Saosin
September 2nd, 2009 - Written by Angel—
During our series of Warped Tour interviews, I had the opportunity to sit down with Singer Cove Reber, guitarist Justin Shekoski and bassist Chris Sorenson of the band, Saosin; an interview I had been looking forward to for a while. So it was just as the rains began that we sat down near the water to have a chat.
CONFRONT: I don’t mean to grab you but you had a ‘thing’ crawling on your back.
CHRIS: I had a creature?
CONFRONT: Yeah.
CHRIS: What was it?
CONFRONT: I don’t know but it was big and green and crawling toward your neck.
COVE: Hey there are two beavers over here.
CONFRONT: There are a lot of them on this island. Is this your first time playing here? I mean at the Jean-Drapeau Park? Cause you’ve been to Montreal a few times before.
COVE: Yeah I think so. It’s nice though. Even in the rain.
CONFRONT: Well as we get started, I won’t ask you to give us a recap of how you became a band because I’m fairly sure we talked about that the last few times we spoke. But you guys have an album coming out around the time this interview will go live, right?
JUSTIN: Yes. We have an album coming out. We have an album coming out September 8th, 09 called ‘In Search of Solid Ground’. We actually just finished it before coming on the Warped Tour. So we are pretty excited. We are playing three songs from the new record on the tour.
CONFRONT: I read that three of the songs that are found on the ‘The Grey’ EP are going to be on this new record. Is that right?
JUSTIN: Yeah. They’re all somewhat different now. We’ve done that a couple of times with songs we were working on before and it’s always neat to have fans hear the songs during their evolution and they hear how they turn out on the full length.
CONFRONT: How has the reception been to the new material?
JUSTIN: It’s been good. This is the first time we’ve been able to play it live so Warped Tour is always a good place to gauge what songs are doing well; and we kind of picked some of faster tempo-ed songs to play so I think they are getting received very well.
CONFRONT: Can you give me a little background on this album. Like what it’s about, if there is a concept behind it and the recording process and stuff like that.
COVE: I can tell you about what it’s about. The name of the record kind of sums it up really. It’s the search for something stable and I think we’ve been through so much as a band that I kind of saw us in the place before we started the record that we didn’t really know what was going to happen in the band’s life; so I just kind of started writing songs about what I was going through and what it felt like we were all going through. So that’s pretty much what the record is about. Chris can tell you about the recording process.
CHRIS: The recording process was long and drawn out over a year. We started back in April of… it’s raining hard.
CONFRONT: Do you guys wanna move from here?
CHRIS: No, no. I was just thinking for the show. So, we started back in April of 2008 and started the actual music recording up until about October of 2008 and then went out on tour with UnderOath for three months and got into the studio with Butch Walker; did some vocals for a couple of songs. Finished the majority of the rest of the record at our house and then met up with a couple of other producers, John Feldman and Logan Matter, and we mixed the record ourselves, produced five songs on the record and now it’s coming out and it’s weird.
CONFRONT: What’s the anticipation like for the record after having worked on it so long and now it’s going to be released to the public?
CHRIS: It’s so hard to tell because you get attached to something; it becomes a part of you. So the anticipation becomes now just to get it out and see what the reactions are. Because we have our own opinions about it but those don’t really mean anything and those are easier to change than the actual facts.
CONFRONT: It’s been three years since the last album right?
CHRIS: Yeah it’ll be three years in September.
CONFRONT: Three years seems like a long time. Why so long between records and why is now a good thing for you to be putting out this record?
CHRIS: There is nothing really tactical about it. We’ve been touring a lot. We tend to take touring more into consideration rather than recording; just because it’s just what we’ve built this band on: rigorous touring. And then I like said, recording over the course of a year is a pretty long time for a band to take. Normal records take about four months. And as far as when it’s being released it’s kind of like the soonest it could be released. We were mixing it until about 2 days before we left for this tour so it’s kind of like the soonest that it could get done.
CONFRONT: Is there something that you’ve learned during the recording of the previous records that you specifically applied to the recording of this record or contrarily, didn’t apply to this record?
CHRIS: Well we kind of went back to our roots as far as recording a lot of it ourselves; and producing a lot of it ourselves. And what we realized is that we are pretty good at doing that ourselves in comparison to some of the Grade-A producers. A lot of our stuff really held up. And that’s cool for us. Because the line is blurring between what the artist is capable of and what the artists has to hire to deliver something worthwhile. Finally the industry is adopting the idea that you kind of don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a lot.
CONFRONT: Have there been any good tour stories so far on this leg of the tour?
CHRIS: No not many stories so far. I mean we know our friends, we know all of our bands, Alexisonfire, Senses Fail, all of these bands we’ve toured with before. But there’s like a huge new wave of artists that are out and kind of taking over the tour if you will. So we haven’t met a lot of them. It’s cool to see a lot of the bands that we have met. Like a couple of days ago Paramore played in Cleveland as special guests. And when we were on the tour in 2005 they were on this stage called the Sheer Girl stage which is like this piece of wood with two pipes underneath it. So that was cool to see.
CONFRONT: Have you discovered any new bands or artists on this year’s tour?
CHRIS: No not at all. Justin found this band called Emmure which is like a moshcore, hardcore band. Their pretty good.
CONFRONT: Cove, I read blog a few days ago and in one of your posts you more or less bashed a band – not that I can remember their name right now – but you were saying that they sucked essentially; BADLY. Are you worried at all that you are tour with these guys that bad blood might arise or confrontations might take place.
COVE: No not really. The Warped Tour is known for being a punk rock tour and when you get out there and you’ve signing to track it’s like ‘where’s the punk rock’ in that. I’m not worried. I just saying what I did all day and how it made me feel, you know. I try not to actually bash anybody.
CONFRONT: Well you kind of literally said that they really sucked.
COVE: Ok well go watch ‘em. You’ll think the same thing.
CONFRONT: (laughing) I believe you. I don’t doubt they are bad. I’m just pointing out that that’s what you said.
COVE: A lot of people are missing a lot of other great bands for the sheer value of just seeing how terrible they are. There are a lot of bands that are on this tour that are that way. I’m just saying don’t miss some other great band that you’ve never heard of because you are watching this band that you know but that that suck.
CONFRONT: Is there some tension that settles in after that?
COVE: No. I mean we did a show with A Day to Remember in Memphis and anybody who went to that show pretty much know the reception that they got. It’s just a different type of breed of music. It’s just not what we grew up listening too, what we grew up appreciating. We grew up appreciating real bands who actually play their instruments and actually do things live. And that’s what I respect. I can’t respect someone who gets up there and doesn’t do anything. You’re selling the biggest lie in the world. That sucks.
CONFRONT: Is there anybody that you’ve toured with that you would love to tour with again?
COVE: Inner. Innerpartysystem. They are awesome. We did a tour with P.O.S. and UnderOath but it was like only two weeks so I would like to tour with P.O.S. again. He’s a sweet guy. I don’t really know anybody else really.
CONFRONT: What are the plans after Warped? Are you going out on tour?
JUSTIN: Actually, in August we are flying to Japan to do Summer Sonic. We are leaving Warped Tour for a couple of days and then coming back.
CHRIS: We are going to play with Nine Inch Nails. My Chemical Romance. Everybody is claiming it to be the return of My Chem. So we’ll see how that goes.
COVE: It’s going to be cool.
CONFRONT: Alrighty. Well that’s pretty much all I have for you guys this time around.
CHRIS: Cool.
CONFRONT: Thanks so much and try to stay dry until your set.
COVE: You Too.
To learn more about Saosin please visit the link below.
And to see the full Saosin picture gallery, please follow the below link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/confrontmagazine/sets/
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