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Post-grunge band Collective Soul returns Raise the ‘Dosage’
By John Benson
For those who were paying attention, Collective Soul has been on hiatus.
A few years removed from releasing its last studio effort, “Collective Soul [Rabbit]” and touring the country, the post-grunge act has something special in store for fans this summer on its “Evening With …” tour, which comes to Cleveland’s House of Blues on Tuesday.
The Georgia-based group is playing its 1999 effort “Dosage” in its entirety. However, there’s controversy — or there should be — surrounding its presentation. You see, instead of playing “Dosage” front to back and waiting for a few minutes of silence before performing hidden track “She Said,” Collective Soul bassist Will Turpin said the band is dropping the obscure tune in the middle of the set. That’s out of order and, well, out of order. Doesn’t that compromise the integrity of the evening?
“You’re the first one to ask about that,” Turpin said, laughing, calling from Los Angeles. “Our thing is, here’s the bonus — you get to hear ‘She Said’ earlier.”
Apparently, Collective Soul has talked about playing an album in its entirety for a while. When the group reconvened earlier this year to plan out its upcoming tour, the decision was made to play an entire CD live, which is a first for the band.
Albums considered for such treatment were the group’s multi-platinum 1995 self-titled affair and “Dosage.” The latter was chosen for its nod to the late ’90s (“Heavy” and “Run”), as well as a connection to younger fans (“Tremble For My Beloved” was featured in the first “Twilight” movie).
“It’s good for us,” Turpin said. “That’s a great moment in Collective Soul’s time. It was our fourth record, and there were songs we did in the studio that we knew were studio songs that we would never attempt live. Having to go back in there and re-learn some songs and try to perform them on the highest level possible has been cool. It’s been therapeutic.”
Turpin, who describes the “Dosage” material as performance art, said the group acts as its own opener coming on stage and playing the CD in its entirety followed by a 10-minute break and a more traditional rock show including plenty of hits (“Shine,” “December,” “The World I Know” and “Where The River Flows”) from the band’s catalog.
Looking to the future, Turpin hints that Collective Soul has plenty of projects in the mill. This includes a potential boxed set celebrating the band’s upcoming 20th anniversary next year.
“Over the next year-and-a-half to two years, we should be out there working hard on a new record and hopefully putting the stamp on our career and making a possible campaign to get into that nice building there in Cleveland,” Turpin said. “I think if we tie it up together well, get out there work real hard, we have a real good argument [for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction].”
When asked whether or not playing “She Said” out of order on the current tour could work against Collective Soul with Rock Hall voters, Turpin said, laughing, “No, I doubt the Rock Hall is going to call us out on that.”