Collective Soul

Hit-makers Collective Soul have announced the release of their new CD Youth on November 16, 2004 through their own newly formed label El Music Group. Youth is the Georgia rockers’ sixth studio album and their first studio album since 2000’s critically acclaimed Blender.

Collective Soul brothers Ed Roland (Vocals/Guitars/Keyboards) and Dean Roland (Guitar) along with Will Turpin (Bass/Percussion) and Shane Evans (Drums/Percussion) are back in full force with newly recruited guitar player Joel Kosche. Additionally, Dexter Green along with Ed Roland co-wrote the first three tracks and co-produced the album.

Ed Roland explains that Youth is a very fitting title for the new album. “Youth to me is a mindset, not a number, we’ve been doing this for ten years and we’ve never felt more youthful and more ready to be in the position that we’re in.” “Even the music represents that starting over to some degree. We switched gears and went to more of our roots on the music level and production level,” Dean adds.

Collective Soul was formed in 1994 and in the following seven years the band had 19 singles reach the Billboard charts. “December” was one of seven songs during that interval to go to #1 on the Billboard Rock Tracks charts, along with the omnipresent upbeat pop number “Shine,” the soaring ballad “The World I Know,” “Gel,” “Blame,” and “Precious Declaration” and the list goes on.

Standout tracks on Youth include the album’s first riff-rock single “Counting The Days," which is being featured in NASCAR’s end of the season points challenge on NBC, as well as the infectious Collective Soul chorus of “Home,” the heartfelt and hooky ballad “How Do You Love,” the atmospheric, rich, mid-tempo rocker “Perfect To Stay,” and the anthem-esque “Under Heaven’s Skies,” which explodes from its genial verses into a ferociously raucous chorus.

Collective Soul is planning a massive national Youth tour at the start of 2005.

When Seattle grunge went mainstream, it was only a matter of time before the ripple effect was felt in regions other than the Pacific Northwest. The Georgia-based quintet Collective Soul -- along with fellow inheritors of the now commercially lucrative post-grunge landscape like Live, Bush, and Candlebox -- developed the genre into a more succinct brand of angst, turning the sonic cacophony of bands like Mudhoney and the Melvins into radio-friendly hard rock.

Collective Soul (whose name borrowed from a line in Ayn Rand's book -The Fountainhead) was formed in the small town of Stockbridge in the early '90s by principal songwriter Ed Roland (lead vocals/keyboards/guitars), guitarists Dean Roland and Joel Kosche, and rhythm section Will Turpin (bass/percussion) and Shane Evans (drums/percussion). Originally released in 1993 on the Atlanta indie label Rising Storm, the debut effort Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid proved popular enough on the local level that it was picked up the following year by Atlantic. Within months of its major-label release, "Shine" became a modern rock and MTV staple, and Collective Soul found itself laden with a platinum debut, an arena tour alongside Aerosmith, and a spot on the roster for Woodstock 1994.

The bandmates released an eponymous sophomore effort the following year, which spawned five Top Ten hits on the Hot Mainstream Rock charts. Two such singles, "December" and the symphonic "World I Know," also charted in the Top 40, demonstrating the band's crossover appeal and gathering multi-platinum sales for the album. Although Collective Soul's fan base began to wane upon the release of 1997's Disciplined Breakdown, the 1999 effort Dosage was a return to form, yielding the hit singles "Run" (another crossover hit) and "Heavy." Despite the band's best efforts, however, the post-grunge genre had begun to suffer under the weight of the emerging nu-metal scene, and the band's heyday drew to a slow close.

Collective Soul returned in 2000 with Blender, an image-seeking misfire that saw the group attempting a clean-cut (no facial hair) image while mixing heavily produced AOR with elements of dance-pop, even performing a duet with Elton John. The album nevertheless went gold, and the following year, Collective Soul concluded its contractual obligation to Atlantic Records with the release of 7even Year Itch: Collective Soul's Greatest Hits 1994-2001. The musicians then returned to their roots in 2004, bringing on new guitar player Joel Kosche and releasing the stripped-down and dynamic album Youth on their own El Music Group imprint. An eight-song EP (From the Ground Up) arrived the following year. In early 2007, it was announced that the band had teamed up with Target, which became the "exclusive physical retailer" of the band's next album, Afterwords. One year after its release, the album was reissued at all retail outlets. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide