Collective Soul draw on The Cars and 1980s new wave for Touch And Go, with Eye On You providing the clearest expression of the album’s retro influence.
by Paul Cashmere
Collective Soul have released the music video for Eye On You, one of the defining tracks from their 13th studio album, Touch And Go. The album expands the Georgia rock band’s established guitar-driven sound with a pronounced 1980s new wave influence, drawing on The Cars and the broader era of synthesised rock. Touch And Go was first issued as a Record Store Day vinyl release in April before receiving its wider digital, CD and vinyl release on July 31 through the band’s Fuzze-Flex Records.
Eye On You is significant within the album because it makes the influence particularly apparent. The song combines Collective Soul’s familiar rock foundation with a sound associated with The Cars, while also reflecting elements of the 1980s new wave palette that informed the recording sessions. The Cars had a 1980 hit called ‘Touch and Go’.
The accompanying video extends that approach visually, using a retro aesthetic that complements the musical references. Rather than presenting the song as a departure from Collective Soul’s identity, the track places those influences inside a framework that remains recognisable as the band.
Touch And Go contains 10 songs and is now available digitally, on CD and as a 180-gram teal-marble vinyl edition. Its initial Record Store Day release gave the album a vinyl-first introduction before the broader release made the complete project available across the major formats.
The current Collective Soul line-up features Ed Roland on vocals, guitar and piano, Dean Roland on rhythm guitar, Will Turpin on bass, Jesse Triplett on lead guitar and Johnny Rabb on drums. The band continues its North American headline schedule through the second half of 2026.
Touch And Go follows Here To Eternity, the band’s 2024 double album, and Vibrating from 2022. The sequence places the new record within a period in which Collective Soul have continued to make new music while also examining their history.
That history extends back to 1992, when the group formed in Stockbridge, Georgia. Their first album, Hints Allegations And Things Left Unsaid, began as an independent release in 1993. Its song Shine became the catalyst for the band’s breakthrough after receiving regional radio exposure, leading to a major-label deal with Atlantic Records and a wider reissue in 1994.
Shine remains the most important reference point for Collective Soul’s rise. The song reached No. 1 on the US Mainstream Rock chart and became a mainstream hit, helping turn a regional Georgia band into an international rock act. Its success also established the melodic guitar rock approach that would define much of the group’s 1990s catalogue.
The self-titled Collective Soul followed in 1995 and became the band’s highest-selling album, spending 76 weeks on the Billboard 200 and eventually receiving triple-platinum certification in the United States. It produced three Mainstream Rock No. 1 singles in December, Where The River Flows and The World I Know.
Disciplined Breakdown followed in 1997, with Precious Declaration and Listen continuing the band’s run of rock radio success. Dosage arrived in 1999 and produced Heavy, which spent 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart. By the end of the decade, Collective Soul had established a catalogue that extended well beyond Shine.
The 2000 album Blender marked the final studio record with the band’s best-known original line-up before guitarist Ross Childress departed. Collective Soul subsequently moved towards greater independence, establishing El Music Group in 2004, a label that was later renamed Fuzze-Flex Records.
The band continued releasing albums including Youth, Afterwords, Rabbit, See What You Started By Continuing, Blood and Vibrating before making the double album Here To Eternity. Touch And Go therefore sits within a catalogue spanning more than three decades, while its new wave influence gives the current material a distinct relationship with a period that predates Collective Soul’s own commercial breakthrough.
The band’s recent retrospective activity has also included the feature-length documentary Give Me A Word: The Collective Soul Story, directed by Joseph Rubinstein. The film examines the relationships, creative process and experiences behind the group’s career using contemporary and archival footage. Much of it was filmed in early 2023 at Elvis Presley’s Palm Springs estate during sessions for Here To Eternity.
With Eye On You, Collective Soul are using a familiar format to explore a different era of rock history. The result is an album that connects the band’s established melodic and guitar-based identity with the synthesised textures and new wave references that shaped its recording.
For a band whose catalogue began with the grunge-era guitar anthem Shine, Touch And Go represents another stage in a long recording history. The group remains on the road across North America, with the new material now sitting alongside more than 30 years of Collective Soul songs in the live repertoire.
Touch And Go Tracklisting
Rainbow
Eye On You
Uh Oh
All My Days On Thru
Heavy Load
Fun
Again
Feel
Shooting For You
Love Your Way
Collective Soul Tour Dates
Aug. 13, Sturgis, SD, Buffalo Chip Fairgrounds
Aug. 15, Saskatoon, SK, Rock The River Festival / Rotary Park
Aug. 16, Winnipeg, MB, Burton Cummings Theatre, Burt Block Party
Aug. 20, Fairlee, VT, Lake Morey Resort
Aug. 21, Lincoln, RI, Twin River Events Center
Aug. 22, Cohasset, MA, South Shore Music Circus
Aug. 25, Derry, NH, Tupelo Music Hall
Aug. 26, Hyannis, MA, Melody Tent
Aug. 28, Port Chester, NY, The Capitol Theatre
Aug. 29, Atlantic City, NJ, Ocean Casino Resort
Aug. 30, Selbyville, DE, Freeman Arts Pavilion
Sept. 1, Shipshewana, IN, Blue Gate Performing Arts Center
Sept. 2, Flint, MI, Capitol Theatre
Sept. 4, Des Plaines, IL, The Event Center At Rivers Casino
Sept. 5, Dyersville, IA, Velocity At Field Of Dreams
Sept. 11, Charleston, SC, The Refinery
Sept. 12, Jasper, AL, Foothills Festival
Sept. 13, Peachtree City, GA, Frederick Brown, Jr. Amphitheater
Sept. 24, Bakersfield, CA, Kern County Fairgrounds
Sept. 25, San Diego, CA, Humphreys Concerts By The Bay
Sept. 26, Scottsdale, AZ, Talking Stick Resort
Oct. 16, Pickering, ON, Pickering Casino Resort
Oct. 17, Kitchener, ON, Centre In The Square
Oct. 18, Gloucester, ON, Hard Rock Live Ottawa
Oct. 20, Albany, NY, Palace Theatre
Oct. 21, Reading, PA, Santander Performing Arts Center
Oct. 23, Cherokee, NC, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort
Oct. 24, Cincinnati, OH, Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati
Oct. 25, Bowling Green, KY, Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center (SKyPAC)
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