Since Collective Soul made its 1994 debut with Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, the Atlanta, Georgia quintet has sold nearly nine million records and scored eight Number One hits. Often dismissed by critics as just another gaggle of faceless guitar-rockers, Collective Soul has nonetheless held its own amid such colorful advents as grunge, neo-ska-punk, rap-rock and the teen pop invasion -- thanks largely to an uncanny knack for crafting catchy tunes, which the band then drives home with enough grit to give them an appealing rock edge. The group’s fifth album, Blender, adheres to the patented musical values that have kept Collective Soul going strong -- with a few twists. The electronic elements that have been present for some time give tracks like “Vent” an especially elastic groove, and elusive loops lend occasional exotic flourishes to the mix. Guitarist Ross Childress’ gear of choice for the album included a semi-hollow body Paul Reed Smith McCarty, a Gibson ’62 Les Paul Special, which was the prototype for the SG, and a variety of newer Gibsons. For amplification, he plugged into Fender twins. He has a ’62 head with ’76 speakers, which he plays at home and a ’65 Twin reissue, which he takes on the road. Childress isn’t exactly a chatterbox, but once he warms up he soon succumbs to the great Southern story-telling tradition, sharing his portion of the band history with a certain rambling charm.

When did you start playing guitar?

At eight years old. I was the first born, and I didn’t have older brothers or sisters. I was in a private school that was against rock ’n’ roll. My parents weren’t against rock ’n’ roll, but the school was. So early on I was just playing folk acoustic guitar and not really having any guitar heroes or anything till later on when I was, like, 16.

Did you take lessons?

I got an acoustic as a Christmas gift, and I took lessons for two months and my teacher wanted me to sing. She said I couldn’t learn how to play guitar unless I sung, and I didn’t feel like singing. I just wanted to learn how to play guitar. I was crying and all that and eventually I quit. I just taught myself.

So your school was anti-rock but your parents weren’t?

You hear these stories of people saying, “Yeah my folks told me I couldn’t listen to rock.” My parents weren’t listening to it, but they weren’t telling me not to. It was the school saying it was wrong. So not knowing any other way, I just never listened to it. But what happened was me and a friend stumbled across a new form of music that they didn’t understand. Rap music. It was like ’83 -- in the very beginnings of it.

Run-D.M.C.

Exactly. It was Run-D.M.C.’s very first album. It came out and we stumbled across it. They were sitting there talking over a drum beat, and that was the most non-threatening thing you could possibly make. There was no cussing, there was no sexual anything -- they were just talking over a drum beat, talking about hard times. And it stumped ’em [at school]. All of a sudden we found this new form of music we could listen to, so we were all on that. What that did was introduce me to music in a different way. I went through that for like a year, and then I got on the Prince Purple Rain thing when that came out in ’84, and that’s what totally did it for me.

It’s interesting that Run-D.M.C. made such an impact on you. One of the distinctive features about your playing is how tightly syncopated it is at times -- like the riffs in “Shine.” They’re deployed much like the heavy guitar samples a lot of early rap acts used. Do you think that had an impact on your playing style?

Oh yeah, definitely. All that stuff I was listening to in the very beginning -- a lot of beat boxes and stuff.

When did you start playing electric?

I believe I was 16… It was a Sears Flying V. It was so heavy -- it was like a tree trunk. [Laughs.]

Can you read music?

Yeah. I always kind of messed around with it, but its not like I’m proficient at it. What happened later on, though, what brought all this stuff together was a piano class I took in college. I was like, “Aaaah, I totally see everything. It’s all there. Okay.” It was like I saw Yoda or something.

Aside from musical issues, it seems like the other big challenge bands face is just staying together. You guys seem very stable.

We were very good friends from the beginning. We went to the same high school, grew up in the same town. There’s conflicts here and there, but I think [getting along] is just [a matter of] learning each other and knowing when to give each other space. It’s funny looking back because [touring] in the beginning, we were four to a room, and then it went to two to a room, and now we have our own rooms. Going through those different stages you learn a lot about everybody.

The new Collective Soul album, Blender.

Elton John makes a guest appearance on “Perfect Day.” How did that come about?

He has a part-time residence in Atlanta so we’ve hung out here and there with him. He’s come to our shows and we’ve gone to his. We went and ate dinner together, and he’s really such a cool guy. What it came down to was we called his bluff. We were always telling each other that we want to play on each other’s albums, and we kind of confronted him directly. We asked him to sing on the album, and he said, “I would love to on one stipulation -- if you allow me to play piano, also” and we were like, “Nooooo problem.”

You grew up in a religious environment.

Yes, you could say that.

Did that make it difficult for you to go into the music business? The rock world can be such a den of iniquity.

I don’t know. It’s really weird, but you know how things happen for a reason? Well, they had this big “I Hate Rock ’n’ Roll Day” at school. It was an anti-rock [rally], and they had everybody make a pledge of not ever listening to rock. And I was sick that day.

This was high school?

Actually, junior high at this private school I was going to. They were sittin’ there playing [Queen’s] “Another One Bites the Dust” backwards and it said “I wanna smoke marijuana.” And they were playing Kiss and “Stairway to Heaven” backwards.

So you were fated to end up in a rock band. Have you gone back for any school reunions since you’ve become successful?

No, no. What happened was I did go to a public high school and that was an amazing time for me because girls were wearing jeans and they were very tight and that was the first time in my life [I’d seen that], and I was like, “Oh my gosh. How can they do this? [Laughs.].

Are your parents happy with your chosen profession?

Yes, they’re very supportive. They really are. They’re incredible. Like I said, it wasn’t them. They were just doing the best they thought they could do for me, which was putting me in that school.

What was it like the first time you played in front of people?

It was incredible. It was a talent show in high school. [Drummer] Shane [Evans], [bassist] Will [Turpin] and I were all in different bands at the battle of the bands. Going onstage was like an outlet that was comfortable to me ’cause I wasn’t really a speaker or anything like that, and it was incredible. What happened with me was I was from this [private] school where it was a different world, and all of a sudden I went to high school in the public school world. It was such a shock that I think I crawled into a shell -- but this huge shell I was in, it shattered. I remember [performing] was really cool -- realizing that after you play guitar people look at you a little bit differently.