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By EMILY GILMORE
The last we heard from Georgia-based Collective Soul, it was the year 2000.
The rock quintet had just released the oft-maligned "Blender," its fifth album in six years, and the effort of endlessly touring and recording was beginning to take its toll on what had been an alternative music juggernaut in the mid-to-late '90s.
"We were tired. It was time to take a break," Collective Soul guitarist Dean Roland said in a phone interview last week.
Collective Soul finished up its contract with Atlantic Records with a greatest-hits album in 2001 and went on hiatus.
In the intervening years, both Roland and his brother, Collective Soul vocalist Ed Roland, went through divorces. Bass player Will Turpin had a kid and Joel Kosche came on board in place of guitarist Ross Childress.
The Roland brothers, Turpin, Kosche and drummer Shane Evans finally reunited after a longer-than-anticipated vacation to record last year's "Youth" before releasing the album on the band's own El Music Group label.
Harking back to its prolific glory days, the band released a collection of acoustic tracks, titled "From the Ground Up," earlier this year.
Collective Soul's scheduled appearance Wednesday at the 9:30 Club in Washington is one in a string of club dates that serves as one big coming-out party to reintroduce Collective Soul to the world.
"We've got like 12 years worth of music to play and we're really proud of the new CD, so we'll be playing a lot of that," Dean Roland said.
Ryan Hoyle has taken over Evans' drumming duties indefinitely. Roland and his bandmates will be on the road until the end of the year with a short break in the fall, he said.
"I kind of had forgotten what [touring] was like, and then all of a sudden I'm gone for six weeks, and [I remember] 'Ah, that's what it's like,'" he said. " I remember this feeling, the old exhaustion."
In spite of the fatigue, the men of Collective Soul are compelled to pursue their passion and live their life for the sake of playing music.
After several years of hibernation, Ed Roland declares, "Let the word out, I've got to get out, Oh I'm feeling better now" in "Better Now," the first track on "Youth."
What follows are 10 more tunes that make up the latest chapter in the band's saga. The songs "Counting the Days" and "Home" are classic Collective Soul, while others like "Better Now" and "Feels Like (It Feels Alright)" capture that same essence infused into arena rock.
But whether he's channeling Judas Priest or imparting a heartfelt ballad, Ed Roland's vocals are enough to send a whole generation of fans back in time as they remember the high school intrigue that was backed by a soundtrack of Collective Soul hits like "December" and "Precious Declaration."
What has become a triumph for Collective Soul didn't have an easy beginning.
"We tried to record the record a couple different times, and we failed miserably at finding that place of creativity that just happens rather than forcing it," Dean Roland said.
Rather than release something they weren't enthusiastic about, Collective Soul culled the best material from almost two CDs worth of music they had recorded and combined it with newer songs that were written and recorded in the last year or so.
"At the end of the day, our priority lies in the songs and how they're produced and presented," Roland said.
Three or four years away from the public eye can be "an eternity" in the music industry, Roland said, and the rejuvenated members of Collective Soul weren't really sure what was going to happen when they mounted their comeback.
But after taking some time off, Roland was left with a new appreciation for his chosen profession and a focus he didn't have when he was 21 and the band first got signed.
"Our passion is not driven on commercial success," Roland said. "It's driven on the music itself. As long as that stays intact, we're fulfilled."
So the glowing reviews and joyous fans must be gravy to a group of guys whose past success has allowed them the freedom to go their own way.
"A part of it feels like starting over," Roland said. "But we're starting with this perspective also with appreciation for where we've been and where we are and where we aim to be."
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