Emo kings Saosin kicked off their South East Asia tour in Bangkok on Wednesday night, putting on an absolutely stellar performance. Before the show got under way though, we were able to sit down with frontman Cove Reber and riff about the special relationship the band have with South East Asia, the upcoming record and advice for musicians who maybe trying to figure out their next steps.

So, thank you for taking the time to have a chat with me. How are you enjoying Thailand so far?

Thailand is great. I’ve been in love with Thailand since the first time I came here, in like, 2010-11 whenever it was. Southeast Asia just rips. There’s something different for Saosin here than there is for Saosin in anywhere [else] in the world. And, because of that, we tend to have a lot more fun here than we typically do everywhere else. I just love Southeast Asia. Thailand’s great. I’m looking forward to going to Singapore tomorrow and doing Indonesia for like 10 days.

For five shows?

Yeah, it’s like five shows, but we’re there for like 10 days, so it’s gonna be nice. I love, I love it here. I could, I could, it was, I was talking to my good friend here…

*laughs and waves hand over to one of the members of the opening band Defying Decay* 

..and he was like “do you like the weather here?” And it’s all like, super sticky. It had just rained outside, and I was like, “I’ll take this over cold any day.”  I do not do well in the cold. Obviously, my skin is darker than half the Thai people, so I feel like I fit in pretty good on this side of the world. 

It’s, it’s super chill, isn’t it? Awesome. Awesome. Trust me. It’s why I’ve been here for the last 5 weeks. 

Yeah. If I were, if I were to expatriate myself from America, I would definitely come here.

So tonight’s the first show of the tour. And as you said, Southeast Asia seems to offer something a little bit different for Saosin. What are your expectations on the show tonight?:

Uh, I don’t, I don’t necessarily set any expectations for shows, but there’s never a dull show in Asia. Nothing is forced. And so it’ll…it’ll just be crazy. It’ll be good. No matter what happens during the set, whatever gets thrown on stage, whatever, whatever’s being yelled at me that I can’t understand properly. ’cause I’m a, I’m hard of hearing and I’m wearing ear monitors so I can’t hear shit. Yeah. Other than just a “whaaaaa!” (laughs) but I know it’ll be great. That’s, that’s the one thing that I know- regardless of whatever happens, I know that I’ll leave being like, that was awesome.

[And then it will be like] Let’s go get Thai food. (laughs) let’s go get Pad Kra Pow. Let’s fucking make it happen!

Pad Kra Pow. The real official food of Thailand. So why do you think Southeast Asia has that kind of vibe for you guys?

I think, personally, I think that the feeling of Southeast Asia is different. It might have something to do with our name, but I think more so it has to do with this thing that happened with Saosin and it’s what made me fall in love with Saosin. And it’s the mystery of Saosin. Saosin has always been really good at being this like, band that doesn’t necessarily give you everything…but we give you just enough to give you what you want and leave you wanting more. And I don’t know why people continue to want more because we’re so bad at, at giving people shit. I mean, we’re good at giving people shit, but we’re not good at like delivering in a timing manner or a plan of what’s to come next, you know? We leave people wondering like, what the fuck is going to happen next? So I think that’s that’s a big thing. The mystery of Saosin. I think, at least here, it almost feels like how it felt when I was a fan of Saosin back in the day in California, like in Southern California, when they first started, it was this huge mystery. Like, you almost felt like they were like pulling a joke on you. Yeah. And they were just gonna be like other famous people in this band. It was gonna be like this super group and I mean, it turned out to be a super group. Super group. Yeah. Uh, but there was just this lack of information. I think that, that even though the rest of the world is caught up, we’ve still got the mentality of like, early 2000s.

Where it’s like, we’re like, what? What is the internet? (laughs)

And now that we’re the old guys. We’re just trying to stay up on everything. Like, do you think it’s a good idea to put videos on YouTube? It’s like, of course it’s a great idea to put videos on YouTube because people want it. You know what I mean? So why are we asking the question? Let’s just do it.

Do you think that’s kind of giving you guys an edge, though? Now we’ve got this like full circle sort of emo revival going on?

I definitely think so. It’s cool ’cause it, it does have those feelings of mystery, uh, even, even with the revival happening again. It’s like Saosin is still this mysterious band. I think we’ve managed to somehow stay exactly the same. Everybody’s still literally the same. Like when I came back to the band, I knew that nothing was going to have changed. So when I walked back in, Chris is exactly the same as he was. Beau is exactly the same as he was. Alex is exactly the same as he was. And Phil, our guitar player I went to high school and he graduated the year before I did. Then went into As l Lay Dying. Then when I graduated, or right before I graduated, I already tried out Saosin. And so I called Phil because he had already toured. And I was like, what do I bring on tour? He’s like, just pack all your underwear, all your clothes, get some baby wipes, you have to smell good. And then you’ll just be cool, man. Make sure you got a hoodie, a jacket if it’s, you know, if it’s winter. I was like all, all set out. I guess that’s what I do and you know, I packed way too much. And what’s funny is the first tour we went on, we forgot to close the back of the van or the, the trailer. So all our shit fell out, and we ended up finding it on the way back, but we didn’t find my bag. Yeah. So I left for tour with literally nothing that I needed.

So speaking of like, kind of leaving us wanting a little more and everything, new music, you guys have kind of mentioned that an album is the midst. How is that?

(laughs)
Oh, remember how I said nothing has changed? Um, the music is awesome.I feel the same way that I felt when I first joined the band and started writing music with them. They’re so cool. I don’t know what to do over the top of them, because all I just wanna do is listen to the music. If I spent like another week and a half, I could probably finish a few more and we would have enough for an album. But it is a big deal. I feel like we’ve had enough conversations about what it is we’d like to achieve with it and  it took a while for all of us to realise we were on the same page. So that being said, I, I think the new music that we’re, that we’re working on currently is exactly what you would expect us to do. I think that’s the nicest way of putting it. I’m really happy with the way that we’ve been writing. 

Amazing!

Yeah. Uh, these guys came over to my house and Chris donated me a computer. My wife and I have a kid. And he just turned one. Oh. And she has got a day job. Luckily she works from home, but she’s got a job that she has to work. So I am stay at home dad while she’s working upstairs. And so whenever I could put him down and he takes a nap, I have time to like run out. You know, try to track an idea or two without hopefully waking him up. But everything that, that these guys have written and even even vocal, vocal ideas that they’ve had, I’ve been really impressed with the quality of even just the demos that they’ve been sending me. I’m like, Hey man, I can work with that. Just send me the instrumental,  put ’em up in there and then I just start working on it. And, I’ve managed to finish like five or six songs. So it’s been fun. I think that the new record is definitely what we all want to do. Now it’s just about going, finishing this tour, taking the energy coming out of this tour and going back home with it and maintaining that. So once, once we’re, uh, once we’re back home the plan is already in place to be go straight back into the studio and finish up.

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Will there be any sneak peeks of the new stuff this tour? Or is it something we gotta wait for? 

Not yet.. Not this tour.  I mean, because we’re free agents of sorts. There’s a lot of different routes that can be taken. And because the music industry is the way that it is right now. Yeah. Uh, none of the doors look bad that we, you know what I mean? Like, it’s just a matter of, you know, what do we want to deal with behind the scenes. And since we already have a pretty good idea of what’s behind each door and know what to expect going into it um, doing and fulfilling that plan. It’s like, I know, I’m like being super vague…

No, that’s fine. You just said it’s the ethos of Saosin.

Yeah. But I’ll make it more simple. We could work with somebody on releasing it or we could release it ourselves. or a mixture of it, you know what I’m saying? So it’s just a matter of once we finish it…we’d like to finish it before we get to that point.  Because then you’ve got something they can’t fucking tell us to go back in. We don’t have the single…and we don’t need to have beef with another producer because we don’t have the single. Um, but yeah. I will say again…the music is fucking rad. I’m very excited to finish this. I think all of us are.

Yeah. Nice.

Um, I know it’s cool for the guys to work with me. Yeah. I feel like it’s different. It’s, I I work differently than Anthony [Green]. Obviously we’re two different people. But, I think, the way that we work is, is different and I think they may enjoy parts of the process, like different parts of the process. You know, you’re a little more from different people than they might have with Anthony. I don’t know that for certain exactly. Like I’ll, I’ll never know that. I just know that because we’re two different people and I can imagine what it would be like to work with Anthony. I mean, I hope I would get to at some point with this band.

That would be amazing.

It would be the fucking coolest show.

We’ve seen it with like Three Days Grace and stuff like that and a few other bands.

But Saosin would be way cooler.

It definitely would be way cooler.

(laughs) I didn’t even know Three Days Grace had two singers. Everybody knows Saosin has two singers. I would love the opportunity to work with him, you know, but at the same time,I know that we’re two different people. I feel like they [the rest of the band] might enjoy certain aspects of our differences, a little bit more with me in certain ways and maybe a little bit more with him in certain ways. So, yeah. He’s a little bit more like…Anthony is like more James Brown…and I’m more like Luther Van Ross. You know what I’m saying.

That’s a good comparison.

That paints a picture. Both sexual (laughs) just in two different ways.

I love that. Alright, I’m gonna ask. So one, maybe two more questions. One is more, without dating or ageing us…

Anybody who’d read this article is definitely probably as old as me.

(laughs) We do get a lot of bands- like young bands reading our articles or even bands that have been around and maybe not quite know where they want to go yet. Do you have any advice for those sorts of musicians who might be just kind of stuck in what they’re doing and not sure where to go next?

Alright. I’m literally like the worst person to be advising anybody. I don’t listen to music. Yeah, So I would just say write what makes you feel good. Mm-hmm. Write what makes you feel good and don’t give a shit what anybody thinks about it. Like, I’m trying to figure out how to word this ’cause I love both of these bands, but they’re like bands that I feel like a lot of people want to be like. So I would imagine just because after like Saosin put out the self-titled record there was like a lot of bands that were influenced by us that like not necessarily sound like us, but there’s like…I can call now, I guess. So. Sleeping with Sirens.

They have a song that sounds literally like third measurements [3rd Measurement in C]. I toured with them and I heard the song the first night and I went up to the bass player. I was like, Hey man. I was like, I know what’s going on with that song. He was like, he was like, Hey man, I know what’s going on with that song too. (laughs)  And it’s cool because there are parts of it that are cool, because that song of theirs that sounds like us is huge. Hmm. They made it a hit for them. And so it’s cool for me to be like, even though it wasn’t my record- I’ve sang that song that Anthony wrote with Saosin so many times that when I heard it, you know what I mean? The association between the two is like, alright, cool. It’s cool that you were in. So it’s, I guess I’m kind of going back on my word…

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(laughs)
But I would just say like, like everybody now wants to be like, wants to sound like, or or is influenced by like bring me [Bring Me The Horizon]. Bing this thing where it, it fucking works. And it’s so cool on so many levels and I love all of the bands that are, that are taking the elements of it. But it’s like, at the same time I’m like, do you need to do that?

Like, what’s your identity?

Yeah. Is it like,, are you doing that because that’s what everybody’s ears have succumbed to. Mm. And me not being a music listener, literally… I’m the worst person to be talking about this…but when I hear…when I go to a festival and I’m like, oh that sounds like a bring me song. And I’m like, who is this band? You know? I’m saying like, I hear that all. I hear that a lot. And so it’s cool to be influenced by somebody. It’s more cool if you’re just doing something that you like and enjoy. Even if you take influence and you don’t necessarily know that you’re doing it. Yeah. And you’re doing it subconsciously and then you realise it later. Like I’m sure that’s what like sleeping [Sleeping With Sirens] did. It’s more cool when that type of shit happens. ’cause then it becomes real, you know? Or at least it feels more authentic.

So, I don’t know. I think that’s good. Just be yourself. Be authentic.

I love that. I think that’s a good note to end on. 

Because I don’t listen to music ’cause I know I’ll get sucked into that trap where all I wanna do is be Underoath. (laughs) You know what I’m saying? Like I love Underoath so hard. Would I I know that if I just put ’em on and I’m gonna get sucked back into it. All I’m gonna listen to is ,Underoath and then the next record is just gonna sound like Underoath. I don’t wanna do that. No, that’s because I just wanna love Underoath for Underoath.

So. Well that’s it. Just be unique. Just be yourself because that’s unique enough.

Saosin start the Indonesian leg of their South East Asian tour today, Saturday March 24th.

Tickets are still available. So head to www.hammersonic.com for more information.