Collective Soul reunites and will bring a celebration of live music to California show

The iconic rock quintet Collective Soul is bringing their first post-pandemic solo show to the Rolling Hills Casino in Corning Aug. 22. The performance — which will feature songs from “Blood,” their tenth studio album and latest release — promises to be a celebration of the band’s earnest, observational, uplifting brand of rock.

Collective Soul got their start in 1992 in Stockbridge, Ga., where bass player Will Turpin’s father owned a recording studio. The band’s first mainstream success came in 1993 with the release of “Shine,” an almost-devotional alt-rock anthem that launched the band into prominence overnight and was so unselfconsciously heartfelt it left audiences asking, “is this a religious band?” The song, which topped billboard charts internationally, quickly became a fixture of ‘90s popular rock — as did the band itself.

Sparked by this surprise hit, the band has enjoyed a long career that has resulted in two Billboard Music Awards and nominations for three more. They’ve also been awarded a BMI pop award and an ASCAP pop music award. Since their strong debut, Collective Soul has maintained a consistent presence in the music industry and a steady touring schedule. They’ve sold more than 20 million records internationally; on Spotify, they attract 2.3 million monthly listeners.

A quarter of a century and one pandemic-imposed touring hiatus after “Shine,” the band is coming together again for a full slate of live performances. The lead vocalist, Ed Roland, rhythmic guitarist Dean Roland, drummer Johnny Rabb, lead guitarist Jesse Triplett and bassist Will Turpin have assembled for a national tour. And more than two years after the release of “Blood,” Turpin says he and his bandmates are thrilled to reunite with their audience.

While Turpin maintains that the pandemic itself didn’t alter his perspective on the album, he said in an interview with The Sacramento Bee that it did provide him with a greater appreciation for the joy of celebrating music in-person.

The band carried out its initial post-lockdown performances with a joint tour alongside Styx.

“What really makes my jaw drop to the ground is just how good they are,” Turpin said of Styx. “Every night we got to be inspired by Styx.”

And he said the band was ecstatic to once again interact with fans appreciating their music as the band played it in real time, something Turpin says he took for granted before the pandemic. “The coolest thing about it was seeing people in the crowd just happy as hell to be experiencing live music again, and seeing smiling faces that were singing along,” he said.

If you haven’t heard “Blood” yet, Turpin has a few favorites to recommend. He said “Over Me” is a cathartic album highlight.

“It’s one of the songs that if you’re in the car, you all of a sudden find yourself going 20 miles an hour over the limit,” he said. And “Them Blues” has “the most epic production (the band has) has ever done.”

Finally, “Right as Rain,” he said, is a tender homage to the late Tom Petty, whom Turpin described as “an artist who influenced us all a whole lot that we hated to see leave so early.”

Turpin seems proudest of the band’s songs when they successfully bottle a powerful and universal emotional experience, and he asserts that this goal is a driving force behind Collective Soul’s writing process. Of “Them Blues.” he said, it is “one of the things where we got together and we created by feel and something really good happened.”

After many years touring, writing and producing rock together, Collective Soul hasn’t budged much from their original taste. “Blood” epitomizes the approach to rock that has served as a throughline within the band’s discography — and Turpin prides himself on this consistency.

“The recipe for Collective Soul is the same,” he said. “It’s amazing lyrics and the music to support songs, and it all boils down to emotion.”

And after a quarter of a decade of sharpening his approach to songwriting, Turpin said this is his guiding mantra: “Create from the heart and do what feels good. Don’t worry about what other people think is cool. Don’t worry about what the industry is telling you is cool.”

The pandemic, Turpin said, “definitely changed (my) perspective on being able to celebrate together and be groups and how that that literally can be taken away.”

He cites the time he got to spend with his family during lockdown as the sole silver lining.

“I’ve got three boys and we got to spend some time together. … We started listening to complete records from beginning to end,” he said. And when they weren’t undergoing a world-class rock education? “We sharpened up our ping-pong game as well.”

Turpin also spent five days a week working at the Atlanta studio he inherited from his father. In addition to his work for Collective Soul, Turpin produces music under his indie label Gooey Music and makes solo projects, including his 2018 record Serengeti Drivers.

Without going into specifics, Turpin said much of his music is inspired by his frustration with the divisions that drive people to antagonize one another.

“It has really bothered me that we have such an us-versus-them mentality in our society today,” he said. “Everybody thinks that they’re right. And everybody thinks the other side is 100 percent wrong.

“That’s what bothers me about it: that people can’t just open their minds, open their ears and see if they can find any kind of common ground with the other side.”

The Aug. 22 show will also feature the bands Better than Ezra and Tonic. Tickets are available on the group’s website.