The record that influenced Ed to go into rock music was Elton John's Greatest Hits which he got as a child. After finishing high school, Roland studied songwriting and guitar at Berklee College of Music in Boston for one year. He was the lead engineer and producer at Real 2 Reel Studios in Stockbridge, Georgia for eight years. In 1985, he was in a band called The Eddie Band and another during the late 1980s and early 1990s called Marching Two-Step, which also included future producer and music executive Matt Serletic, future executive Michelle Rhea Caplinger and longtime Collective Soul drummer Shane Evans. Roland released an indie album called "Ed-E Roland" in 1991. The album was meant to showcase his abilities to compose, record, and produce his own original music.