Tag: Collective Soul

A Conversation With, Entertainment, Interview, Morning Call, Music

SteelStacks concert preview: 90s hitmakers Collective Soul set to ‘Shine’ again with chemistry back
Collective Soul – Photo by John Fulton

Collective Soul first rose to fame in 1993 when a DJ in Orlando, Florida decided to start playing their rock anthem, “Shine.” 

The resulting enthusiasm and request for continued plays propelled the group from their humble Georgia-based roots to international acclaim.

Over the course of their career, the quintet has sold more than twenty million records and amassed an arsenal of hits, like “December” and “The World I Know,” that helped define alternative rock. The band’s most recent studio album, 2019′s Blood, also received praise for its indelible consistency of combining all the different styles of music the band has accumulated over the years.

Having recently wrapped their first-ever joint tour with Styx, Collective Soul will headline a performance with fellow nineties veteran bands Better Than Ezra and Tonic at 7 p.m. September 9th at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks in Bethlehem as part of ArtsQuest’s Summer Concert Series.

I recently spoke with Collective Soul guitarist Dean Roland about the band’s upcoming Lehigh Valley show and more.

James Wood for The Morning Call: What’s it like being back performing live shows again after such an extended period of time away during lockdown?

Dean Roland: “This has been the longest break in our career. It’s great to getting the chemistry back together and seeing people having fun and celebrating music again.”

What can fans expect from your upcoming performance in Bethlehem with Better Than Ezra and Tonic?

“A lot of good songs that they know and enjoy and can sing along to. We’ve known the guys from Better Than Ezra and Tonic for years and have done many tours and festivals together. We all live in different cities now but it’ll be fun to get out there and share our passion for music with the audience.”

Read the rest of my

Interview with Dean Roland by Clicking Here

Entertainment, Guitar World Interviews, Interview, Music

Collective Soul’s Ed Roland And Jesse Triplett Discuss New Live Album, the Origin of “Shine”

Photo by: Joseph Guay

Following the release of their ninth full-length album, 2015’s See What You Started by Counting, Collective Soul made the conscious decision to record more than 160 of their shows over the course of the next two years. The result is the band’s new album, the aptly titled, Collective Soul: Live.

Collective Soul rose to fame in 1993 with Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, a collection of frontman Ed Roland’s demos bolstered by the monster hit, “Shine.” Since then, the multi-platinum band have amassed an arsenal of #1 hits and album sales, while simultaneously helping to define rock with their guitar-driven attitude.

Guitar World recently spoke with Roland and the band’s guitarist, Jesse Triplett, about Collective Soul’s new live album, music, gear and more in this exclusive new interview.

What made the band decide to record a live album?

Ed Roland: Jesse joined the band about five years ago and our drummer, Johnny Rabb, joined right before that. After 24 years, I feel this is without a doubt the best line-up we’ve ever had and I’ve always said that once we caught the groove, we needed to get it down. So when we started to tour after our last album, [See What You Started by Continuing], we recorded every show.

How did you determine which live versions to include?

Roland: Of course, every night you want to do the best that you can, but some nights were better than others. Afterwards, we all came back and whittled it down to our producer/engineer/mixer, Shawn Grove. We gave him the weeks we thought were good and let him pick and choose. The only thing we made clear was that we wanted no overdubs. We just wanted what it was that night.

Jesse Triplett: Shawn came out and saw us at a few different spots during the tour. I remember during the first part he’d say to us, “You guys sound good” and by the end was like, “You guys are on fire!” There were so many shows that I sometimes forgot we were recording for a live album.

Is there any set of extra nerves knowing that you’re recording a live show and there’s no going back?

Roland: Jesse and I both like to move around on stage, so when we first started talking about recording we were concerned about how far we should take the showmanship and how much we should reel it back and make sure we we’re playing correctly. Jesse mentioned about forgetting that we were being recorded and I think that really helped with the mindset of doing the show without thinking.

Triplett: If you start thinking about it, it gets weird. It’s better to just get out there and play instead of trying to be technically sound.

Roland: Being a front man, you also have to play with a crowd and know how to entertain and bring them in and take them out. I never wanted to be withdrawn from that by having to think about singing something perfectly. It was more about letting it flow, catching the groove and forgetting about it.

Read the rest of my
Interview with Collective Soul by Clicking Here.