Saosin

Saosin

Saosin is an alternative rock band from Newport Beach, California. They originally formed during the summer of 2003 and partly consist of former members of the band Open Hand.

History

Origin of Saosin with Anthony Green

Saosin started off as the brainchild of two musicians; Justin Shekoski, a former guitarist in As Hope Dies, and Beau Burchell. They planned to be called "The Gift", but there was another band by that name. They recorded an instrumental demo, with Justin and Beau, and MIDI drums. The first song on this demo was called You're No Angel and had Beau Burchell on vocals. They were trying to find a vocalist and they asked Keith Goodwin from the band Days Away. He said, "I know this guy Anthony". They sent him 2 instrumentals and he recorded vocals over them. The two songs became known as Seven Years and Translating the Name, the first two tracks on the Translating the Name EP. Anthony flew in from Philadelphia and stayed for five days, and recorded the vocals to the EP in about 4 nights.

Translating the Name, was an instant success, especially through online sources. The band was actually approached by numerous record companies before playing their first show due to the soaring popularity of the EP. However, the band's vocalist Anthony Green left after the release of their first EP and later formed the band Circa Survive. Anthony was very homesick and said he was missing his family. He says he felt bad for leaving his friends in a tough situation without a singer, but he "would have gone crazy had he stayed any longer". A public, nationwide audition then took place. Beau Burchell has stated in interviews that, "The main things that we are looking for now, is someone that does not do drugs, someone who can actually sing live, and someone who is good looking and fun to get along with. Oh, and they have to have a really dry sense of humor, because the rest of us do." After the public audition process and several guest vocalists on demos, Cove Reber, previously the vocalist of the band Mormon In The Middle and Stamp Out Detroit, was announced as their new permanent lead singer.

Saosin with Cove Reber

Cove sent in his demo tape, which was an acoustic demo with "Mookie's Last Christmas" (this demo has leaked to the internet) and is widely speculated to have included a few songs from Translating the Name, which also includes Seven Years and 3rd Measurement in C. When Beau first heard the demo, he thought it was Anthony pulling a trick on them, Beau thinking it was actually Anthony on the tape. He said he wanted someone like Anthony but "not to bring in someone that sounded like Creed." According to Beau, "Gabe from Midtown tried to sing a couple songs. Jason Gleason was asked to come out and do it, but he had his own thing going on." Beau said "I would put them in the studio and pull up the ProTools session of Translating the Name, and would mute all of Anthony’s vocals and just let the guys sing. And dudes would come in and sound like total Spinal Tap, just so bad. So then I would have to spend about two hours trying to find a nice way to get the guy to just leave, so you would basically sit there and waste your night.". Even through all of this, Saosin said they would have went on with Beau, Justin, and Chris all doing vocals because they were not going to give up.

Bassist Zach Kennedy also parted from the band early on, leaving because of personal issues and to focus on his art career. He went on to play bass in Ashlee Simpson's band, but left her band in 2005. He was replaced with Chris Sorenson.

Drummer Pat McGrath was brought in to do drumming for the Translating the Name EP. Saosin had been trying hard to get Alex to join the band, but he was in Open Hand, and was touring with them. They picked up McGrath who was a studio drummer. According to Burchell, the Translating the Name EP was 3/4 of McGrath's ability. "There were certain passages where we were like, Dude, play something else no one is going to be able to play. And he would do it, and we were shitting ourselves. He was there doing the most insane rolls, all while doing stick twirls, all like it was nothing, and we were shitting our pants." When Beau met Pat, they handed him the Open Hand CD and told him that was the drummer they wanted to have in the band. Beau asked Pat if he could stylize the drumming to make it sound like Alex’s sort of style. Even though McGrath never played a single show with the band, they had some fun times together and get along well. McGrath also still enjoys Saosin's music.

During 2005, the band toured the United States and became part of the Warped Tour. A video to the song "Bury Your Head" recorded during their tours has also been shown on Fuse. The band is currently signed to Capitol Records, and released their full-length debut on September 26,2006 which sold over 35,000 copies in its first week. On the show "Steven's Untitled Rock Show" that airs on fuse, Justin corrected Steven saying "80,000". Although this statistic hasn't been confirmed. The record saw a change to a softer tone as the band tried to distance themselves from other artists of the same genre. They were formerly on their own indie record label Death Do Us Part where they released their first EP.

Recently Saosin toured on international Taste of Chaos tour, and toured the US with Bleeding Through and Senses Fail. They also participated on the North American 2007 Taste of Chaos tour, headlined by The Used featuring bands such as 30 Seconds to Mars and Aiden.

Early May Saosin headed down-under to Australia to perform in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. The band was supported by A Static Lullaby and featured other Australian local bands.

In the summer of 2007, they were part of the Projekt Revolution tour, headlined by Linkin Park.

In a recent interview posted on their website, bassist Chris and vocalist Cove said that they have begun writing their new record while touring with the taste of chaos.

In a recent article on ultimate-guitar.com, it is mentioned that their next single will be "You're Not Alone" and they will be filming the video clip after The Taste Of Chaos tour.

Origin of name

The way to pronounce Saosin has been a topic of intense debate among fans. Despite Anthony Green's explanation that it came from the Chinese proverb meaning "small heart" and that he, the one responsible for the name choice, pronounced it "say-ocean"^[1], the current members of the band primarily pronounce it "Say-Oh-Sin", meaning either pronunciation is widely considered acceptable.

The pronunciation, although an improper one, of SAY-OH-SIN is in the Chinese dialect Mandarin. The Pinyin for "Saosin" is "xiao xin", and translates literally into "small heart" in Mandarin. It simply means "watch out", "caution", or "be careful". The pronunciation phonetically is "shyao sheen". Though it may be pronounced "SAY-OH-SIN", many who understand Mandarin or Cantonese would not understand it.

In an interview with AbsolutePunk.net, Saosin bassist Chris stated that the term meant "love with caution" or "be careful". Anthony says. "Saosin. .. it was our singer's idea. Saosin, it's this Chinese proverb, which means. .. like. .. keep your heart small, because nothing is forever. You know. Don't let yourself get attached to something, because that thing's gonna be gone eventually."

Equipment

Beau Burchell

Beau uses Gibson Les Paul Standards and SG Standards into a Hughes and Kettner Triamp Mk.II through a Marshall 1960BV. He shares a rack with Chris, which is mostly identical to Justin's, plus Chris's amp head and wireless unit. He uses a GCX controller and Ground Control unit also present in Justin's rig. He uses Ernie Ball .012-.054 strings. Both uses custom audio electronics midi controllers.

Justin Shekoski

Justin currently uses a Gibson Les Paul Custom and recently an Ibanez Paul Gilbert model, into a pair of Hughes and Kettner Triamp MK.IIs, through matching CC412 A30 or B30 cabs. He has been previously seen with Schecter 006 Elites (Early tours), Gibson SG Standards, and Fender Telecasters loaded with Seymour Duncan Hot Rails.

Chris Sorenson

Chris uses Fender Jazz and Precision basses into a Sunn 1200S through a Fender 8x10 cab. He shares a rack with Beau. He has previously been seen using Schecter Model Ts. He might be using a Fender Bassman 1200 Pro as his amp head now, since Sunn has been bought out by Fender and the product line discontinued.

Alex Rodriguez

• Alex is no longer endorsed by shine and is now endorsed by Grestch Drums.

• Kit 1: Gun Gray Gloss Lacquer

All Black Chrome tube lugs, 50% Offset lugs on toms, inline lugs on kick drum. Toms are 6-ply and kick is 8-ply 12" x 8" 16" x 16" 22" x 20"

• Kit 2: 60's Oyster Black Wrap: (Kit From "Voices" video)

All Black Chrome tube lugs, 50% Offset lugs on toms, inline lugs on kick drum. Toms are 6-ply and kick is 8-ply 14" x 10" 18" x 16" 24" x 18"

• Before he played Shine, he used the following Truth kits:

Brown Gloss Maple: 22"x20" bass, 12"x8" and 14"x12" toms, Chrome hardware Smoke Black Acrylic: 24"x20" bass, 12"x8" and 14"x12" toms, Black Chrome hardware Snares: 14"x7 10 ply maple w/ diecast hoops, Black Glass wrap, Chrome hardware 14x7 clear acrylic w/ diecast hoops, Chrome hardware 14x6.5 black brass w/ triple flange hoops, all Black Chrome hardware. Zildjian cymbals.

Discography

Albums

Date of Release	Title	Label	US Billboard Peak
June 17, 2003	Translating the Name EP	Death Do Us Part
September 6, 2005	Saosin EP	Capitol
September 26, 2006	Saosin	Capitol	#22

• Note: When pre-ordered, Translating the Name came with an Acoustic bonus disc.
• Note: The Saosin EP is sometimes referred to as the "Warped Tour EP" or the "Black EP". This was not planned as an official release, but as a free sampler to be handed out at Warped Tour but Capitol Records would not allow them to do this and instead released it as an EP.

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions			Album
		US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Mainstream Rock
2003	"Seven Years"				Translating the Name
2003	"3rd Measurement in C"				Translating the Name
2005	"Bury Your Head"				Saosin EP
2006	"Voices"		#25		Saosin
2007	"You're Not Alone"				Saosin

Demos

Saosin has released many instrumental and individual demos, but no official demo tapes. A detailed list can be found here.

Compilation tracks

• A Santa Cause: It's a Punk Rock Christmas (2003) – "Mookie's Last Christmas" with Anthony Green on Vocals
• Music on the Brain Volume 1 (2004) – "I Can Tell There Was An Accident Here Earlier" with Cove Reber on Vocals
• The Mission Family Spring Sampler 05 (2005) – "Penelope (Acoustic)" (Pinback Cover) with Cove Reber on Vocals
• Atticus... Dragging the Lake Volume 3 (2005) – "Bury Your Head" with Cove Reber on Vocals
• Take Action! Volume 5 (2006) – "Sleepers" Demo
• The Best of Taste of Chaos (2006) – "I Wanna Hear Another Fast Song (Live)" (UK Edition Only)
• 2007 KROQ New ROQ (2006) – "Voices"
• The Best of Taste of Chaos Two (2007) – "Follow and Feel"

Unreleased tracks

• "I Can Tell There Was An Accident Here (Demo)" with Anthony Green on Vocals
• "Uphill Battle" with Cove Reber on Vocals

Music videos

• "Seven Years" (2003) from Translating the Name
• "3rd Measurement in C" (2003) from Translating the Name
• "Bury Your Head" (2005) from Saosin EP
• "Voices" (Live Water Street Music Hall - Rochester,NY) (2006) from Saosin
• "Voices" (2007) from Saosin
• "You're Not Alone" (2007) from Saosin

Trivia

• Beau Burchell, Zach Kennedy and Alex Rodriguez are all former members of the band Open Hand.
• Pat McGrath, the drummer on Translating the Name was a former drum tech for Slayer
• "Mookie's Last Christmas" is a fan favorite written by Anthony Green about Justin Shekoski's father, even though Mookie is the name of Anthony's dog.
• While on tour with Story of the Year, Saosin was playing two shows in one night and Justin's father came to both of them. On the way back to the airport, Justin's half brother and his father had a car crash. Justin's half brother (who lives in Maryland) survived, but his father died at the scene. Justin ended up finishing the tour which lasted two more weeks.
• Many songs on the first full length album are remastered, rewritten or changed musically from leaked demos, compilations and the Saosin EP.
• Before Anthony Green auditioned for Saosin, Jamison Covington of JamisonParker auditioned for the lead singer role in Saosin.
• The title for the song, "Bury your Head" was inspired by a line in the movie, Jarhead
• "Show Me Your Bootyhole", "Rap Party", "Crap Rap" are all B2C songs, not Saosin songs. Members of the band, (Beau Burchell, Chris Sorenson) and some of the members of Take The Crown contributed to the songs, hence the name B2C (two Beau's and one Chris).
• They are booked by famous agent Matt Galle, part of the illustrious Ellis Industries family.
• Their song "Collapse" appeared in the video game, Burnout Dominator.
• The song "Plays Pretty for Baby", which is commonly thought to be a Saosin song, is actually by the band Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer, which Anthony Green used to do lead vocals for. It can be found on Zolof's self-titled CD.
• When performing on Sessions@AOL Saosin covered Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time.
• Set to be on 2007's Projekt: Revolution tour with Linkin Park on the Revolution stage according to www.projektrevolution.com.
• Cove Reber and Justin Shekoski of Saosin have filled in for Fred Maschirino's vocal duties and guitar for Taking Back Sunday on the International Taste of Chaos when Fred could not be there.
• Saosin is a song by Anthony Green's first band Audience of One.
• Cove Reber provided guest vocals on the song "From the Red", a song off of Destroy the Runner's album Saints.

External links

• Saosin's official website
• Saosin's official MySpace page
• Recent Live Photos