Everyone was throwing their problems on me, and I just felt like I was getting beat up a lot. I had to incorporate that with what I was going through at the time, which was very overwhelming. I wanted to write a song that didn’t have the title in the lyrics. I came up with the riff, played it for the boys, and they loved it. We started the Dosage record in Miami at what was once called Criteria Studios, it’s called The Hit Factory Sound now after The Hit Factory in New York. What do you remember about writing “Heavy”? Where was it written? Here, Roland takes us inside the song - everything from when it was written, to why, to what it means to him now. I recently spoke Collective Soul frontman Ed Roland, about “Heavy”. It’s a song that understands, and one that contains the inexplicable magic of music, where you feel better thanks its companionship. “And all your weight, it falls on me, it brings me down,” - a powerful line and feeling that everyone can relate to. With a running time of two minutes and fifty-five seconds, “Heavy” is a simple song with a mesmerizing guitar intro, but what makes it most attractive is how honest the lyrics are. “Heavy” as a single, served the band’s seventh number one song on Billboard’s Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, making it their most successful song to date.
![collective soul heavy collective soul heavy](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6n_8hAmwMPo/hqdefault.jpg)
It’s also the opening track on their brand new (and first) live record, Collective Soul Live. “Heavy” by Collective Soul, was the first single off the band’s fourth record, Dosage. Tracking down a photo in my photo library can also be tricky.Behind the hit song: with Collective Soul frontman, Ed Roland Even if I know what pedals I used on an Amy’ gig, I still might not remember the exact settings on my Vick Audio ’73 Rams Head. During this hiatus, I’m likely to change pedals and do different gigs. I tour with Amy a lot, but sometimes we have a few weeks off. 4 is a page from my journal for Amy Helm. If you haven’t been gigging regularly with a particular artist or band, don’t expect you’ll remember preset six for the fourth song in the set in eight months ago.įig. I will also include notes on what presets I used for which song. I can either scratch my head for an hour or take one minute and look at my notes. Each of these gigs has very specific tone collection and I don’t use the same gear for every gig. I play with a lot of artists and do a wide variety of sessions. I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember what I used two gigs ago, let alone four or five. We’re always trying new pedals and messing with settings, but sometimes we need to turn back the clock. Taking pictures of pedalboards, amp settings, and guitars can really help you get back up to speed on a gig you haven’t played in a bit. On the subject of sounds, I also journal about guitar rigs for the various gigs I do. I can write notes in different colors and highlight them. I can create a transcription and cut and paste it in my journal. It allows me to have a collection of journals, just as I would with a notebook. It includes templates for sheet music, tabs, and ruled paper.
![collective soul heavy collective soul heavy](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Eijx6XegwOM/maxresdefault.jpg)
![collective soul heavy collective soul heavy](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/C1YVfVXmDgg/maxresdefault.jpg)
There is a wonderful app for the iPad called GoodNotes. To reduce what I needed to carry around, I moved to an iPad. I’d sit in my hotel room and research music and make a mess. I needed to have a book bag with several notebooks, scissors, tape, and blank music paper. Each entry wasn’t a brief moment, but rather a process to be experienced.Īnd although I liked it, it was a little difficult to do consistently on tour. I’d think about the music more before moving onto something else. It forced me to take time to write it, cut it out, and tape it. I’d notate a musical idea on the sheet music, cut it out, tape it into the notebook, and then write my notes around it. I had blank sheets of music paper and a wire-bound notebook. I used to pursue journaling like an arts-and-crafts project. For instance, you can use a traditional notebook. There are several ways you can approach journaling.