Collective Soul June 22, 2005

w/ Silvertide

After four years out of the public eye, Collective Soul singer Ed Roland has a message for the world. ?Let the word out/I gotta get it out. Whoa, I?m feeling better now,? he declares in ?Better Now,? the energetic rocker that launches Youth, the Georgia rockers? first studio album since 2000?s Blender.

Following a tumultuous four years, Ed says, ?There were a lot of things that just kind of slapped us upside the head and told us it was time to take a break? ? the band is indeed back, reenergized, thanks in part to co-producer Dexter Green and new guitarist Joel Kosche, and, in the words of both Roland brothers, ?Starting over.?

Which makes Youth a very fitting title for the new album. ?Youth to me is a mindset, not a number,? Ed says. ?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. ?It does feel like a 10-year cycle, we were just starting out, playing similar venues and seeing people that we?re seeing today. Yeah, it definitely feels like we are starting over on many levels, but starting over with a big head start.?

If Collective Soul seems to have recaptured the hunger and determination of an indie band just starting out, rather than an act that had 19 different singles reach the Billboard charts during a seven-year span, it?s because they are an indie band again for the first time since 1993?s Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid (later re-released on Atlantic as Rising Storm). And Collective Soul is taking the ?Do It Yourself Philosophy? to its limits, releasing Youth on its own El Music Group imprint.

$29.50 adv / $30 dos