While the battling brothers of Oasis and the recently reunited Black Crowes have become known for their prolonged estrangement as much as their music, the Roland brothers of Collective Soul have managed to stay out of the headlines. Instead, vocalist Ed Roland, guitarist Dean Roland and company have built a 30-year career that kicked off with two multi-platinum albums and continues with the recent release of a double album, “Here To Eternity.”
“You have to take it from a 30,000-feet approach,” says Dean Roland in a recent phone interview. “The little things could become really big things, so you have to rely on the fundamental principles of what we’re doing this for. At the end of the day, we’re brothers and we love each other, but outside of that we both have a passion for music, creating music and sharing what that feeling is for us to other people, and hopefully they like it. So there’s been that connective tissue. I don’t know, you just have some kind of respect because there have been 30 years and obviously plenty of times where he wanted to knock my head of and vice versa. You just go through those times and, you know, maybe we didn’t speak for a little while or whatever; you work though it. Your desire to stick it out is stronger than not making it work.”
Sounding out of place in an early ’90s rock field dominated by grunge, Collective Soul emerged from Georgia with a sound more indebted to classic rock then punk with a massive debut single, “Shine,” and the smash albums “Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid” (1993) and a sophomore self-titled album (1995). More ubiquitous singles on radio and music television included “December” and “The World I Know.” After two more platinum albums and a gold one, the band left Atlantic Records and has spent the next 20 years releasing more of its trademark Southern-flavored mix of thoughtful, melodic guitar rock.
Now releasing their music on their own Fuzze-Flex label, the releases have much less exposure but more freedom. Asked how Atlantic would’ve reacted if the band said it wanted to release a double album, Roland responds, “They would have said, ‘Save it, we we need another release in 18 months.'”
“Here to Eternity,” the band’s 12th studio album, had a strong chart debut, landing in the top 20 of Billboard’s Top Current Albums, Top Album Sales, Hard Rock Albums and Canadian Album Sales. The album’s first single, “Mother’s Love,” featured the Rolands’ mom, Nette Roland, in the music video as well as slide guitar by Brian Ray of Paul McCartney’s band.
In an interesting twist, the Rolands, Will Turpin, Jesse Triplett and Johnny Rabb became only the second artist to record at Elvis Presley’s estate in Palm Springs. Roland, a big fan of Presley, said the band had become friends with the owners of the property and pitched the idea to them.
“You go into it with some degree reverence and just say, OK, this is one of the baddest dudes, in my view,” he says. “I love him, we all do in our band. When you start recording and you have your setup going, you kind of fall into your own creative space, but who knows what seeps in?”
On Thursday, Collective Soul, Hootie & The Blowfish and Edwin McCain will kick off the “Summer Camp with Trucks” tour in Dallas. The lengthy jaunt, which runs through September, includes stops at Saratoga Springs (June 15), Bethel (June 27), Hershey (June 28), Philadelphia (Aug. 16) and Jones Beach (Sept. 5), with some headline dates mixed in.
Collective Soul has known Hootie since the early days of both Southern-based groups and has toured with a surprising spectrum of bands.
“This sounds ridiculous, but we did a tour with The Cranberries in the late ’90s, we did a tour with Metallica in the middle 2000s in South Africa. So for whatever reason it kind of goes all over the place. The Metallica thing was amazing, by the way, they’re super cool.”
While the band is promoting 20 new songs, it is also taking the opportunity to reflect on its career on the occasion of its 30th anniversary. Roland says a career-spanning documentary was made, with old footage and new material captured during the making of “Here to Eternity.”
“I’ve seen the movie, there’s still a few things they need to tweak, but it’s pretty much done,” he says. “It’s like seeing your life, the ups and downs. You know, those early days, we were so young. I was just 20 or 21 when the first record came out, so it’s like these are really young men. Our dad was a Southern Baptist preacher, we grew up in a small town and a bubble like that, and then were unleashed into the world of rock n’ roll. You know, those early days, they were just a blur. There was so much excitement and energy. We were playing with Van Halen and Aerosmith, we played Red Rocks or these venues that you grew up hearing about. You didn’t even know they were real, but they were, and you’re the one on the stage.”
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