MTV News: The last Collective Soul record, "Disciplined Breakdown," was a fairly somber, moody effort, while the new album, "Dosage," seems brighter and much more relaxed. How would you contrast the making of the two?
Ed Roland: Well, "Dosage" was a much easier record to make overall, if only because the last one was basically recorded in a cabin and in a room no bigger than 10-by-12 feet. The attitude of the band wasn't that great at the time, because we were going through a lawsuit with our ex-manager.
We had no money going in, and we had been on the road for 18 months, and literally, we didn't know if we'd be allowed to be a band again. Every day we were talking with attorneys, which just sets the tone for the day as really ugly right from the beginning. So "Disciplined Breakdown" ended up being a very honest record. I'm very proud of it, but it's not something I'd want to go through again.

Ross Childress: For "Dosage," we were in an actual studio for eight months, which gave us the luxury of time. That alone made it the complete opposite from the sessions for "Breakdown."

MTV: "Dosage" seems even more experimental than Collective Soul's first three records, particularly with its usage of loops and samples -- something the band has seemed to shy away from for the most part.
Ed: That comes with the luxury of time. When we've come into the studio from the road, we've usually had a tour already bookending the sessions. That way we've only had just so long to finish the record, as the tour would start the day after we were done. You have that push to finish, and there's not much time to go, "Hey, why don't you play this instrument? Why don't we experiment with loops?"
Ross: Actually, I think a lot of that happened in the mixing process. We were able to really experiment, turn knobs, and play around with things we hadn't done before. And in a lot of cases, if we had an idea, we just put it on a track. Because the cool thing is that you can always hit the mute button while doing the mixing. And in some cases, I think we had 12 tracks muted on certain songs. Sometimes more.
Ed: We also had to be careful not to be too cute, because some people might go, "Oh, Collective Soul is jumping on the bandwagon of the technology thing." But guitars are still the cornerstone of this band. We're a rock band, but we just wanted to try and add another dimension in there. So we had to be very careful, especially with us, because we get ridden hard by some critics anyway, and they're just looking for one more excuse to get on our case.
I thought we actually made a good blend of it. A lot of credit goes to Tom Lord-Alge, who mixed the record. He's very rock-oriented, and he even got onto us a couple of times, asking us if we were trying to make a techno record at one point.
But we want to play with keyboards, and we want to use the technology. We enjoy it. Jimi Hendrix used a wah pedal, and that wasn't part of a guitar amp. That was another effect and he did it beautifully. We get bored with ourselves very easily (laughs), so we like to indulge our interests in hopes that we move forward a little bit. Who knows, maybe we'll be Depeche Mode by 2005.

MTV: You were one of the newest acts to play Woodstock II back in 1994. Now word has it you'll be coming back for this year's edition, slated for July in Rome, New York. Looking back, what is your take on the 1994 concert, which celebrated Woodstock's 25th anniversary?
Ed: I thought it was great. (Laughs) We got free tickets and got to hang out with all the other bands. Plus, we were so new to the whole scene back then that we were like newborn puppies.
However, I do think too much emphasis was put on the last one about trying to recapture some kind of spirit from the '60s. You know what? We can't do that. We're not the '60s. We're not there. Let's capture our own spirit. That's the way it should be approached, 'cause we never can recapture the '60s, '70s, or '80s, and before long we're not going to be able to recapture the '90s. Let's just kind of have fun with the day and move on.

MTV: Getting back to "Dosage"... when you first started working on the album, was there a particular track that sort of helped anchor the direction of the sessions? Or was it all patched together?
Ed: Well, I think we knew we were going in that direction when we started, but I think "No More, No Less" was actually the first one we did where Shane [Evans, the band's drummer] came up with the loop of the glass breaking and we were like, "OK. We can have some fun with this."
Ross: Yeah, and then there was "Heavy." (Laughs) There's a version of "Heavy" that's way different than what finally made the album.
Ed: Yeah, it had to come back down to planet Earth.

MTV: You've hit the ground running with this record, thanks to two singles, "Run" and "Heavy," and the songs seem to have appealed to diverse audiences because of their divergent sounds. How did that one-two punch come about?
Ed: "Run" was released on the "Varsity Blues" soundtrack, which came out four to six weeks before our CD did. And we felt that it was a great opportunity, because it kind of helped reintroduce the band. I also think it introduced us to some people that might not have normally listened to Collective Soul.
But then we knew, being a rock band, that we had to be very careful these days because there's a lot of segregation on radio. You either have to fit this format, or you have to fit that format. We've been one of those bastard bands, as I'd like to call us, because no format has really taken a hold of us. They kind of throw us around and go, "OK, it's your turn this time."
I didn't think it's worked as well as it has [in the past], but we wanted to make sure that people understood that we weren't going soft. That's why we followed up "Run" with "Heavy." We weren't going to start doing power ballads, or whatever you call them. I don't even know what those songs are being called these days.

MTV: Ross, you step to the forefront on this album to sing "Dandy Life." Was it easy to approach Ed and the other guys and go, "Hey, I think I have something that could work out for the band?"
Ross: Well, I had done these demos at Will's father's studios in Stockbridge, Georgia, where we all grew up. I did a few songs there and then showed them to the band a little late. "Dandy Life" was one of them, and when they heard the tape, everyone was like, "Yeah, let's try it and see what happens." So we re-recorded it later on and it kind of worked out.
Ed: I wish the other guys would start singing, 'cause I'd like to go into semi-retirement. That'd be kind of fun for me. (Laughs) No, it's great. Once again, it's just another dimension of the group -- and we've yet to really explore every aspect of the band and its abilities, because most of the guys can do a lot more.
For singing, I think it just has to come to the point where you hit that comfort level where you can and want to do it. Just so you're not popped out of the womb and expected to sing, which is a very personal, very difficult thing. I'm hoping that the rest of the guys will jump in for the next one.

MTV: Collective Soul released its debut album over five years ago, and you've managed to outlast most of your mid-'90s peers since then. How has the group been able to maintain its musical focus and keep itself relevant to fans?
Ed: I think the one thing that has helped is that we're very honest and we're very sincere about what we do. And I think that comes across in what we do. I think anybody that has ever seen us live understands that we love what we do, and we're very appreciative of the position that we're in. We do not take it for granted.
We also grew up together, these five guys. So we've known each other for all of our lives, and we grew up with the same type of background. I think if there had been anybody else in Collective Soul, this band wouldn't have made it, because we did go through some difficult times. But we know each other so well. We know when to be there for each other, and we know when to leave each other alone, and we know when to slap each other around, if need be.
That's what's helped us get through those rough times and yet help each other push to the next level. As far as the musical trends, there's just no way to keep up with that. It'll all change next month, and then the month after that. You can bet on it...