Interviews: Saosin

A couple months ago I had the opportunity to throw together a few questions to send over the busy frontman of Saosin; Cove Reber. After relentless touring and the release of their debut full-length Saosin (LP), I heard back from the singer.

You can click Read More to see a lack of questions regarding former frontman Anthony Green, find out what Disney film helped to influence the record, and see how easily one can become confused when too many bands touring together begin with an 'A'.

Please state your name and what you do in Saosin:
My name is Cove Reber and I sing for Saosin

First off, I'm glad that this is an email interview so I don't have the opportunity to mispronounce "Saosin." Is that something you guys have gotten used to or is it still annoying?
Its still kind of funny. Honestly we don’t care how people say it. All we care about is them liking the music and supporting our band. You can say is "Say Ocean" or "Say Oh Sin" for all I care. All that matters is that you like our music.

Saosin has undergone a decent amount of line-up changes. Assuming that the current line-up is the permanent one, what do you think it took for the band to finally reach this level of cohesiveness?

From what the dudes have told me.. They needed a stable singer. Not that Anthony isn’t a stable dude. I'm just telling you what they told me. The way they describe it to me is that Anthony and them just didn’t make up a cohesive unit. Anthony was meant to be in Circa Survive. He even told me, "I wasn’t meant to be in Saosin." Chris, Beau, Justin and Alex are not the easiest dudes in the world to get along with. Well Alex is. But…. Shoot! Its even tough on me sometimes. I understand why he did what he did. But I am glad that I have this opportunity to be in this band and I am extremely happy to see him having a great time in Circa Survive. They are a great band and I am proud of him and all that he has accomplished. But Saosin is here to stay and we don’t plan on going anywhere.

How did the Capitol signing come about?

Capitol just seemed like the only logical label to sign to. They didn’t have a catalog of bands that were similar to us and our style. It just seemed logical. We didn’t want to become another band on the shelves.
We wanted the label we sign to, to make us their main focus. And that’s how we feel being signed to Capitol.

Has being on a major label changed the band in any way? Have artistic sacrifices or compromises been made?

MAJOR RECORD LABELS DONT CHANGE BANDS! Dude! People need to stop thinking that. That is a huge misconception in the minds of every kid out there. Labels only control artists that don’t write their own songs. We control 100% of our music and we dont give a crap about what they have to say. We make music for us not them! If they want us to change a part, and we dont want to. We get it our way. They don’t control anything that deals with our music and creativity.

I remember seeing you guys at a small (but packed) venue in Charleroi, PA with Action, Action and Acceptance. You guys headlined the show. Is it weird headlining over bands who have had been around longer or have released more material?

Anthony must have been in the band for that show. Cause I’ve never had the opportunity of touring with Action, Action. Its a little weird I guess to be headlining or playing later, but that’s the music business i guess. I’ve never even thought of it that way. Or even wanted to.

Editor's note: It was Anberlin instead of Action, Action. My bad.

Does Saosin have any influences that might be surprising?
hahahaha Alice in Wonderland is a movie I watched almost everyday while making our record. I listened to a lot of Incubus during the making of our record as well.

What do you think of the current state of music?
I think that there is too much filler. Music has become so polluted with gimmicks and fashion and so much other crap. Granted… gimmicks and fashions work well for some bands, but most of the bands I am into all seem like real dudes. Our band looks the same on stage as we do on the street, and I like that.

So the new record comes out in a few weeks. I've seen a lot of support for the tracks posted online, but also there's also talk of the songs sounding overproduced. Is the record's production a lot different for this album?
We have never worked with a producer until this album. If it were not for Howard Benson, our record would not have come out as good as it did. We wouldn’t have been able to write the same record. That doesn’t mean he wrote anything, but he definitely got us to work as a band to come up with the songs and melodies and lyrics.

Who handled most of the songwriting on the album?
Most of the songs were written by Beau, Chris or I.

Was there a common link or theme among some of the tracks?
The common theme is definitely a message of hope even when you are at your lowest of lows. We all are positive people and if we wrote any of the songs about negative subjects, it just wouldn’t have worked. Our record lyrically gives a message that you can take the crappy situation you are in and turn it into something good. Instead of letting it overcome you and sitting in your room crying on the floor.
hahahaha

Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Yeah. Just a big thank you to everyone who supports our music and our band. You're support and love is what keeps the heart of Saosin beating. If it were not for you, I doubt that we would have been able to stick together. Thank you so much.

Thanks a lot for your time and best of luck with the album release!
Thank you for this interview. I look forward to the next.