Collective Soul and Switchfoot will team-up for a co-headlining tour for the first time this summer. The tour begins in less than a month when they kick off in Gary, Indiana on July 15.
They will play at the St. Louis Music Park in Maryland Heights, MO on the third stop of the tour July 17. Tickets are still available for that show.
Collective Soul’s latest album, BLOOD (2019 Fuzze-Flex Records), showed that, even after 30 years the band still has plenty left in the proverbial tank to share. A new album is ready to be released on August 12, entitled VIBRATING. Hopefully, we will hear a new track or two from the upcoming album at that show.
Collective Soul performing at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre for Wayback Pointfest 2019. Photo by Sean Derrick/Thyrd Eye Photography.
Switchfoot has sold almost 10 million albums to date, while raising over $2,000,000 to aid children in their community through their BRO-AM Foundation.
Switchfoot performing at The Pageant in 2011. Photo by Sean Derrick/Thyrd Eye Photography.
COLLECTIVE SOUL singer/guitarist Ed Roland can’t wait to get the tour started. “It’s always a thrill to go on tour, but this year is going to be so special because we get to be with not only our friends but a great band, Switchfoot! Southern boys meet Southern California boys, which will be a fun time for all!”
Switchfoot singer/guitarist Jon Foreman couldn’t agree more. “Been fans of COLLECTIVE SOUL and their songs from day one. Can’t believe it took this long for us to finally tour together. Psyched it’s finally happening!”
Switchfoot performing at The Pageant in 2011. Photo by Sean Derrick/Thyrd Eye Photography.
While the album title, BLOOD, maybe evoke many different thoughts and ideas, for the band, it all comes down to that same word: family. “I think BLOOD expresses where we’ve been on this life journey,” observes singer/guitarist Ed Roland. “And we’ve done so with songs featuring piano and strings to those with a lot of guitar riffs. BLOOD is an accumulation of all the different styles we’ve used over the years, but it’s still COLLECTIVE SOUL. I think it’s the best we’ve ever done. I know you should think that, but I really do think it’s the best. It’s a good, consistent record. We’re just so proud of it.”
Collective Soul performing at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre as part of the KSHE 50th Birthday Party in 2017. Photo by Sean Derrick/Thyrd Eye Photography.
About BLOOD’s first single, “Right As Rain,” singer/guitarist/keyboardist Ed Roland explained, “It’s a phrase I had for a while. It was one my grandmother used to tell me about–one of those old Southern things, you know? ‘C’mon, I’m gonna spank you right as rain!’ I never really knew what it meant (laughs). While I was writing it, Peter Stroud (Sheryl Crow’s lead guitarist and musical director) was home one day in Atlanta, and we invited him over to play the slide-guitar solo on the song for us. We all just sat around together and jammed it out.”
From stem to stern, BLOOD delivers in full. Witness the hard-charging skitter of “Over Me,” the optimistic declaration of “Right as Rain,” the hopeful uplift of a man “Changed,” and the tender promise of “Big Sky.” The album’s final track — the reflective, poignant acoustified coda “Porch Swing” — features background vocals and tasteful dobro licks from none other than Styx guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw, who was beyond thrilled to contribute to the cause. “I’ve always been a fan of E Roland and Collective Soul’s recordings,” Shaw says. “I thought about adding more parts than what Ed asked me to do, but as someone wiser than me once said, ‘Don’t paint over the masterpiece!’”
Ed Roland of Collective Soul performs at the KSHE 95 50th Birthday Party at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Saint Louis in 2017. Photo by Sean Derrick/Thyrd Eye Photography.
BLOOD is the culmination of a quarter-century of COLLECTIVE SOUL assessing not only where they’ve come from, but also where they’re going. “I think BLOOD expresses where we’ve been on this life journey,” observes E Roland. “And we’ve done so with songs featuring piano and strings to those with a lot of guitar riffs. BLOOD is an accumulation of all the different styles we’ve used over the years, but it’s still COLLECTIVE SOUL. I think it’s the best we’ve ever done. I know you should think that, but I really do think it’s the best. It’s a good, consistent record. We’re just so proud of it.”
Indelibly memorable tracks like “December,” “The World I Know,” “Gel,” “Heavy,” and “Precious Declaration” (to name but a few) all evoke a collective sense of heartfelt observational universality and earnest positivity — in short, they’re the jukebox heroes of a new generation. Indeed, the secret sauce to COLLECTIVE SOUL’s continued success story is a simple one: a palpable mixture of insightful songwriting and impeccable band chemistry.
COLLECTIVE SOUL rose to international fame in 1993 with the rock anthem “Shine.” The multi-Platinum quintet has a catalog of #1 hits under their belts that has helped shape and define alternative rock. They’ve sold over 20 million records worldwide and continue to average over one million Spotify streams per month. They were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
Collective Soul photo 2016 by Sean Derrick/Thyrd Eye Photography
Meanwhile, bassist WILL TURPIN released his debut solo full length album, SERENGETI DRIVERS, June 8, 2018 via his own Gooey Records label. Over a four-year period, TURPIN put the work in on SERENGETI DRIVERS, the follow-up to 2011’s THE LIGHTHOUSE five-song EP which was a piano-driven power pop statement that pleasantly took many critics and fans by surprise. Some of the lyrical themes in his latest offering explore love, honesty, betrayal, spiritual boundaries and cosmic relevance.
Produced by Turpin and co-produced by Jonathan Beckner, SERENGETI DRIVERS is an 11-song showcase featuring plenty of riffs, aggressive up-tempo rockers, tender tunes, slices of Americana and Beatles-influenced numbers. They are melodically rich, deeply textured, lyrically insightful, and its title SERENGETI DRIVERS suggests, wildly adventurous, which came to TURPIN in a dream.
“At the beginning of this record, I was having this recurring dream where I was walking in the desert. I wasn’t lost, but yet I didn’t know where I was or where I was going. I would see a group of friends, and they would be driving in the desert and having fun,” Turpin said. “I’d ask, ‘Who are these Serengeti drivers? Hey, I know them!’”
Collective Soul performing at Rib America in downtown St. Louis in 2011. Photo by Sean Derrick/Thyrd Eye Photography.
Collective Soul & Switchfoot 2022 Tour Dates:
July 15 – Gary, IN @ Hard Rock Casino
July 16 – Council Bluffs, IA @ Harrah’s Council Bluffs – Stir Cove July 17 – Maryland Heights, MO @ Saint Louis Music Park
July 19 – Cleveland, OH @ Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
July 20 – Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! – Indoor Music Hall
July 23 – Fond du Lac, WI @ Fond du Lac Fair
July 24 – Wabash, IN @ Honeywell Center
July 26 – Newport, KY @ PromoWest Pavilion at OVATION
July 27 – Midlothian, VA @ AfterHours Southside
July 30 – Grantville, PA @ Penn National Racecourse – Hollywood Casino
July 31 – Hampton, NH @ Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
Aug 2 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore Silver Spring
Aug 3 – Huntington, NY @ The Paramount
Aug 4 – New York City @ Palladium Times Square
Aug 6 – Webster, MA @ Indian Ranch
Aug 7 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
Aug 8 – Jackson, MI @ Jackson County Fairgrounds
Aug 13 – Billings, MT @ MetraPark – First Interstate Arena
Aug 14 – Denver @ The Mission Ballroom
Aug 15 – Sandy, UT @ Sandy City Amphitheater
Aug 17 – Jacksonville, OR @ Britt Pavilion
Aug 20 – Paso Robles, CA @ Vina Robles Amphitheatre
Aug 21 – Saratoga, CA @ The Mountain Winery
Aug 23 – Inglewood, CA @ YouTube Theater
Aug 24 – San Diego @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
Aug 26 – Henderson, NV @ Sunset Station Outdoor Amphitheater
Aug 27 – Flagstaff, AZ @ Fort Tuthill Park – Pepsi Amphitheater
Sept 5 – New Haven, KY The Amphitheater at Dant Crossing
Sept 7 – Cary, NC @ Koka Booth Amphitheatre at Regency Park
Sept 9 – Charleston, SC @ The Riviera Theater – Sottile Ballroom
Sept 10 – Atlanta, GA @ Cadence Park Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
Sept 11 – Nashville @ Grand Ole Opry House
Sept 13 – Jacksonville, FL @ Florida Theatre
Sept 14 – Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall
Sept 16 – Orlando @ Hard Rock Live
Sept 17 – Pompano Beach, FL @ Pompano Beach Amphitheatre
Sept 20 – New Orleans @ Mahalia Jackson Theater
Sept 21 – Sugar Land, TX @ Smart Financial Centre
Sept 23 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Live
Sept 24 – San Antonio, TX @ Majestic Theatre
