Music

You say ocean, I Saosin

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Now, that’s a free flight.
Photo: Mark Sullivan

If you didn’t get enough extreme sports and music at Extreme Thing, a second dose is on its way in the form of the Journeys Backyard BBQ at the Galleria Mall in Henderson (and no, Journey the band has nothing to do with it; Journeys shoe retailer is the title sponsor).

The all-ages event will feature skateboarding from the Vans team, motocross from the Rockstar/Metal Mulisha freestyle team and music from Vegas bands Away We Go, This Romantic Tragedy, Fearless, Fearless and out-of-towners Saosin and The Record Life. Oh yeah, and a price tag of $0.

Saosin singer Cove Reber sounds excited about headlining. “We all love to skate, and hopefully we get to see Bucky Lasek,” he says, referring to the renowned Vans skater scheduled to participate, along with BMX biker Francisco “Coco” Zurita, in an on-site autograph signing.

Calendar

Journeys Backyard BBQ
April 18, noon-7 p.m., free.
Galleria Mall, Henderson
Journey's Backyard BBQ

We sat down with Reber for a quick chat about going from fan to band and dealing with life on the road.

Back in 2003, when Saosin was gaining steam thanks to grassroots marketing and a big MySpace campaign, Cove Reber was just your average fan. When singer Anthony Green left the band, Reber found himself in a unique situation – he had the chance to be the lead singer of his favorite band.

After a successful audition, Reber, fresh out of high school, joined the band on the Warped Tour. Before Reber took control of the mic, the band was answering to any pronunciation of their group’s tricky name, including Say-Ocean. Reber helped unify fans behind the Sa-o-sin pronunciation and further define their hardcore sound. Saosin will be headlining the Journey’s Backyard BBQ show at the Galleria Mall in Henderson this Saturday along with local rockers Away We Go, Fearless, Fearless and This Romantic Tragedy.

What was the transition like from Anthony Green, the former lead singer of Saosin, to you?

Cove Reber: It was really, really easy. The joke the band tossed around was that Anthony and I wore the same size shoe, so it was really easy for me to fill his. I was a huge fan before I joined; it was like the Almost Famous thing. We just clicked.

What did your family think of you joining a band at such a young age?

I was only 18, still in high school. I was sitting in my English class one day and I got a phone call saying the lead singer of Saosin had quit. So I raised my hand and said that I felt sick, could I go to the nurse’s office? I went to my car and hauled ass as fast as I could out of the parking lot. I went home and emailed the band about auditioning.

What was that first tour like?

I kind of grew up in what most people who didn’t grow up like me would consider a bubble. None of my parents’ friends drank or smoked. So being on tour and being around people who were drinking a lot, that was something for me to get used to. My parents were really apprehensive about it all, but my grandpa was really supportive of me joining the band.

How did you reconcile that lifestyle with your own beliefs?

Well, with my religion, when you turn 19, you typically go on a mission for two years. So when I turned 19 I had to choose between going on a mission or joining this band. I thought there was a great opportunity there for me to be a good example to a lot of kids and use that as an outlet for kids the way music was an outlet for me growing up. In our band, we try not to swear onstage. We have parents coming up to us at signings saying, thank you so much for not swearing onstage.

You guys seem like you are always on tour. Do you feel at home on the road?

It feels weird to be home. We’ve been home for so long recently. It’s nice to hang out with our families and our girlfriends. Beau’s [guitarist Beau Burchell] going to get married at the end of the summer. We always enjoy being at home, but at the same time we have always wanted to go out and explore. … I remember driving into New York for the first time and seeing all the buildings and being like, “whoa, this is a trip!” We have also toured internationally. There is nothing like being in another country where they don’t speak English and hearing kids singing your songs.

When will your new album be coming out?

Since everyone we are working with at Capitol is new, it’s like we’re putting out our first album all over again. We are looking for just the right single to be our first single. It will definitely happen this year. It will come out right around the time of Warped Tour. We’re about 95 percent done.

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