Collective Soul Band Interview

We chat with Dean and Will from Collective Soul to get their take on the band's evolution.

Collective Soul Band Interview Rebecca Breighton: Grit and determination kept these ‘90s rock icons going through a tough legal battle to secure the rights to their music and their name. Hi, I'm Rebecca Breighton and welcome to watchmojo.com and today, we’re speaking with Collective Soul. So why don’t you start by telling us the origin story of Collective Soul? Will Turpin: It’s written in another language. I don’t know if I can--I don’t even know if I can decipher it. Dean Roland: Will’s father owned a studio in our town. Our father was the minister in the town. We took a little gospel spiritual, added a little rock and roll. It came out with Collective Soul. Rebecca Breighton: How do you think that the band’s music has evolved since you started out? Will Turpin: We’ve always had an eclectic sound and we’ve had songs that hit any part of the gamete of music, of rock and roll. Dean Roland: It is difficult to be objective about what you do. I think the common theme that we have is melody. At the end of the day, it’s looking for the old melody that you can lock into. Rebecca Breighton: Tell me what it’s like to be honored by your home state as you guys were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Will Turpin: It’s awesome! I mean, anytime you’re recognized by peers and other people in the music industry, I consider that an honor. What can we say? I mean, we’re a member of a club now that includes Allman Brothers, REM, Otis Redding, James Brown, Collective Soul. Hey, we just show them our card at the door and we’re allowed in anywhere now. Rebecca Breighton: What effect do you think your legal battles had on your music and the outlook on music? Will Turpin: “Precious Declaration” would be a clear idea of how that snuck into our music. I’ve totally always separated music, the human involvement with music with the business no matter what the business is, whether you’re talking about selling potato chips or selling music. There’s evil people in every facet of business. Rebecca Breighton: Now, I heard you guys say that for the new album that you’re kind of trying to do things the way you did them when you first started out in a kind of a more laid-back approach. Do you want to tell us a bit more about that? Will Turpin: I think the general idea before we started recording was to get back to some of the raw rock of Collective Soul. I don’t spend a lot of time trying to think about what to do. I just create what feels good as opposed to thinking “I need to do this differently” and then trying something different. I just go by feel. Rebecca Breighton: Thanks very much guys. Will Turpin: Thank you.