles the band went through despite their initial success prepared them for the next, and arguably the most challenging, stage of their career when they decided to make a break from Atlantic Records and venture into the uncharted waters of going independent. In 2001 they released a greatest hits album, “Seven Year Itch” which fulfilled their contract with Atlantic and allowed them to form their own independent label El Music Group.
“We were the first ones to do it, and we take pride that we were the first ones to say, ‘We have a brand, and we are going to be independent.’ It took a lot of courage,” Roland said.
He remembers telling the band that he wanted to go independent and said everyone was a little nervous and hesitant.
“We wanted to focus on our strengths and weaknesses,” he said, adding that he didn’t think that a stranger sitting in New York City would be the best person to represent the band.
While choosing to go independent was clearly fraught with risks, the bold move has given the band a second wind that produced a greater sense of freedom and creativity in their music. It also gave them the ability to control their own destiny and personalize the music they were creating, though it meant taking on their own financial burden in the process.
“Atlantic was great, they never even knew we were making a record, we would show up and say, ‘Here’s a record,’ and they would go, ‘Oh, great,’” Roland said. “When you’re independent, you’re writing the check out of your own banking account. You become a little bit more aware and listen to more of the details because there is a little more riding on it.”
Being independent also allowed Collective Soul to try new things. In 2012 the band embarked on their “Dosage Tour,” in which they played songs from their popular 1999 platinum certified album “Dosage.” They started each show playing the entirety of the album, took a break, then came back on stage and played some of their other hits from past albums. The tour proved to be successful and was a delight for fans. This type of creative strategy is an example of the freedom that being independent brought to the band.
“Atlantic never interfered, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have. We would have liked more interference from them or something, we often felt there was nobody there,” Roland said.
The “Dosage Tour” sets Collective Soul apart, making them one band that does not live off tours that showcase the success of the past. They continue to churn out new albums, including their pending ninth studio album “See What You Started By Continuing” due to be released this summer.
“It’s been four years since we released a record — it’s been too long actually. We took a year off to basically regroup,” Roland said. “I’m not saying this record is the best record Collective Soul is ever going to make because if that’s it, we should stop right now.”
Because there is no one to answer to, the band is able to take the time they need to put out the best album possible, but perhaps more importantly, they don’t feel as though they have to try everything out in the privacy of a studio. While Collective Soul may not have their album out by the time they visit the Sandy Amphitheater in June, fans can rest assured that the band will play many of their new and unfinished songs during their show.
“I want that openness; I want people to pretend, for a lack of a better term, that they are in my living room. We are real guys, we screw up, but we take pride in what we do,” Roland said. “To me that’s the best way to learn a new song. You can practice all you want to, but the best practice is in front of real people, and we love taking the risk.”
Collective Soul has had a fondness for playing in Utah over the years, and based on how quickly fans in Utah sell out their shows, it’s easy to see why. Since 2012, Collective Soul has played once in Salt Lake City and twice in Wendover on top of their upcoming visit to Sandy. The band likes coming back to Utah because it reminds them of an experience they had playing a show in a small club in Salt Lake when they were first getting started.
“That’s one of the first shows we played, and we felt like that night we finally became a band,” Roland said. “It kind of felt spiritual to us, like okay, this is where we found ourselves as a band. So it’s always been special to us for that reason really. I love Salt Lake.”
Tickets for their June 12th show at the Sandy Amphitheater went on sale May 12th. Tickets can be purchased at http://smithstix.com/events/item/root/collective-soul-jun-12
a.clark@chronicle.utah.edu