PCM's Rebekah had the chance to speak with Rich Machin from Soulsavers. This United Kingdom band is made up of Rich Machin and Ian Glover. The group has a very eclectic musical style and have released three albums with the newest one being Broken.

Q: Are you excited about your upcoming tour?

Rich Machin: Oh yea that. (laughs) No, I am looking forward to it actually. Last time we only got to play like five shows in the U.S. It was a brief one. This time we are actually getting to do it properly from coast to coast and I have not done that before so it is going to be fun going to some new places.

Q: Is there anything in the U.S. that you are really excited to see?

R.M.: You know you never actually get to see that s**t when you're on the road. That is the downside to it. You tend to see it out of a bus window. But there are a few places on there that I have never been to, like New Orleans--I am kind of looking forward to heading out after the show and seeing what is going on around town.

Q: How do you think fans will react to your new album and how does it compare to your last album?

R.M.: You know, to me it just feels like a natural progression from it. It is a little different from the last record, but there is no point in just recreating the same record, you've got to move on. It is one of those things--there are always going to be some people that don't like where you have gone with it and then there are always a lot of people that didn't like the last one and kind of like what you've done this time. You can really take that into account, but I'd much rather be moving on and changing things around and just teaching ourselves.

Q: You guys get to work with Mark Lanegan again on this album, did you plan to do that or did it just end up happening again?

R.M.: Yeah, it just kind of happened really. I guess it felt like we had a little bit of unfinished business. It just kind of all fell into place like that.

Q: You brought on a lot of other musicians to help out, how did that come about?

R.M.: Most of them are just friends and people who are around. It is great to have an opportunity and a set up of a band that allows us to be able to do things like that. There is nothing better than being able to call a friend and say 'hey we've got this little idea, what are you doing tomorrow? Do you want to come by and do it.' That's fun. So it is kind of a nice thing to be able to do.

Q: Do they collaborate with you on the song writing process at all?

R.M.: No. Mark did--we kind of wrote the record together. The rest of the guys kind of just came in and did a few little parts here and there. We didn't really collaborate on song writing. None of them particularly have huge parts. It was just more fun s**t to do.

Q: What was the inspiration behind this album?

R.M.: Money. No, we just wanted to carry on. We did the last record and played some shows and that kind of took that record into a different place. I guess that was a big inspiration--reinventing that material to play shows really inspired us to do some new stuff at the same time.

Q: Some of you songs have been featured on some TV shows, how did it feel to hear your song on the background of these shows?

R.M.: You know, I am always cool with stuff like that. I am always into doing film and TV stuff. Apart from listening to music, watching movies and s**t is one of the other things that I particularly enjoy doing. Being able to combine the two is a lot of fun. So I am always totally into doing that.

Q: I saw that you have done some film score work, is that just evolving from that passion for both movies and music?

R.M.: Yeah exactly. We are incredibly lucky that we get to make a living out of combining a couple of my hobbies. Most people don't get to have a job that involves one of their hobbies--when you have one that combines a number of them I consider myself incredibly privileged and lucky to be able to do that.

Q: If a person was going to hear your music for the first time, which song would you recommend?

R.M.: I don't know. I can never separate tracks out. There is no particular track that defines us. Our records are always pretty eclectic, off the board and different things. I think you need to listen to the whole record to get a feel for where we are coming from. I would find it impossible to be able to pluck a track out.

Q: If you weren't doing anything with music is there anything else that you could see yourself doing?

R.M.: Yeah you know, a postman. (laughs) I don't know I've been very lucky, I haven't had to think about what I cannot do. Those are my main two hobbies really.

Q: Did you ever get stuck with any bad jobs?

R.M.: Oh yeah, I have had my fair share of s**tty jobs. Who hasn't? It is character building. I haven't started thinking yet about what I am going to do when this all goes.

Q: All right well I will let you get on with the rest of your day.

R.M.: Alright thank you.

Q: Thanks, bye.

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