Warped Interviews-Part II (Saosin)
As my day at the Indianapolis (Noblesville) Warped Tour went on, I had the chance to talk with some of the boys in Saosin. Beau Burchell, guitars/backing vocals and Chris Sorenson, bass/backing vocals/keyboards, to be exact.
Not only were they cutie patooties, but they seem like their band’s success is rising, and I was eager to ask them a few questions.
Beau and Chris from Saosin
Me: So you all have a new album coming out soon, correct?
Saosin: It comes out the 8th of September, on the 8th of the 9th. I wanted it to come out on 9/9/09 but they wouldn’t let us. It would have been catchy!
Me: Well, those little turds! So what number CD is this for you all?
Saosin: This will be our second full length, but we’ve had like 15 EP’s out.
Me: I just actually got your first album, I like it!
Saosin: The one with the bug on it!
Me: Yes… it totally has a bug on it. Ya know, I’ve always wondered what the name, “Saosin†means, so can you explain that one to me?
Saosin: It’s a Chinese word and it means “Be careful.â€
Me: Really? Well how did you come across that and decide on it as a band name?
Saosin: It was really random, during a crossword puzzle. Someone used it in scrabble and we didn’t believe it was a real word so we looked it up. It wasn’t even worth that many points.
Me: So did this all happen in the midst of trying to figure out a name or was this just something you pulled from later?
Saosin: We were just kind of all sitting around, having some chocolate milk, playing the game. Our original band name was Squeaky Clean and the Sponges.
Me: Eek. Thank God you didn’t stick with that one! Ha ha, people would have had to refer to you as SCATS, that name is way too long. Ha, so anyway, how many Warped Tours is this for you all?
Saosin: Hmm… two… three, four… This is our 4th Warped Tour.
Me: Are you going to keep playing the tour in the years to come?
Saosin: It’s something fun to do over the summer. Hang with your friends, roast marshmallows, get a tan. Who knows? I mean, the tour’s now been around for 15 years and a lot of the bands are return bands like NOFX and Bad Religion. So we’ll just have to see!
Me: Did you all ever go to the Warped Tour before you played it?
Saosin: [Beau] I went one year. [Chris] The first year I went was the first year we played.
Me: I think it’s great that you all are playing the entire tour. I’m not a fan of when bands only play a few stops because then kids see the line up and get excited for certain bands, only to be let down that they aren’t coming anywhere near their town.
Saosin: Well, it’s not really hard to do three shows, but it’s hard to do the whole tour.
Me: What’s your favorite thing about the Warped Tour?
Saosin: Wouldn’t say it’s my favorite thing necessarily, but the unpredictability of your day; you can’t really plan anything at all. You kinda have to get creative and fill the rest of your day. We played at like, 10:15 a.m. in San Francisco, and then a couple days ago we played at 6:50 p.m.  You typically don’t know when you’re playing that day until about 9 a.m. that morning. So it’s you wake up and they could be like, “Hey, you guys are on in an hour,†And you’re like.. oh.. great. Ha ha
Me: What do you do the rest of the day? Do you watch the other bands? Walk around?
Saosin: Depends, it varies. Sometimes we go on bike rides. Today we got done early enough to go on a bike ride. We try to write music, do some work on our computer for videos and things.
Me: Do you watch any of the other bands at all?
Saosin: All the bands that we are “fans of†we have toured with so many times, so we’ve seen them many times. It’s hard for bands to put on a cool show at Warped Tour because it’s so short. But it’s good because someone may see you at Warped but then still want to see you on tour right after because they want to see the full set.
Me: Beau- this is random but I’ve got to ask, is your name short for anything? Please tell me it’s short for Bocephus because I love that name! It’s gotta be either Beauregard or Bocephus.
Saosin: Yeah, it’s short for Bosephus, but with an “x.â€
Me: Really? That totally rules.
Saosin: [Beau] No.. I’m just kidding. It’s just Beau. My parents actually named me that because they hate when people would shorten their friends’ kid’s names, like if their name was Jason, and they called them Jay. Things like that. My brother’s name is Duke.
[Chris] Sometimes people think the “u” is a “v” and it’s Beav. But we call him Bean sometimes. Chris is actually short for Christopher. Or wait.. Christanalopolis. Yup.
Me: Ha, riiight. Wasn’t he on Sesame Street…? Okay, the new album; compared to the first one, what is the biggest difference? Were you trying to go in another direction or anything?
Saosin: Well we recorded the whole thing in all 24 bid, 96k, super high definition.  It’s just extreme stereophonic sound. Hi-fi. It’s as analogue as you can get.
Me: What’s coming up in the future after this tour?
Saosin: We’re going to definitely be touring. We don’t have anything locked up, but we’re weighing our options. Seeing what we’re going to be gearing up for our new release and everything.
Me: If you could pick any band to tour with, who would it be?
Saosin: Hmm.. Pearl Jam. I looooove Pearl Jam. Owen. Ben Harper. Yeah.. any one of those.  Oh wait, and Peter Gabriel. Man, he’d have so much weird shit on stage. That’d be cool.
Me: Okay well, I want to let you all get to your other interviews. Are there any last words before we part ways?
Saosin: Our new album, In Search of Solid Ground, comes out September 8th, remember, the 8th of the 9th. And we’re having a new thing for Warped Tour, for anyone who plans to attend the future tours, where if you buy the new CD and a t-shirt, you get them both for $20. You get the digital pre-order and shirt for $20, as well as two instant downloads online. Hollaaa!
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You can check out more of Sasoin…
http://www.saosin.com/
http://www.myspace.com/saosin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saosin
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About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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