With vocalist Anthony Green back in the fold, Saosin are firing on all cylinders again
Some bands were at their peak at the very beginning of their
careers. Ask anyone who used MySpace between 2003 and 2004 and agonised
over choosing the most representative profile song, and they’ll probably
tell you that Saosin is one of those bands.
Their first EP, Translating The Name, was a promising taste
of emotional post-hardcore, topped off with Anthony Green’s tortured
vocals. A deal with Capitol Records soon followed, but the frontman was
suffering badly with depression and left the band in 2004, only a year
after it started. In the intervening years, Anthony formed Circa
Survive, fantasised about rejoining Saosin, overcame a drug addiction,
became a father of three, learned to cope with his depression and
anxiety, and finally – in one of emo’s biggest coups since emo stopped
being a thing – rejoined Saosin, after his replacement, Cove Reber, left
the band in 2010.
On a personal level, the recently-reunited Saosin is a calmer, more
collected entity. If there’s any pressure from back-in-the-day fans to
live up to Translating The Name, Saosin isn’t feeling it, but that’s not to say the music has lost its edge. The singles released so far – The Silver String, Racing Towards A Red Light and Control and the Urge to Pray – are just as ferocious as anything the band might have put out thirteen years ago.
We sat down with Anthony Green and guitarist Beau Burchell to find out how good they feel about being reunited.
First of all, how did the reunion come about? Was it something you were all considering before it happened?
Anthony: I’d probably been fantasising about it a year after I left
the band, just [thinking about] how much I missed playing those songs.
After the smoke cleared from me leaving, I felt that there was something
really important to me about what conspired. [The band] was something
really special. You can’t walk away from that, it’s always going to be
with you. So for a really long time I thought there was more music we
could be making, on top of wanting to smooth things over. We were
talking about it for like four years before it actually happened.
Beau: "I didn’t really speak to Anthony much. I was probably the
person who was most mad at him. At the point he quit were were all very
young, and I felt like he’d ruined my life. You know if you really like
someone and they dump you, and you’re like, ‘What the fuck? You’re the
one thing I really like and you’re gone! We were supposed to be the next
Metallica!’ But Chris [Sorensen, bass], being the more mature one, kept
a relationship going with Anthony, and he said, ‘Hey, how do you feel
about Anthony doing some stuff with us again?’ And I was like, ‘Really?
Does he want to? Why would he want to do that again? He’s got Circa, and
all that stuff, but dude, yeah, he’s awesome.’ But I had to get over my
personal feelings and realise dude, that was like ten years ago, I
can’t hold a grudge, it’s so stupid."
Anthony, you’ve spoken before about your struggle with mental
health issues. Was that something that contributed to you leaving the
band?
A: "Oh yeah. I think my mental health issues have been the biggest
thing that have kept me from some of the most important relationships in
my life, whether that’s professional or personal, and learning how to
navigate through that confusing dark forest has been really challenging.
But luckily I’ve got people like Beau and others in my life who’ve been
really patient with me, and willing to forgive me and let bygones be
bygones. I’m not patting myself on the back, but that would be difficult
to do for somebody who isn’t able to look at their own actions in an
objective way. I fully accept accountability for how shitty [leaving the
band] was. Had these guys not been so patient and warm and loving and
open, it wouldn’t have been able to happen."
You seem like you’re in a pretty good place now.
A: "I still go through the same stuff. I have a huge toolbox filled
with different ways of dealing with anxiety and depression and
loneliness and insecurity. I think when you’re a young kid you don’t
know how to deal with that, you’re just looking for things that make you
feel good. And you realise one day, maybe I’m not supposed to feel good
all the time. If you didn’t feel shitty sometimes you’d never really
grow or change."
Did having your children help with your well-being?
A: "It was actually a disaster for it. Right when Meredith got
pregnant the first time [with son James, six] I was losing my mind. I
was doing all sorts of weird drugs, I was probably smoking weed 24 hours
a day, and I didn’t know why I felt so crazy all the time. I had two
different doctors that were prescribing me weird things and I was doing
tons of drugs; I wasn’t ready to settle down and be a dad, so it took me
a minute. It was difficult. It must have been really difficult for my
wife as well, because I just wasn’t present, and I was really unsure of
myself and my existence. I thought everyone in the world would be better
without me, I was convinced of that for a very long time. It took a
little while but then I starting realising that maybe everybody would be
better if I stuck around and got my shit together."
Before the official reunion was announced, there were rumours
about who might be the new vocalist. Was there ever anyone else in the
running to do the job permanently before Anthony came back?
B: "Once Cove [Reber] was no longer in the band – I can’t speak for
everyone, but for me – I didn’t feel like continuing unless it was going
to feel completely right. Where I’m at now, and where we’re all at, we
don’t have to do the band. And I think that’s what makes it special. I
have a producing career, Chris has other things, everyone else has other
things. Anthony’s in like ten bands, so I think the great thing is that
it’s a hobby that we’d do for free. So I think that’s why it’s turning
out so special."
Beau just joked that you’re in about ten bands, Anthony. Does being occupied help with your mental health?
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