Saosin Biography

Saosin is a 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. Saosin started off as the brainchild of two musicians, Justin Shekoski, a former guitarist in As Hope Dies and Beau Burchell.

The first song on this demo was called 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 and kind of like a dick 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.

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. The record saw a change to a softer tone as the band tried to distance themselves from other artists of the same genre.

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", 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 and not Cantonese as many may believe. 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". If "xiao xin" were to be pronounced in Cantonese it would be phonetically pronounced "see-yu sum". 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."