Early years
Before forming Collective Soul, Ed Roland had studied music composition and guitar playing at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Since the mid-80s Roland had been involved in underground music, either making unpublished demos or performing. He also worked at "Real 2 Reel Studios" in Stockbridge during the 1980s and early 1990s, which was owned by Will Turpin's father. Ed's main duties were producing, mixing and engineering work for local Atlanta artists. He also recorded his own demos and released his independent solo album "Ed-E Roland" in 1991. He had a pre-Collective Soul band in the late 80s and early 90s called Marching Two-Step which included Shane Evans, Michele Rhea Caplinger, and Grammy Award winning record producer/industry executive Matt Serletic.
Caplinger would go on to be a music industry publicist and she was appointed executive director of the Atlanta Chapter of the Recording Academy in 2000. Serletic would go on to produce albums for Collective Soul, Matchbox Twenty, Blessed Union of Souls, Edwin McCain and many others.
Marching Two-Step were a legitimate band for a few years. They never managed to grow beyond the club scene. Attempts to get signed by a record label produced no results. However, the core members have all stayed active in the music industry for many years.
Around 1992, Ed decided to shift focus as he was trying to secure contracts so he could publish his songs and compose for other artists. Marching Two-Step was no longer together, and Ed continued to jam and perform with other local musicians and friends. These early attempts to be signed and published ended in rejection.
That would change in 1993 when his song "Shine" from the Rising Storm label release of "Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid" became an underground hit on an influential college radio station in Orlando. It was around this time that Ed brought along Shane Evans, his brother Dean Roland, Will Turpin and Ross Childress. This would become the official line-up.
Ed Roland was reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and came across the phrase "collective soul"[2]. Although author Ayn Rand actually uses the phrase in a negative connotation, using the "collective soul" as a threat to the main character's sense of individualism, Ed is quick to point out, "...we're not preaching Ayn Rand, objectivism, egoism, or anything...we just dug the name..." and "it [the band's name] could've come out of a Motorcycle Magazine." Atlantic Records took note of the popularity of "Shine" and subsequently signed the band.
Before forming Collective Soul, Ed Roland had studied music composition and guitar playing at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Since the mid-80s Roland had been involved in underground music, either making unpublished demos or performing. He also worked at "Real 2 Reel Studios" in Stockbridge during the 1980s and early 1990s, which was owned by Will Turpin's father. Ed's main duties were producing, mixing and engineering work for local Atlanta artists. He also recorded his own demos and released his independent solo album "Ed-E Roland" in 1991. He had a pre-Collective Soul band in the late 80s and early 90s called Marching Two-Step which included Shane Evans, Michele Rhea Caplinger, and Grammy Award winning record producer/industry executive Matt Serletic.
Caplinger would go on to be a music industry publicist and she was appointed executive director of the Atlanta Chapter of the Recording Academy in 2000. Serletic would go on to produce albums for Collective Soul, Matchbox Twenty, Blessed Union of Souls, Edwin McCain and many others.
Marching Two-Step were a legitimate band for a few years. They never managed to grow beyond the club scene. Attempts to get signed by a record label produced no results. However, the core members have all stayed active in the music industry for many years.
Around 1992, Ed decided to shift focus as he was trying to secure contracts so he could publish his songs and compose for other artists. Marching Two-Step was no longer together, and Ed continued to jam and perform with other local musicians and friends. These early attempts to be signed and published ended in rejection.
That would change in 1993 when his song "Shine" from the Rising Storm label release of "Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid" became an underground hit on an influential college radio station in Orlando. It was around this time that Ed brought along Shane Evans, his brother Dean Roland, Will Turpin and Ross Childress. This would become the official line-up.
Ed Roland was reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and came across the phrase "collective soul"[2]. Although author Ayn Rand actually uses the phrase in a negative connotation, using the "collective soul" as a threat to the main character's sense of individualism, Ed is quick to point out, "...we're not preaching Ayn Rand, objectivism, egoism, or anything...we just dug the name..." and "it [the band's name] could've come out of a Motorcycle Magazine." Atlantic Records took note of the popularity of "Shine" and subsequently signed the band.