01:00 AM EST on Thursday, January 5, 2006

How does a guy spend eight years of his life (and counting) making a living playing the music of Pink Floyd all across the United States and Europe?

For Joe Pascarell, it was an accident.

Guitarist-singer Pascarell and drummer Todd Cohen were in a New York City cover band, doing material from many different groups, and Pascarell remembers that "people reacted differently when we did some Floyd."

Audiences encouraged them to do more and more, and finally they got a whole set together. An agent heard about them, and offered to book them as a Pink Floyd tribute band.

Thus was born The Machine.

"Two months later, we were quitting our jobs," Pascarell remembers. "It wasn't like we set out to become this full-time touring band; it just sort of happened, and we didn't argue with that. And it was fun. Still is fun."

Pascarell was a big Pink Floyd fan growing up -- an older brother took him to see them as a child -- but "it wasn't anything like 'I love them so much I need to play it all the time.' I liked a lot of music, and that was one of the bands that I grew up with.

"And I learned to play by figuring those songs out. So when it came time to learn those songs it wasn't a big deal, because I knew most of them anyway."

WHILE PLAYING COVERS, especially by one band, may seem musically limiting, Pascarell says that the group's members all have other projects, and have cut down to between 70 and 80 shows a year, in part to give themselves more time for other musical ventures and in part for their own sakes.

"I think it's important that we enjoy it, so we do the number of shows that we can do and still enjoy it. . . . 'Oh, do we have to do this song again?' I don't ever want to get to that. There's no reason to do it then."

They've got other techniques for keeping it fun.

The 2004 Dunkin' Donuts Center show by The Australian Pink Floyd Show was eerily spot-on sonically, but even this Floyd non-fan could've predicted the set list, and the lack of songs from the band's first era, with guitarist-singer Syd Barrett, was a real disappointment. That's not a problem for The Machine, whose repertoire includes half the group's first album and several Barrett solo songs, Pascarell says.

"We always try to get in one or two of those early gems. It's easy to play 'Money' or 'Comfortably Numb,' and that's certainly not what we're about -- I mean, we do those songs, but I like to capture all of what Pink Floyd did, because they went through so many times and changes. And it keeps it fresh for us."

Sometimes, Pascarell says, they'll do a whole show based around one album, such as Dark Side of the Moon (with an additional saxophone player and female singer), The Wall, Animals or Wish You Were Here. Or it'll be a whole show of pre-1973 material. Or an acoustic show.

"We love what we do," Pascarell says, "and . . . I think that's one of the reasons people like us."

THE GROUP INCORPORATES the projections and laser lights that are such a part of a Pink Floyd show, and improvisations are an important part of the show, too. But even the band's flights of fancy are similar to what the original Floyd would've done.

"Pink Floyd was a very improvisational band in the '60s and '70s, and we kind of do it in the style. . . . It's within the context of the music."

The Machine is hardly the only Pink Floyd tribute band around. And there wouldn't be so many such bands if there weren't people willing to see them. So what's the appeal?

"Music is so fashionable, and that's genuinely good music," Pascarell says. "And genuinely good music is timeless. It stands up to repeated listenings -- and repeated playings."

From a fan's point of view, he says, "I think it's partially because you can't see [Pink Floyd]. And I really think you have to scour to find music of that quality that's being made today. And I think that's why people listen to older music -- it gives you something that modern music doesn't."

Pascarell cites Radiohead as a modern-day inheritor of Pink Floyd's vibe, "but there's really no band that's like [Pink Floyd] at all. . . . And I hope and I think that we do a pretty good job representing the music."

The Machine is at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, 79 Washington St., Providence, Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15; call (401) 331-5876.

Herky-jerky

The Celebration, hailing from Baltimore, takes the basics of organ-driven rock and adds an attitude, voice and a songwriting vision that's all caffeinated nerves and sharp elbows. Herky-jerky, alienated, alienating and yet captivating, too.

The band is at AS220, 115 Empire St., Providence, tomorrow at 9 p.m. with The Double and The Awesome Brothers. Tickets are $7; call (401) 831-9327.

rmassimo@projo.com / (401) 277-7206