Grand Rapids, Michigan are you ready, you better be. The state of Michigan is wide open and concert season is in full swing once again. The 90’s alternative multi-platinum, Georgia rockers known as Collective Soul will be making a stop at the Meijer Gardens on July 25th. The band is coming off their first ever joint tour with STYX, and will finish up 2021 with their tour. Having covered Collective Soul back in 2018, Ed Roland (vocals / keyboards / guitar), Dean Roland (rhythm guitar), Will Turpin (bass), Jesse Triplett (lead guitar), Johnny Rabb (drums) are still making noise. The band celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2019 in all-out style with the June 21, 2019 release of their tenth studio album, BLOOD.
BLOOD’s first single, “Right As Rain,” singer/guitarist/keyboardist Ed Roland explained, “It’s a phrase I had for a while. It was one my grandmother used to tell me about–one of those old Southern things, you know? ‘C’mon, I’m gonna spank you right as rain!’ I never really knew what it meant (laughs). While I was writing it, Peter Stroud (Sheryl Crow’s lead guitarist and musical director) was home one day in Atlanta, and we invited him over to play the slide-guitar solo on the song for us. We all just sat around together and jammed it out.”
From stem to stern, BLOOD delivers in full. Witness the hard-charging skitter of “Over Me,” the optimistic declaration of “Right as Rain,” the hopeful uplift of a man “Changed,” and the tender promise of “Big Sky.” The album’s final track — the reflective, poignant acoustified coda “Porch Swing” — features background vocals and tasteful dobro licks from none other than Styx guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw, who was beyond thrilled to contribute to the cause. “I’ve always been a fan of E Roland and Collective Soul’s recordings,” Shaw says. “I thought about adding more parts than what Ed asked me to do, but as someone wiser than me once said, ‘Don’t paint over the masterpiece!’”
BLOOD is the culmination of a quarter-century of COLLECTIVE SOUL assessing not only where they’ve come from, but also where they’re going. “I think BLOOD expresses where we’ve been on this life journey,” observes E Roland. “And we’ve done so with songs featuring piano and strings to those with a lot of guitar riffs. BLOOD is an accumulation of all the different styles we’ve used over the years, but it’s still COLLECTIVE SOUL. I think it’s the best we’ve ever done. I know you should think that, but I really do think it’s the best. It’s a good, consistent record. We’re just so proud of it.”
COLLECTIVE SOUL rose to international fame in 1993 with the rock anthem “Shine.” The multi-Platinum quintet has a catalog of #1 hits under their belts that has helped shape and define alternative rock. They’ve sold over 20 million records worldwide and continue to average over one million Spotify streams per month. They were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
To purchase BLOOD click here
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Them Blues static video
“Right As Rain” lyric video
