NSM
How long have you been together?

Randy - Self Made Soul has been together for 5 years.

3. NSM
What is everyone’s role in the band?

Alex: Guitars, Vocals
Randy: Guitars, Keys, Programming, Vocals
Angel: Bass, Vocals
Rich: Drums

NSM
Who, in the band, writes your music/lyrics?

Randy - I write all the lyrics while the Alex and I work together on the structure of the songs themselves. Everybody contributes arrangement ideas.

NSM
Tell us a little about yourselves. What do you do for fun outside of music, what do you do for a living, married/children, etc?

Randy - Our interests outside the band vary greatly. Everything from philosophy, Cosmology, video games, reading, biking/hiking, tennis and other outdoor activities; to astronomy, cooking and good movies.

NSM
Did any of you have any musical training or are you self-taught?

Randy - We've all had formal training.

NSM
If you can remember your first performance together, describe what it was like for you?

Randy - The first time Alex and I played a show together it was for our high school's spring fest and we only just finished writing the songs that we were going to play the day before the show, so we were completely unprepared. Top that with the fact that the very same night we finished writing, we got our drummer, so he was only in the band for about 18 hours before our first show! Needless to say, it was a complete disaster, ha ha.

NSM
Do you have a favorite song to perform?

Randy - We don't really have a favorite per se, but I always get a big rush when we get on stage and the first chord to the chorus of our opening song, "The Future Belongs to Us," is struck.

NSM
If you could choose one musician/band to perform with who would it be and why?

Randy - We would love to open up for a band like “Emery” or “Anberlin” just because we feel it would fit so well with where we are musically right now.

NSM
You just released a new album “The Future Belongs To Us.” Tell us about your journey from writing the songs to recording to releasing.

Randy - We had an album out before this one and we took a lot of time to make sure that with our next album we would have something that would have a longer lasting impression on us, something that would really speak for what we were feeling and at the same time reach out to others who may be feeling the same thing.

So, we really took our time--about 3 years in fact. We saw a lot of local bands releasing record after record and not really getting anywhere. They would spend a lot of money recording an album, play a lot of unrewarding gigs spread out over a year or so and then repeat. They kept reinventing themselves and can't figure out why they weren't really reaching anyone or what went wrong when they decided to throw in the towel.

We figured if we really expended our best effort yet, wrote the best songs we could, examined every detail with the highest resolution microscope then we could really touch someone. And after all the rewrites, the throwing out of whole songs, the meticulous tracking, we've seen the best response we ever have from any recording we've ever made (Alex and I have made 5 together since 1999).

NSM
Where do you see “Self Made Soul” in the next 5 years?

Randy - Touring our asses off supporting our passion.

Self Made Soul Website