With an open-ended schedule, the band turned the kitchen into a performance space and began what they expected was pre-production on what would become their third Atlantic album. "The mood was perfect," says Ed. "The songs were sounding really good so we kept right on recording." Before they realized, they'd cut 20 songs. With one more creative outburst and some help from venerable The Memphis Horns, final touches on the album were completed at the House of Blues studios in Memphis.

On this third step of their creative journey, Collective Soul strikes a tonal balance between the more song-oriented character of their "HINTS ALLEGATIONS AND THINGS LEFT UNSAID" Atlantic debut and the more riff-based signature of their self-titled second album. Confident handling of fine brushstroke guitar work and communicative performance is readily evident, as is what Rolling Stone has called, Ed's "flair for McCartneyesque melodic detail" and "deft popcraft." As a songwriter, Ed found himself basking in the fade-out of a long-term personal and management crisis. The sense of desperation that had dogged both Ed and the band since their first experiences with success had just begun to lift. "I write from how I feel," says Roland, "and this time I was dealing with more emotional things than I'd ever dealt with in my life. It was painful to write these songs, to be honest. But, in the end, it felt more like therapy."

"In a way, Ed's lyrics speak for all of us," says guitarist Dean Roland. "What he was writing reflected how we were all feeling at the time. It hit home and made us that much more passionate about what we were doing." "I'm sure the record would have been a lot different if we didn't have to deal with those things," says drummer Shane Evans, "but maybe that's also what makes it special." Produced by Roland, the resulting "DISCIPLINED BREAKDOWN" shifts moods from the bold, arresting likes of "Precious Declaration" to the quiet, reflective "Maybe" and dramatically hushed "Everything." "These songs allow themselves to be read in many different contexts," says Ed. "They can be experienced as angry and disappointed or liberated and free or hurt and just generally sad."

It's been almost three years since Collective Soul climbed from their hometown rehearsal cellar to watch their first Atlantic release, 1994's "HINTS ALLEGATIONS AND THINGS LEFT UNSAID," begin its exhilarating ride. The year had started out unceremoniously: Ed was still working at the local Reel To Reel recording studio; Dean and bassist Will Turpin were taking classes at Georgia State University; guitarist Ross Childress was pulling shifts at the RevCo pharmacy; and Shane was winding out his unemployment since the lay-offs at nearby Fort Gilliam ended his maintenance job. As "HINTS..." took off, the group took to the stage before the mud-soaked throngs and MTV cameras at Woodstock '94 and played a marathon string of arena concerts with Aerosmith. "Our heads were spinning," says Childress. "It was all so surreal we could hardly absorb what was going on." The group's first single, "Shine," earned RIAA gold and was named Billboard's #1 Hot Album Rock Track of 1994, while winning the Billboard Music Award for "Album Rock Song of the Year." Looking back, what initially rang as a runaway, out-of-the-box success was the sound of a band merely gearing up to reach its true potential. "We're grateful for what 'HINTS...' did," says Ed of what was essentially his songwriting demo. "We were very shocked. I'd been hoping to sell just enough to be able to make a real Collective Soul album." Following "HINTS..." and the unanticipated year in the spotlight, the group was finally able to hit the studio to polish off their first fully realized band effort - a bracing collection of guitar-driven tracks. To underscore its "debut" status, they titled the 1995 set simply "COLLECTIVE SOUL." Accolades and airplay accompanied the album on what would become a 76-week run on the Billboard 200. "Collective Soul makes every note count," declared a Musician cover story. "'Deceptively simple' is a dreadful cliche, but the music truly is simple riff-based rock, and it's deceptive because the songs are so catchy and the arrangements are clever. All of them." Early that year, Collective Soul embarked on an eight-week sold-out opening stint on Van Halen's U.S. arena tour. The group then directed the conviction and energized performance honed during opening-slot gigs to their headlining tour. "It was our stage," says Ed. "It was like having your own car, as opposed to borrowing your parents all the time... anything goes." Their summer-long U.S. tour, which was nominated for Pollstar's "Club Tour of the Year" award, was followed by a month-long headlining tour of Europe.

From the concert stage to the television studio, the band brought their enthusiasm before the cameras for multiple appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Fans began tracing the bands movements through a newly launched set of internet websites, among them the "Smashing Young Men" fan site. (If you happen to check it out, note that Shane now denies Cheech & Chong are his favorite actors.) Along with their other '95 highlights was the chance to contribute a track to "WORKING CLASS HERO: A TRIBUTE TO JOHN LENNON" ("Jealous Guy"). "We were very proud to be asked to be a part of that album," says Ed, one of the group's five Beatles devotees. "The hardest thing about it was settling on just one song to record." A remarkable year was capped off when "COLLECTIVE SOUL"'s "December" single was named Billboard's #1 Hot Album Rock Track of 1995 and won the Billboard Music Award for "Album Rock Song of the Year" - giving Collective Soul the distinction of being the only band to earn the award two years in a row. "December" went on to set a rock radio record with nine weeks at #1. The band also topped the rock chart with "Where The River Flows" and "The World I Know" (also an alternative & adult alternative #1). After earning RIAA platinum with "HINTS...," the band would go one better in January of 1996, with the double platinum certification of the self-titled second album. By September, seemingly in response to the subsequent double platinum achievement of "HINTS...," "COLLECTIVE SOUL" surpassed the triple platinum mark.

The Roland brothers grew up in a musical, but strict, household where listening to the radio was monitored. As a kid, Ed heard little rock 'n' roll other than that of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. For their father, a Southern Baptist minister, pop and rock music had no place in the Roland household - at first. "The brunt of those restrictions were on Ed because he was the oldest," remembers Will. "By the time Dean was a bit older, he could listen to pretty much anything he wanted. Sure, there were certain records Mr. Roland didn't want in the house, but he could play those at one of our houses. It was never a problem." At age 13, Ed encountered "ELTON JOHN'S GREATEST HITS" - it was the album that convinced him he'd become a songwriter. "Elton really introduced me to rock 'n' roll," says Ed. "I remember seeing him when I was young and thinking, 'Wow, that's what it's all about.' He was jumping around and having a blast. I love that. As far as rock 'n' roll goes, I guess I'm an old fashioned kind of guy." Ed took his growing passion for music from Stockbridge to Boston, where he studied guitar at the Berklee College of Music. After a year, he returned home to begin work at the Reel To Reel recording studio, owned by Will's father. During more than eight years there - much spent as the facility's head engineer - Ed earned his technical know-how working behind the boards on demo projects with an continuing stream of regional rock bands. With his unlimited access to the studio, Ed also spent long hours cutting the catalog of songs he was writing on piano and guitar - the one-and-two-take recordings that would eventually become "HINTS..."

Nine years younger than Ed, Dean didn't take up the guitar until he was 19. "When the inspiration hit, it hit hard," says Dean, who had never played in a band prior to his joining Collective Soul in early 1993. "Playing guitar was all I wanted to do. Being in Collective Soul was part of that excitement." For Ed and Dean, their blood relationship isn't vastly different from the one that bonds the band as a whole. "We're all that tight," says Dean. "As a kid, I was at Will's house as much as I was at my own. And Shane and Will have been best friends forever and Ross hung out at the Turpin's all the time because he lived right across the street. We've been connected that way for as long as I can remember." Will first met the Roland brothers at the local Baptist church, where he was part of Mr. Roland's choir. His relationship with Ross goes back to Cub Scouts and Little League. He and Shane played together in the marching band drum line for three years. "It's kind of funny how our growing up together has made it so we even think alike," says Will laughing. "There are times we'll all show up to dinner wearing the same shirt. We're individuals but we communicate on this weird unspoken level. Musically, it makes for the ideal situation. Our strength is our chemistry." In high school, Ross, Shane, and Will were constantly in and out of bands with each other. "We'd play some of our own songs and covers from bands like REM and U2," says Will. "But we also spent a lot of time listening to Van Halen and Led Zeppelin and watching Rush videos." After graduation, Will began pursuing percussion studies - primarily on marimba and timpani - at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Though not an official member of the group until early 1994, he'd often join the band on stage as a backing vocalist or add percussion tracks to songs Ed was working on at Reel To Reel. The day he joined Collective Soul, he went out and bought his first bass. "It made real good sense because Shane and I knew how to lock in rhythmically from our snare drum days in marching band. I watched him learn almost everything he knows." Shane, in contrast, started his musical pursuits when he was ten-years-old and got a bass guitar for Christmas. Though a concert band drummer throughout middle school and high school, he was always being recruited by friends to play bass in various basement bands. In 1989, when the opportunity arose to play drums with Ed in his pre-Collective outfit, Marching Two-Step, he grabbed it. Ross began playing guitar at nine when his parents got him an acoustic guitar. By junior high he was playing electric guitar and music had become an obsession. "I spent so much money on records that my dad was worried about me," says Ross, who was listening to everything from Ozzy Osbourne to Run DMC. After high school, he played with a number of rock bands - including one that, in late 1992, opened a show in Atlanta for Marching Two-Step. Within a week, Ross was the newest member of the band that would soon become Collective Soul. As much as things have changed since those early days - from arena gigs to multi-platinum albums to their four #1 rock hits - one thing remains constant: the attitude. "We want to work hard and keep playing music," states Ed. "That's what we've always wanted."

Hear Collective Soul:

"Precious Declaration"

Real Audio 28.8

Real Audio ISDN

AIFF 215k

"Blame"

Real Audio 28.8

Real Audio ISDN

AIFF 220k

-- Reprinted from Atlantic Records