MORGAN Y. EVANS: Dude, what’s up, man? How’s it goin’ today?

BEAU BURCHELL: Good! Actually, personally, there’s a lot of cool stuff going on. Got engaged last night!

MYE: Oh my God! Congratulations!

BB: Thanks, man.

MYE: Did you just meet her?

BB: [laughing] Yeah, yeah. We met at a bar and I just asked her right then.

MYE: That sounds like some rock star shit, man. [laughing]

BB: No, we’ve been dating for quite a while.

MYE: Great, man. Good for you.

BB: I’m also mixing this Drop Dead, Gorgeous record and I fly out to Atlanta tomorrow to finish it.

MYE: Great. Are you calling me from the Hurley Studio right now?

BB: Not at the moment. I also have a studio here in my house in L.A. and I do the non-Saosin stuff here.

MYE: You guys have obviously got a lot of stuff going on and have had a pretty insanely busy year as well. You’ve teamed up now with Hurley to record your new stuff and you have done this daring thing…Some bands have done it before, like Autopilot Off had in-studio cameras at some point for one of their records, but…You guys are filming a LOT of the making of your next album this way. Are you nervous? Do you guys feel, like, naked or anything? [laughing]

BB: Yeah. It’s weird. I feel like it’s really breaking down the walls of people's conceptions of the whole “studio magic” that happens. Even for us in a band. I’ve recorded tons of records for other bands, but when it came time for Saosin to do our last record with Howard Benson, I was like, “WOW! I’m really gonna see what goes on and how they do these big records!” Once we got in there it was the same exact stuff that we’re doing. There was no difference at all, and so, y’know, we decided we can do it on our own. We started doing it, and at first it was a little weird because in the studio there are a lot of things said and done that you don’t wanna let people know about. There’s a lot of sarcastic shit talking. You’re talking to your singer, and he has an idea and you say “Real cool idea. Sounds like Creed.” [laughing]

MYE: Yeah.

BB: Sometimes you may be making fun of a band that is in your genre or one of your friends.

MYE: [laughing] Hell yeah.

BB: You don’t mean any harm by it and it’s just a joke, and a lot of times you joke around with them about it. Like, for instance we’re friends with Avenged Sevenfold and numerous times in the studio you’ll hear us say, “Hey, Synyster Gates, chill out on the guitar solos.” Stuff like that. It’s not meant to be disrespectful. That’s what bands do to keep the studio vibe good, making fun of people, but not in a bad way. The hard part for us was finding ways of not doing that stuff on camera and still having fun in the studio.

MYE: Dude, that’s so funny because I was gonna say…I had two ways of looking at it, like, is it hard having people see your songwriting process if you want it to be mysterious, but I was mainly thinking from having been in Applehead Studios in Woodstock, NY where Coheed and The Sleeping made some records, everyone talks mad shit and has fun doing it. I think a lot of bands do that, like you just said.

BB: Totally. It’s so hard, because even in interviews you can do a whole thing and talk for forty five minutes about how you love The Beatles and you can say “Oh, I never really liked Ringo,” and next thing that’s the big quote “FUCK THE BEATLES, ESPECIALLY RINGO!”

MYE: [laughing] The main headline.

BB: That’s what happens. We had this live chat thing going and Chris (Sorenson) said something on there, and next all the kids were like, “Aww Man, he thinks this band sucks!” And it’s not even what he said.

MYE: They only read that sentence out of context.

BB: Yeah. So it was strange getting used to at first, but the easy thing for us is I’m the same normal Beau as I am “the band” Beau onstage, so it’s not like it was a big thing and we’re in the studio and it’s Slipknot with their masks off. People aren’t like “Oh, this sucks, I can’t believe they look like that,” or whatever. We’re the same dorks we always are.

MYE: [laughing] As far as The Grey EP coming out, there are a couple new songs and dabbling in new material. Is the EP a test for finding a sound for the next full-length record or is the EP a fair example of the direction for the next album?

BB: We kind of, before our last record, put out an EP of earlier versions of the songs that were going to be on the record. I thought it was pretty cool. A lot of our diehard fans are going to be buying that stuff. For me, any time I could get my hands on a song or unreleased material or something no one else had from before the record, I was always really stoked. I even still am. I think there’s three new songs on The Grey EP and a couple different versions of old songs. When we put out the Come Close DVD, in the intro to the menu for that we had an acoustic version of “Come Close” but we didn’t put it on the DVD. Some people on our message board, a lot of people, said they wished it was on the DVD. We try and listen to what our fans like, and we kind of agreed, and so we decided to put it on this. At least that way people can have it on this.

MYE: Hey, it’s cool. Tease ‘em a little bit. Right?

BB: [laughing] Yeah. I think we’re gonna try and do something like this every record. It’s cool to let people hear the changes the songs go through. Butch Walker is gonna basically be producing the next record. We recorded all the music already ourselves. He’s gonna basically be handed a hard drive before we leave on tour and he’s gonna go through all the songs and basically say, “This song rules. This sucks. You guys are crazy. I love this one.” All that weird stuff. When we get home in December we’re gonna do preproduction and then fix whatever he wants to be fixed and record vocals.

MYE: It’s funny man, I was gonna say, you should let everybody have in-studio camera footage of songs and then when the cameras are off make a whole different record.

BB: [laughing] Dude, we thought about that! How funny would it be to do a super shitty record on camera and save all the good songs for non-camera?!

MYE: [laughing] For a sophomore record, I mean, you’ve had a lot of EP’s and stuff, but second records are often pressure records. The first had great vocal work integrated with the guitars and good pop stuff that didn’t suck, and I think “Finding Home” was such a good song. It’s so good to bump in the car and shit. Going through the process and having EP’s showing different versions of songs reminds me of how I loved to collect old Nirvana bootlegs of different versions as they developed…

BB: Totally.

MYE: Like you said, for the diehards. I think you guys really stand out from your peers a lot of times and just have better songwriting than a lot of bands in the scene. There’s good pop hooks but it’s not forced where some bands seem like they are really trying to have a hit too hard. For the fans having seen the development of some of the songs and being faced with following up a strong debut, how do you handle that?

BB: I guess we just try and not think about it. I know that Chris and I sometimes have the problem of, I’ll write a riff or something and I’ll play it for Chris, and he’ll say it sounds just like a song off our last record. It’s tough because you are trying not to repeat yourself, but at the same time you can’t really…

MYE: …not be yourself.

BB: Yeah. One of the things I always loved about Hatebreed is when you buy a record you know you’re gonna have that “Perseverance” song. You know what you are gonna get. For me, I love that. If you love the band, you’re gonna love the record. I got bummed when I was a fan of a band and loved their early stuff and then you buy the new one and it doesn’t have any of the things I loved about the last one. But, that being said, you can’t stay in the same room your whole life. I guess we try and not think about it. We just write music and…let me start this over…it’s a tough question.

MYE: It was tough getting the question out!

BB: [laughing] I think, I started the band way back when, to write music I could listen to ‘cuz I thought everything sucked. Mainly, I still feel a lot of that happening with our band. We really like songs we like and our influences show through in that, but as far as the pressure of a sophomore release, it doesn’t feel like one to us because we have had so many little tiny things come out. There’s a felt pressure from the label and managers and stuff like that, but we really try to…every time that happens we just try to blow it off and stay in touch with the people that go to shows and like our band. We like it when people say they don’t like songs and do like this one, or whatever, but at the same time, if they really like a song we all hate, we aren’t going to try and explore that area anymore.

MYE: Good! Have fun likin’ that! [laughing]

BB: Yeah. That’s part of why we do the EP’s also. Some people say, whatever, I really liked the old Saosin but also like the new Saosin. Cool. You liked the drum fill on one version but not how we took it out on another. Now you have both versions to listen to.

MYE: Right. Mic Todd from Coheed and Cambria played me a Mars Volta demo once that was sick and when the debut came out they’d edited the solo down and it was cool still but I liked the demo one. I wish I had that! And with you guys from the performance of “Come Close” acoustic, I love when, mentioning Nirvana again, they did acoustic stuff and it was really a different side of the band instead of just quieter. You did that well for the “Come Close” acoustic version. It added to it.

BB: Thanks. We try and make it a different take on it. Same thing with cover songs. If you do it the same, chances are the original was better.

MYE: You added strings and stuff.

BB: Chris did all the string arrangements himself. It’s us trying to get better at piano. All learning experiences. We like to be involved in everything we do. Chris put together the whole DVD we did. He was the producer and I engineered and mixed it. It’s not so much that we like being involved, as we are scared someone else is not gonna know what we are going for. I feel like we have the best choices for the band, but we always appreciate the outcomes more when we do it ourselves, too.

MYE: It’s cool to have a producer sometimes to bounce ideas off of in the mix and be helpful if you get too insulated, but it’s great to pull it off yourself, too.

BB: Yeah.

MYE: Tying into what you said about the fan base and appreciation, I was looking at old family photos today and thinking about how as a writer or musician it is sometimes a mission. Some bands give up if they aren’t fiscally successful and some bands have to do it no matter what. You have had a good deal of success and still have your integrity, I think. How does it feel to have family support or fans on a personal level, but also be able to know you’ve pulled off something.

BB: That’s a tough one, too. Can you go over it again so I can make sure I get the all the points?

MYE: As an artist you are gonna make what you feel you have to express and some bands do it just to sell it, but other ones keep going anyway ‘cuz they really have to do it. A lot of people get into rock and their families think they are crazy, but you’ve been able to really show you can do something with your creativity.

BB: Right. Ok. As far as the family side, I was in bands in High School and knew music was what I wanted to do. I kind of took the dork route and went to summer school every year so I could graduate early. I graduated and then I was in a Christian rock band and we went on tour when I was seventeen and a half. I was gone a few months and my Mom thought it was ok because I was in a Christian band. After a while I decided the music wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to do heavier music. It was at first. It was a thing where, if they were gonna be supporting me, ‘cuz I was kind of pulling the “I can’t get a job ‘cuz I wanna focus on music” thing…They were always very supportive but if I was at home then I had to go to school. I was going to school and started recording bands because, as you can tell, I have a pretty bad memory. I forget questions that have just been asked. I started recording ideas to remember guitar parts and noticed I had a knack for it. I started recording people, and they were turning out better and better than stuff they were doing in big studios.

MYE: Awesome.

BB: I started recording my own stuff and friends’ stuff, and my parents started getting bummed ‘cuz I started skipping class to record bands. Then of course, here’s my Mom and Dad and there’s random dudes they don’t know with tattoos coming through the house to get to the garage where I was working.

MYE: [laughing] Yeah, man.

BB: My control room was in the garage and people would go through the kitchen, and Mom was bummed on that for a while, but eventually I proved I could support myself like that.

MYE: And no one stole any silverware.

BB: [laughing] Yeah, yeah. They didn’t steal any silverware. Eventually, my second year in Junior College things were going really well and I wanted to go on tour, and my Mom started freaking out and said I can’t just sign up for classes and quit every time I want to start something else. I was like, “What’s up, now!?” So I just paid her for all the classes. Things had been going well and so I said, “What will make you happy? If I pay you for the classes?” And she said, “Yeah.” And it was, “Boom! What’s up, now!?”

MYE: [laughing] That’s cool, though, man, that you could show your work ethic and weren’t just dicking around.

BB: Yeah. I think after that they realized that I was a kid who really didn’t wanna do anything else.

MYE: Awesome.

BB: After that I joined Open Hand and toured with those guys for a while, and then quit and moved back in with my parents and started this band and moved the bassist and singer into the garage. My folks were very supportive and my Dad even loaned us money to get a van. We were super lucky. Everyone in the band has very supportive parents. That’s pretty uncommon, especially trying to be in a rock band. It seems from the little bit of TV I watch that the supportive parents are the creepy ones like Britney Spears’ parents forcing them.

MYE: Or like Ice Skating coaches, “DO IT!!!!!!!!”

BB: [laughing] Yeah. Yeah. We’ve been lucky to have the support of everyone. As for success, we never started to be popular or celebrities, so to us, our satisfaction is making music we really do enjoy. I listen to our songs all the time. Having people connect with it and getting random emails of, “Hey, my brother is in Iraq and listens to you guys all the time to get through.” That’s awesome to hear. To be able to help out someone less fortunate than us is great.

MYE: And they can maybe even refresh perspectives for you or say some shit that is surprising you didn’t think of.

BB: For sure! And of course there’s the obvious of having a couple thousand people singing your song at a show. I still get goose bumps when that happens. . I look over at the guys and say, “This is so awesome,” every time it happens!

MYE: Your guitar playing, and also that cat from the Sleeping, as far as some of your peers, you have some parts that are busy and unexpected twists. “Collapse” for example has some busy riffs but it doesn’t step on the rest of the song. That’s hard to pull off, especially with the vocals. A lot of bands, it is like Slash and Axl also and they fight about what goes where. Or even your segues, I was listening to “Collapse” into “You’re Not Alone” the other day and that last song has a big space rock ending and the two songs show different sides of the band well back-to-back. For the next record, how has your approach as a writer changed? You’ve been through a lot since the last time you wrote a full-length. How do you think it will affect the album?

BB: Um…We’re exploring a lot of new territory. At the moment we have two nine minute songs!

MYE: Wow! That’s awesome.

BB: When we’re writing music I find that the best thing to do is not listen to music.

MYE: Like Prince. I heard that’s what he does.

BB: Yeah. When I start listening to other bands you can’t help but be influenced, so in order to not sound like anyone I don’t listen to anyone that could be considered close to us at all. If I listen to music I’ll listen to old stuff.

MYE: Men At Work.

BB: Yeah! [laughing] Prince. Oasis. Writing the record we write whatever comes out. The only hard part is sometimes I’ll write three or four songs that all sound the same and Chris will say, “Dude! You just wrote that song three times!” I’ll say, “Dude, I guess you’re kinda right.” Our approach hasn’t changed, but on this next record what ended up happening is the way I am describing it, is if you look at everything we’ve done in Saosin and squeezed it into the size of a softball, on this record we’ve expanded to the size of, say, a basketball. The heavier stuff is a lot heavier, pretty In Flames-y. The poppy stuff like “Finding Home” stuff is even more poppy. There’s straight ahead Saosin songs. There’s a lot more melodic stuff and more obscure stuff. So we went all over the place. Granted, we also have eighteen songs right now, so I am not sure how many will make the record or be B-sides, but we are planning on releasing all of them. As a band, we’re all real excited with how things are turning out. It’s a pretty good feeling.

MYE: How did you come up with the title of The Grey EP and how are you gonna name this next full-length?

BB: As of now the title of the next record is In Search Of Solid Ground. The way we came up with The Grey EP is because we had a white one and a black one. This one is grey. [laughing]

MYE: [laughing] That makes sense. I could’ve figured that out! [Note-- In my brain fart defense I have a really bad toothache and took some painkillers before the interview.] {*Ed. Note--Yeah, uh-huh, Morgan…we’ll let ya roll with that one…lol.}

BB: [laughing] Yeah. And the whole thing with doing Digi-packs, at least to me,going back to being a collector of 7”s and stuff, I had a whole wall of records and CDs when I was a kid and thought it was cool when bands did cool packaging and stuff. Granted, we wanna keep the same pack design to keep the cost at $5 but hopefully we can release a boxed set someday of the same designs but different colors of the EPs. I know I’ll go get one if we ever do it!

MYE: Hopefully they’ll give you one, man! [laughing]

BB: [laughing] Yeah! I’ll stand in our merch line to get one.

MYE: [laughing] “Can I please have one? Look, my name’s on it.”

BB: Yeah.

MYE: Dude, lastly, I think there’s a good balance in Saosin with the music and lyrics both seeming important. Some bands I don’t like, where it is too much of one and not enough of the other, but also some songs lyrically in Saosin have a searching quality. They are about real life and sometimes are confident or sometimes troubled, or this, that and the other, but, there’s an almost comforting aspect you can latch on to. If you are going through that as a listener you can connect it in Saosin’s songs.

BB: Right. As far as the music versus the lyrics, it’s us realizing a song is nothing without the lyrics. Even though I’ll sit down and can personally listen to an hour long drum solo, ‘cuz I love drums. I love guitar shredding. It sucks to say, but the average person doesn’t care about guitar solos or drums but that’s something we care about. There’s a lot of bands that do the Maiden stuff but have crappy vocals, or bands have great songs and vocals or have boring music. For us, being a fan of both, we try and incorporate both. You hear Tool or Deftones and it is cool music, melodies and lyrics going on.

MYE: Some Incubus.

BB: Yeah, totally. Cove, our singer is a huge Incubus fan. When we played with them in Singapore he was, like, crapping his pants.

MYE: Hopefully no one saw that!

BB: [laughing] Yeah. No, I think Cove was like, front row for their set. He went down the barrier after our set and was front row, like, gazing into Brandon’s eyes, I think.

MYE: So they have a restraining order against you guys now?

BB: [laughing] Yeah, totally. So now we’re banned from any Incubus shows.

MYE: [laughing] Well, thanks a lot man. Good talking.

BB: Hey, no problem.