"Stand close, I'm about to explode!," sings Danny Casler, front-man for National Product. You will not find a more appropriate lyric befitting the universal power and potential that Luna, the band's debut release, brings to the forefront of Rock. Luna arrived August 7, 2007, just in time to change the course of your summer.

National Product began as a group of friends from the island of Oahu. As band-mates and creative partners, they became a tight family of brothers, committed to their musical vision and their desire to touch as many lives as possible. With such lofty goals, they soon realized that they needed a broader base than what was available to them on the island:

"I think the underground community that we had was very special; it was tight knit and everyone knew everyone else — all the bands that grew up out of that were like family members," Danny explains about Hawaii's music scene, which is best known for traditional and reggae music. "There are a lot of great bands here, but none have ever had mainstream success because it's really difficult to crossover to the States," adds drummer Rob Caveney. "They either grow content with where they are or give up once they realize how difficult it is to leave. I feel like National Product is one of the first bands to go on this journey. That is huge for us because it's not something that happens every day."

These dedicated artists moved to Southern California in 2001 and have diligently applied their “do-it-yourself” hard work ethic to reach their goals every day. Danny Casler, Rob Caveney, guitarists Stan Moniz and Jeff Feuerhaken, bassist Nathan Elliot and keyboardist Dan Niles have constantly pushed themselves by booking their shows and touring the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii, as well as the entire country of Mexico. They performed a number of dates on the Vans Warped Tour and have shared the stage with well-known acts including New Found Glory, Yellowcard, Rise Against and Saosin. And before anyone realized the power and potential of Myspace, National Product developed a huge presence with a continually growing fan-base and quickly surpassed 1,000,000 plays and more than 100,000 friends as an unsigned band.

They spent the second half of 2006 in Orlando, Florida, recording their full-length debut album with producer James Paul Wisner (Underoath, Paramore, Dashboard Confessional) after signing to newly formed indie label R&M Artist Records. The result of six months of writing, recording and mixing is their debut album, Luna; it is a personal, powerful and timeless record. The opener, "By All Means", is an energetic anthem that will be the soundtrack for your daily drive; "Sad Excuse" sports a mid-tempo groove that segues into a chorus that stretches to the stratosphere; and the shimmering acoustic ballad "Love Me" is easily one of the most passionate rock ballads in years. When asked about the experience of producing Luna, Wisner exudes, "I love National Product! They are an awesome group of guys to work with and Danny has an amazing voice. It's some of the best work I've ever done."

The songs on National Product's Luna are inherently catchy, but the band pushes far beyond having just great hooks to capture your ear and imagination. They have a sense of purpose, with music and lyrics covering the loss of a friend in "Sean Song" and the bitterness of betrayal in "Sad Excuse". Inspired by these lyrics, National Product fans worldwide connect to the music and relate to the band in a personal way.

"We write about experiences we've had with love and relationships, but I think it just boils down to overcoming those things... It's about inspiring belief in kids who don't believe in themselves," Casler explains. "Our goal isn't to be rock stars, [it's] to have the closest connection with our fan-base and the people we surround ourselves with and to help inspire change, whether it's improving themselves or making a positive impact on people around them."

Complete with suitable-for-framing cover art, Saosin’s self-titled CD showcases the soaring vocals of Cove Reber, the slash-and-burn guitars of Beau Burchell and Justin Shekoski, and the punk-inspired rhythms of bassist Chris Sorenson and drummer Alex Rodriguez. On tracks like “It’s Far Better To Learn” and “Voices,” the band erects an enormous wall of sound notable for its brutal beauty. Citing songs like “It’s So Simple” and “Come Close,” Rolling Stone hailed Saosin’s “spidery, riff-rocking attack” and their “brawny and nuanced” sounds.

Saosin hails from Newport Beach, California. Formed by guitarists Burchell and Shekoski, the duo recruited vocalist Anthony Green and recorded the songs “Seven Years” and “Translating the Name,” the first two tracks featured on the band’s independently produced EP.

Fueled by Internet word-of-mouth, the Translating the Name EP sparked a music industry bidding war, with the spoils going to Capitol Records. In the wake of Green’s surprising departure, new vocalist Cove Reber stepped in following a nationwide talent search.

The pronunciation of Saosin’s name remains a point of friendly contention. The band reportedly pronounces it “Say-Oh-Sin,” while some fans prefer “say-ocean.” Though the name may be open to dispute, there’s no denying the appeal of Saosin’s music. The band has been selected to perform on the Taste of Chaos tour, alongside The Used, 30 Seconds to Mars and Vaeda. The international jaunt will see Saosin performing before thousands of fans, and should serve to enhance the band’s shadowy mystique.

That will all change with the Capitol Records release of their self-titled debut. As your average Saosin fan (and there are legions) will be quick to point out, the wait was a considerable one. “We were waiting until the songs were right,” says frontman Cove Reber with some understatement.

It’s been three years since word of the band’s full-length debut first surfaced, and in that time a lot has changed within the music scene from which they originally emerged and within the band itself.

Seemingly overnight, stylized bands playing strains of melodic post-hardcore have sailed up the pop charts. But for Saosin - Reber, bassist Chris Sorenson, drummer Alex Rodriguez, and guitarists Beau Burchell and Justin Shekoski - things have played out a bit differently. During the scene’s ascension, the band’s members have all but shunned the idea of a genre tag or an “image” - unless, of course, you count the jeans and t-shirts they soak in sweat every night onstage - and have instead focused their energies on making an album that will live or die strictly on musical merits.

“At first we said we weren’t interested in putting the album out on a major label,” says Burchell. “We wanted to grow first.”

But the band’s sound and its ambition grew tremendously during the recording of their 12-song debut, an album that exceeds even the wildest of expectations. From the dueling guitar crunch of opener “It’s Far Better to Learn,” to the nosebleed anthemic heights of lead single “Voices,” the livewire maelstrom of “Follow and Feel” and epic heartstring-puller “You’re Not Alone,” Saosin have created the kind of debut album that announces something indisputably new under rock’s sun.

“It was a long time coming,” says Sorenson, “but finishing the album really put a fire under our asses and we were better for it.”

The initial stages of the band’s debut date back to late 2003 when founding guitarists Burchell and Shekoski and original frontman Anthony Green began playing out, recorded a quick EP, Translating the Name, and embarked on a U.S. tour during which time Green exited the band. To the group’s surprise Translating the Name garnered the band a massive fanbase both online and at their live shows, which grew organically, and quickly.

The band, however, was so hands-off about promoting themselves that Google searches of the band turned up precious little info.

“It was cool if you knew about the band, we weren’t always easy to find,” says Burchell.  “But I think that really brought kids together, having to actually make the effort to track us down.”

A collection of rabid fans with ethernet connections soon began arguing about such pressing matters as how the band’s name was actually pronounced (it’s “say-o-sin") and what it actually means (Saosin means “small heart” in Chinese. The word comes from a 15th century proverb about fathers telling their sons who are being married off for money not to get emotionally involved with their wives, who could die at any time.)

In the winter of 2005, the revamped Saosin lineup with Sorenson, Rodriguez and new frontman Reber signed to Capitol, released a self-titled EP of demos and live tracks, and began pre-production on their long-awaited full-length debut. As the band recorded various versions of their new songs - both at their home studios and on a mobile recording unit that they set up on their tour bus – the burden of heavy expectations eventually gave way to genuine excitement.

“I would demo stuff with Chris,” Reber recalls, “and say, ‘This is really good – we can’t not run with this.’”

In turn, the album that Saosin began recording with producer Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, Head Automatica) this past January, nearly a full year after they began properly demoing its songs, would live up to the band’s great expectations, and then some. More importantly, though, it proves that in a world of overnight success at least one group is devoted enough to write songs that are built to last. 

“This record is going to take us places,” says Sorenson. “We don’t know exactly where, but it will definitely be an experience getting there.”

Their self-titled album just debuted on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart at No. 22 and is in stores now. Check them out at http://www.saosin.com/.