Saosin, an Orange County-based alternative rock band, played to a crowd of varied ages at the Bakersfield Dome on Jan. 18, with appraisal from young and older fans alike.
Hundreds flocked to the former boxing ring to hear post-hardcore tunes from the band’s older material (“Translating the Name,” “Seven Years,” “I Can Tell (That There Was An Accident Here Earlier)” and “Bury Your Head”) and newer music (“Changing,” “Deep Down,” and “On My Own”) and according to lead singer Cove Reber, the band played for the first time ever live, “Is This Real,” which was on the band’s latest album, “In Search of Solid Ground,” released last September.
Reber pointed out why he chose Bakersfield to begin their 2010 tour that takes the band across America and over to Europe in the coming months.
“We’ve been here a couple times. I love Bakersfield. It’s the closest that we could play where I used to live which is a couple hours east of here. It’s this little town called Ridgecrest; I lived there for 14 years . we’re all pretty much from southern California.”
However, Reber added, “We don’t really get to pick and choose where we play, but Bakersfield is always a nice start of a tour because we’ve played here so many times. 2009’s Rockin’ Roots [Festival] was incredible. For some reason, the kids in Bakersfield love us. Even if there are 10 kids at a show here, it’s going to be crazy.”
Reber talked about how the prior weeks to the Bakersfield show were spent in Asia.
“We got back a week and a half ago from Asia. It was great. It’s the best. We were headlining every night. The last show we played with Muse and Rise Against. It wasn’t our show but it was a cool way to go out, playing with any band that is like Muse-big is awesome.” ?Reber reflected on past visits to Bakersfield and across the world.
“When we play Bakersfield we always get a good reaction. It’s a place that bands don’t typically play and we seemed to have found our niche in those types of markets. We played all over Asia and American bands don’t go there, so for us to go international is a great blessing for us and a huge, huge honor for us to be able to play in front of kids who have been waiting seven years to see us play.”
Reber confirmed that former Saosin vocalist Anthony Green (2003-2004) picked the name and explained why.
“That name was a concept that Anthony [Green] fell in love with in high school, from the story I’ve heard from everybody [in Saosin]. He had a band called Audience of One; he had a song called ‘Saosin.’ The dude was infatuated with the meaning behind Saosin. It’s an old Chinese proverb: small heart, be careful. And when he came to this band, [guitarists] Beau [Burchell] and Justin [Shekoski] brought him out to the west coast from the east coast. They were farting over names and Anthony said, ‘What do you think of Saosin?’ It’s a short name, which rules because it looks bigger whenever you put it on a poster. It wasn’t taken . it’s hard to say and people are going to screw it up for the remainder of this band’s life.”
Reber added about the multiple pronunciations that the band has been called and how he says it.
“Say it however you want, I say it Sao-sin, [not Say-ocean].”
While Reber talked about fans in particular he appreciates, he said, “If you are going to spend the money to come to a Saosin show, don’t be a bummer. I un-invite you to come to our show if you’re just going to stand [around and do nothing]. Let your girlfriend run to the front, you go in the mosh pit and kick your best friends in the face, that’s the way it should be. Don’t be a downer.”
Reber added about the fans that carry the band, “That’s what we get off on – people who are super stoked to see us who aren’t going to stand in the back and judge. You pay good money. Nowadays, anything over ten bucks to see a show is good money, especially to the age of the audience that we draw.”
Reber is grateful for Saosin’s fans.
“Knowing that kids still want to see us because we’re touring, that’s all that matters. That’s all that any of us ever wanted to do.”
Reber added, “I appreciate everything that everybody has ever done for me, this band, and all the fans that come to see us and who still actually dig our music.”
“In Search of Solid Ground,” Saosin’s second full-length album, has received critical reviews from fans as the band’s sound has evolved naturally, according to Reber.
“It’s steadily evolving. Even with Anthony [Green] in the band. Listen to the ‘Translating the Name’ EP (extended play), and then listen to the three songs that they did once Chris and Alex were in the band.”
The three songs he speaks of are “Bury Your Head,” “I Wanna Hear Another Fast Song,” which was re-recorded as “Sleepers,” and “New Angel,” which was re-recorded as “I Never Wanted To.”
Reber talks about one online post that he read on Absolutepunk.net that said Saosin’s new record sucked and had an honest reply.
“I took a step back and said, ‘I can’t be bummed that this kid said that he thought the record sucked because he probably didn’t buy it. If he bought it, bring it back to the show and give it to me and I’ll buy it back.'”
Despite criticism, Reber said, “I really like our new record. It has a lot to say. I think it’s a lot darker as far as lyrical content and more thought-provoking in the same way.”
Reber added, “We’re a very ambiguous type of band in the way that we write is very different than a lot of bands because typically in most bands, there is one guy that writes the music and then another guy that writes the vocals, whereas in our band, everybody has an input on legitimately everything, so that’s what sets our band apart from a lot of other bands.”
According to Reber, listening to the band’s latest record is something that should be done in peace.
“If you take a fair amount of time to sit down with the record and not have any distractions, and actually listen to the record you’ll hear the amount of depth that our band has. We’re not like every band. We stick to a genre and we play that style of music. We actually cross a lot of barriers with our music.”
Reber reflected about the darker, yet more hopeful approach to “In Search for Solid Ground.”
“I’m a very optimistic person, and I tried writing the record in a very pessimistic point of view. But being an optimistic person, looking back on the record, I actually see a lot more hope in this record than the last record; it’s just not as blatant.”
Reber added about the title of the album, “With this record, the name of the record says it all. It’s a whole searching thing theme to the whole record. At the end of the day, there’s still light at the end of the tunnel.”
Reber added, “I worked the title of the record into that song [‘It’s All Over Now’] for no apparent reason. There’s no real effort of ‘I got to fit the title into something.’ The song seemed to fit. The concept of the song seemed to fit. It just came out, when I wrote it down I said, ‘Damn, that works.’ I had the name of the record at least a year and a half before the record came out. It was a concept that we really wanted to go for, that we really wanted to achieve, and I’m very proud of the record.”
Reber said that he writes on the road and everywhere he goes.
“I write all the time. If you’re a musician and you’re not writing, you’re just one of those other people that just suck.”
Saosin toured all of the 2009 Warped Tour and Reber talked about the lows of the tour.
“It’s Warped Tour,” Reber said with a long pause. “If you went to Rockin’ Roots, that’s how it is every single day. That heat, it sucks. We wake up at 10 a.m. because nobody knows what time we’re playing, so as soon as you’re up, you’re either hung over or dehydrated. It’s just miserable. However, it’s great for the face value.”
Reber added about the antics of Warped.
“That’s how most of the idiots do Warped Tour. They’re dehydrated and they’re drunk. They’re punishing every other dude who doesn’t drink.”
Reber said with a laugh, “If I could never do Warped Tour again I would be the happiest man alive.”
Rumors that floated around message boards last year said that Saosin and Green’s band since 2004, Philadelphia experimental rock band Circa Survive, were going to do a tour. Reber expressed his thoughts on it.
“Hell yeah [I would], someday. I’m optimistic. I’d be totally stoked to do it, it just depends on the retarded music politics of the music industry. A lot of the times it’s just who’s got the bigger [ego]. If they’re willing to do it and they came to us, and vice versa, if we went to them [and said] ‘Let’s do a tour together.’ It just hasn’t happened yet. There are certain people in both bands that talk to each other, me, being one of the ones that talks to Anthony.”
Reber admitted that Circa Survive and Saosin touring together is not in control of either band.
“There are a lot of things that would have to be worked out and not necessarily on our level, as far as the band. It’s bigger than us.”
Reber mentioned his musical influences, and how it differs from other members of Saosin.
“What I listen to is not what anybody else listens to. I listen to a lot of Rage Against the Machine. I listen to this band that was shown to me by the bass player of Taking Back Sunday (Matt Rubano), called Dub Trio, they’re an instrumental band. I listen to Incubus, Taking Back Sunday and Underoath. I’m still a fan of bands that are out today.”
Reber admitted, “Honestly, I stick to Rage Against the Machine and Incubus because it’s always good no matter what record it is.”
Reber added, “[Drummer] Alex [Rodriguez] will give you ten bands that are nothing like the bands [that I listen to].”
Reber said that the band’s new album was changed vocally from past albums and that it has more of an Incubus-inspired sound. Reber said he dropped the range of his voice as he gave a nod to Green’s vocal ability he displayed in his short time in Saosin.
Reber talked about Asia again and how it changed his perception.
“Having gone to Asia and come back, that beautiful part of the world has revitalized me and made me want to say ‘Screw it.’ I had so much fun there, I thought about why I wasn’t having fun here and it all came back to me – I need to get out there and have fun.”
Reber added, “This tour is going to be a really fun tour for us to put our middle finger in the air and say ‘Screw it.’ I feel like that has been missing for a while for a lot of bands.”