With the recent addition of Englishman John Parish to their lineup, Los Angeles-based outfit the Eels are gearing up to release the follow-up to 2000's Daisies of the Galaxy early next year.

Souljacker was written and recorded in the band's hometown, but it benefited from some transatlantic parcel exchanges with Parish, who the band first encountered while Parish was on tour with PJ Harvey.

"We met on [British TV show] Top of the Pops," frontman E recalls. "We would often end up in the same town doing concerts and we'd always talk about doing stuff together, and eventually we did. We started doing stuff through the mail, and then he just came over and we worked in my basement."

The Souljacker writing sessions also saw E re-connect with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, who appeared on Daisies.

"I've got a nice handful of things that I've done with him that just haven't come out yet," says E. "There's a couple different projects in the works and they just didn't really fit in on this one."

The Eels are due to kick off a promotional world tour beginning this summer, including a stop at Britain's Reading Festival before heading back to the U.S. Says E, "Looks like were going to be rocking around the world for a while."

JOLIE LASH
(July 24, 2001)