Joel Kosche

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Joel Sefton Kosche (born September 20, 1969) is the current lead guitarist for Collective Soul.[1] He has also released a full length solo album, Fight Years (June 22, 2010).
Starting as tour tech back in 1996, Joel Kosche made a welcome transition when Collective Soul offered him the role of lead guitarist. Kosche stepped into the spotlight with bandmates Ed Roland (vocals), Dean Roland (guitar), Will Turpin (bass) and Shane Evans (drums) in the multi-platinum rock group.
Kosche, in a rare departure from Collective Soul's formula, wrote and sang "I Don't Need Anymore Friends" on the band's 2007 effort Afterwords. The only other song in Collective Soul's repertoire that was not written and sung by Ed Roland was "Dandy Life" on Dosage, which was original guitarist Ross Childress' sole lead vocal.

Joel was trained in classical guitar at a young age. Later he co-founded the band Rhapsody based in Atlanta, GA. In 1994 along with other members of Rhapsody, he created the progressive rock band Jovian Storm which achieved local success with the CD "Magic Show" (now out of print). During this time, Joel showed his progressive rock influences by specially in authoring and co-authoring several epic pieces in the tradition of his favorite bands such as Queen, Kansas, Yes.
Several years later with the dissolution of Jovian Storm, Joel fronted the band Steep in which he sang lead vocals and embraced a leaner "American rock" style. Steep members also included Bryan Smith (a.k.a. Smitty), on guitar. The Steep years overlapped with Joel assuming the role of lead guitarist for Collective Soul, and in 2006 Joel announced that he would be leaving Steep to focus on Collective Soul exclusively. The position opened up for Joel with Collective Soul after many years of working with the band as a guitar technician. He originally began performing as the lead guitarist for Collective Soul when Ross Childress left the band in 2001.
At an outdoor concert in Rochester Minnesota on August 21, 2011 in front of an estimated 23,000 fans it was announced that Joel's wife had a baby daughter recently. He is known to have hand made several of his guitars that were used that night on stage, and his precise style of soloing continue the bands trademark sound.