Name the musician who said, “I got more interested in sampling honest sounds, like throwing a wrench at a sheet of metal, getting some crazy sound, finding the rhythm in the chaos, then sampling and looping it.” Let’s see, Moby – Trent Reznor – Norman “Fat Boy Slim” Cook – No, no, no.

The correct answer? Shane Evans of Collective Soul. “I was a pure drummer early on, and I was totally scared of loops and stuff like that,” Evans explains. “I was always interested in electronic drums, but I also knew that the technology wasn’t there yet for electronic drums to take the place of acoustic drums.”

Nevertheless, when the band started to work on the 1999 release Dosage, things changed for Evans. “I was a little scared because I saw where a loop could take over,” he says. “But as I got to learn more about loops, sampling, and the process, I was intrigued by it and discovered that this was another avenue to take for drumming. It’s a tool, and in order to expand your education and knowledge of everything about drumming, you should focus on learning things like programming, looping, and sampling.” Advertisement

That’s not to say that Evans has thrown away his kit for an electronic outfit. To the contrary, Blender, the band’s latest offering, is chock-full of good old-fashioned rock with a soul twist. Without a moment’s hesitation, Evans picks the tune “Boast” as the one where the band came together solidly. “I think that’s the one song that combines what I love about Collective Soul,” he says. “It has a great riff, a great chorus, and I like the whole concept where the verses are slamming and then you bring it back down for the chorus. That song seems to define what a lot of Collective Soul is about.”