123: Collective Soul Bassist Will Turpin

Casio's Cut

Casio talks to Collective Soul bassist Will Turpin about getting back out on tour, what music means to him. Their desire to continue to create new music over 25 years into this...
Collective Soul is an American rock band originally from Stockbridge, Georgia. Now based in Atlanta, the group consists of lead vocalist Ed Roland, rhythm guitarist Dean Roland, bassist Will Turpin, drummer Johnny Rabb, and lead guitarist Jesse Triplett. Formed in 1992, Collective Soul released their Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid album on the independent label Rising Storm Records in 1993. The band went from obscurity to popularity that year after the song "Shine" became an underground hit based on radio play. The album was re-released in 1994 under major label Atlantic Records.
Collective Soul released a self-titled album in March 1995. Considered by Ed Roland to be the band's true debut album, Collective Soul spent 76 weeks on the Billboard 200 charts and went triple-platinum, becoming the band's highest-selling album. The singles "December", "The World I Know", and "Where the River Flows" each reached No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock charts. About two years later, Collective Soul released Disciplined Breakdown. Although not as successful in sales as their previous two albums, Disciplined Breakdown contained two No. 1 Mainstream Rock chart hits with "Precious Declaration" and "Listen". The band released a fourth studio album, Dosage, in 1999. The album's first single, "Heavy", spent a then record-breaking 15 weeks on the top spot of the Mainstream Rock charts.
The band released Blender in 2000, their fifth and final album with the original starting lineup, as lead guitarist Ross Childress left the band in 2001. About two weeks after Childress' departure, Collective Soul released Seven Year Itch, a compilation of their greatest hits between 1994 and 2001. Collective Soul established their own label, El Music Group, prior to releasing Youth in 2004. The band recorded a live album with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra in 2005, titled Home, and released it in 2006. Original drummer Shane Evans departed from the band at the end of 2005. Collective Soul has since released four more albums: Afterwords (2007), a second self-titled album (2009), See What You Started by Continuing (2015), and Blood (2019).