SAY IT AIN’T SO
SAOSIN’S BEAU BURCHNELL SPEAKS ABOUT HIS BAND AND WHY HE DOESN’T LIKE SCREAMO LATELY.
Beau Burchnell is one deceiving character. I’ve always had a mental image of an aloof person, a tad intimidating, a tad soft-spoken despite being one big ball of energy onstage…but never the man that presented himself in front of me. Here, we have a cheerful fellow. Tall, slender with light brown hair and traces of stubble populating his face. Wearing a tattered green Nike shirt, worn sneakers and faded jeans. He surely doesn’t look like the man in the live videos of “Seven Years” or “Voices”. After all the man we were meeting was one fourth of Saosin, probably one of the most influential purveyors of the second wave of “emo” and perhaps the founding fathers of its mutant sibling – “screamo”.
After exchanging our pleasantries and introduced myself, I shot him my first question. “You game for a round of beers?”, I asked. He nodded, followed by an amused reply, “I’m at your disposal”. And so the transcription begins…
***
How’s it been?
I came home from that last tour and built a studio at the back of my house and did studio stuff nonstop. Also and we kicked out Cove (laughs), then me and the band, we’re writing a little bit which we’ll continue once I return.
Did you know it’s been a year since you kicked out Cove?
Oh it is? Wow. I didn’t even think about that. (laughs)
So what brings you to Manila?
I’m here doing monitors for David Archuleta.
How’s the experience so far?
Definitely interesting. The pop world is not as I’m used to. The things that are important in the pop world are different. As a rock band, things that are important to us are: is the show any good? Are people gonna show up? Are there actual fans or people who are just there?
Unlike in the pop world the concerns are, what kind of limo are they driving? Or what hotel are we in?
Are you enjoying it?
It’s strange. It feels like staying in somebody else’s really nice house. All the hotels are really expensive. We stayed in the Ritz Carlton in Jakarta, and now here in this hotel in Manila.
So aside from Archuleta, what’s keeping you busy?
Tons of stuff. There’s this band called The Bronx and I just mixed their mariachi record. And once I return, I’m recording the record. Also did and EP for this band called In Transmission, kinda like (ambient band) Explosions in The Sky. Other than that, just trying to write for Saosin in our spare time. But the studio is really picking up and that’s what’s keeping me busy.
How’s the progress in writing for Saosin?
Well here’s the thing, before Saosin I was doing studio stuff and then Saosin kinda took off and we made it that’s why I couldn’t do much studio work. And now Saosin is on hold with Cove leaving we had to put it at the back of our minds for a minute. As well as, Saosin was our only job and only source of income for all of us in the band so once we weren’t touring or putting out records we had to find ways to pay rent so I went back to the producing and (guitarist) Justin does online guitar lessons via skype. For (drummer) Chris, he’s also been producing bands and industry stuff.
So in short, the band’s on hold?
Yeah.
Wow.
But actually, we have written at least an EP’s worth of material if not more and we’re just finalizing the vocals.
So how are the songs different?
I really just took a big break from that whole style of music. I stopped listening to it so I can come back fresh. Cause it started coming to the point that every other screamo band sounds the same and really predictable. Everyone tried following the Underoath format of scream chorus-melody-scream-chorus-melody, and everyone just became Underoath clones…but not as good.
So I took a break from it. Being in the situation we were in before where a lot of the record had to be doctored up in a certain way, we’re also breaking away from that. We’ve always had the ability to play the song instrumentally perfect, so we hope to find a singer that can sing it perfectly. But I think it would be cool to do an EP with minimal production, almost like a live thing. Similar to those Glassjaw videos with just a camera and them playing. That’s what we’re trying to aim for – raw, without all the modern screamo production that makes then sound like a computer. I mean that’s cool for some bands but if you can play it, play it.
There are leaks online with a new Saosin song featuring ex-Tides of Man vocalist, Tillian Pearson. Will this be the direction you guys are going for, vocalwise?
(Long pause) I really like what Tillian does however I don’t wanna say whether or not he’s gonna be the guy or not.
Were there other auditioneers?
There was a couple but I like Tillian the best. But I’m hesitant to say if whether or not he’s gonna be it.
What should we look out for?
Hopefully some new material. It’s just a matter of time.
OK totally unrelated, who’s on your iPod?
Oh man. (Laughs) On the way over here I was listening to Russian Circles, Minus the Bear, Adele (laughs). That’s pretty much it. But I kept falling asleep that’s the problem. I haven’t been listening much to music because I find a lot of it boring. None of it is inspiring. I find myself going back to older bands because of the production thing the new bands sound fake unlike if you listen to old bands like Sunny Day Real Estates or Mineral where it sounds like a band in a room.
***
As I clicked my player to stop, Beau interjected, “That’s probably one of the easiest interviews ever” while pointing his beer towards to signal a toast. I returned the gesture with a clink of the bottle. Then he joked, “I can give you more interesting stuff, but you have to promise it’s gonna be off the record”. And once again that deceiving devilish demeanor returns. Part of me imagined the man to keep things to himself. Who knew he’d be game to talk about backstage stories and Saosin secrets. The fan boy inside me threw confetti, so I agreed. But not before him asking if we could move to a different place, yet, that’s a whole different story.
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originally appeared on PULP october 2011
