Keith McIntosh (vocals)
As known by Danny Mann:
We first met Keith when our previous band, Joust, was auditioning singers in 2006. We spent about a year and a half or so looking for the right vocalist, and Keith really nailed the audition when he sang some kick ass Iron Maiden covers with us. Having a great vocalist is something we have prioritized very highly since the start, so Sean, the other Joust members, and I were ecstatic when we found Keith through a Guitar Center ad. Since then we’ve watched Keith grow immensely as a vocalist, really honing his clean and aggressive styles.
What you may not know about Keith is he’s a great musician in many regards, especially as a guitarist and he also plays piano, drums, and I think he used to play violin too! In fact, Keith is talented enough to be a guitarist for Sorizon, but we’ve always agreed that he should focus primarily on his vocals and have more freedom as a frontman. Throwing in a third guitar live has been an idea floating around for a while though, so maybe someday that will get incorporated a bit.
Musically, my favorite part about having Keith in the band is the way he writes vocals to our songs. I’ve written the majority of the music up to this point, and he always exceeds my expectations with the vocals he comes up with. Sometimes he’ll take a different perspective than I would expect, but it never compromises the integrity of the song’s feeling. A lot of our songs are so melodic and complex instrumentally, yet Keith does a great job with the challenge of adding more melody and feeling to sometimes already complete-sounding songs.
Keith is jokester. Anyone who knows him personally will tell you that he loves to tease and joke around every chance he gets. Unlike many lead vocalists, Keith is not a diva. He respects Sorizon’s visions as a whole and compromises as much as everyone else in hopes of making the best music that we possibly can. Just don’t get between him and his alkalized water. His light-hearted spirit, great talent, and dedication to our band over the years proves him to be a lead vocalist that we never want to be without.
We first met Keith when our previous band, Joust, was auditioning singers in 2006. We spent about a year and a half or so looking for the right vocalist, and Keith really nailed the audition when he sang some kick ass Iron Maiden covers with us. Having a great vocalist is something we have prioritized very highly since the start, so Sean, the other Joust members, and I were ecstatic when we found Keith through a Guitar Center ad. Since then we’ve watched Keith grow immensely as a vocalist, really honing his clean and aggressive styles.
What you may not know about Keith is he’s a great musician in many regards, especially as a guitarist and he also plays piano, drums, and I think he used to play violin too! In fact, Keith is talented enough to be a guitarist for Sorizon, but we’ve always agreed that he should focus primarily on his vocals and have more freedom as a frontman. Throwing in a third guitar live has been an idea floating around for a while though, so maybe someday that will get incorporated a bit.
Musically, my favorite part about having Keith in the band is the way he writes vocals to our songs. I’ve written the majority of the music up to this point, and he always exceeds my expectations with the vocals he comes up with. Sometimes he’ll take a different perspective than I would expect, but it never compromises the integrity of the song’s feeling. A lot of our songs are so melodic and complex instrumentally, yet Keith does a great job with the challenge of adding more melody and feeling to sometimes already complete-sounding songs.
Keith is jokester. Anyone who knows him personally will tell you that he loves to tease and joke around every chance he gets. Unlike many lead vocalists, Keith is not a diva. He respects Sorizon’s visions as a whole and compromises as much as everyone else in hopes of making the best music that we possibly can. Just don’t get between him and his alkalized water. His light-hearted spirit, great talent, and dedication to our band over the years proves him to be a lead vocalist that we never want to be without.
Danny Mann (guitar)
As known by Sean Elston:
I first met Danny at the practice space where Sorizon still has band practice today. We both lived in Irvine, this was 2005 both out of highschool starting college. This was a very spontaneous casual jam with oddly enough Danny on bass guitar. Later he told me told me he would rather play guitar, and I could see why. His playing came through as having a lot of feeling and just simply sounded very good. My first impressions were long hair, cut off band t-shirt...clearly a dude that was really into Metal. As I remember we got along really very well right off the bat. Danny was a very approachable fun guy that I wanted to be friends with. Casual Jams became more and more focused until we eventually could play whole Iron Maiden albums together, and we didn't want to be just a cover band so we went on to write our own classic metal songs that became the band Joust. Long story short: a 6 month break up, new band members, and a goal of heavier and more serious music, and we arrive at the band that is now called Sorizon.
When I first met Danny I thought ok this Danny guy is pretty laid back, maybe even kinda lazy, and in conversation he's often awkwardly slow to answer my questions. He keeps a skate board in his car, how serious of a musician can he be? How do my initial impressions of Danny compare to the Danny I know today?
It seems like so many guitarists I run across nowadays have their favorite band and they just copy everything about their playing, this is not Danny. Danny is simple, you put a guitar into Danny's hands and he plays, writes, and learns the way that feels good to him, and that's what makes him happy. It's plain and simple but it's rare for someone to take this approach. When Danny plays guitar I can tell it's his playing because he's got his own sound. His sound is kind of loose, even if the guitar parts are very difficult they still have this very human feel. Danny is a laid back guy, but NO, not in any way is he lazy. I've come to know there is a consistency with the level of seriousness that he applies to every task of his life. If Danny is playing guitar on stage he's always 100% in the zone. If you ask Danny a question...He will give you a quality response, regardless of how much time it takes to divine the answer. If Danny wants to be better at something, he becomes better.
It is amazing to me the diversity of tasks Danny will accomplish in a week, and still succeed at all of them with stupid effortless success. As an example a typical week for Danny might include: Attending 1-2 band practices, writing new music, playing ample amounts of guitar, going to the beach, driving to Los Angeles, hosting parties, playing competitive video games...oh wait and I almost left out being a grad-student at UCI for cognitive science [Jack is too] where he also is a teacher's assistant that grades papers and assists other undergraduate students. Still with all these accomplishments Danny's clock runs 20 minutes fast. See Danny lives in the future, that's his secret to getting so much accomplished. But somehow he still arrives late to his appointments. But maybe I shouldn't mention that. He has been making it to band practices on time as of late. Being the youngest member in the band Danny's talents are on track to eclipse us all!
What does Danny mean to Sorizon? With our first album Behind the Emerald Starscape, he wrote most of all the guitar material himself. Even though our newer album will be more of a collaboration, it was Danny that laid the foundation of Sorizon. And it's through his vision that we follow in example and take turns driving the boat (car, pirate ship, or spaceship... whatever analogy you prefer) that is Sorizon.
I first met Danny at the practice space where Sorizon still has band practice today. We both lived in Irvine, this was 2005 both out of highschool starting college. This was a very spontaneous casual jam with oddly enough Danny on bass guitar. Later he told me told me he would rather play guitar, and I could see why. His playing came through as having a lot of feeling and just simply sounded very good. My first impressions were long hair, cut off band t-shirt...clearly a dude that was really into Metal. As I remember we got along really very well right off the bat. Danny was a very approachable fun guy that I wanted to be friends with. Casual Jams became more and more focused until we eventually could play whole Iron Maiden albums together, and we didn't want to be just a cover band so we went on to write our own classic metal songs that became the band Joust. Long story short: a 6 month break up, new band members, and a goal of heavier and more serious music, and we arrive at the band that is now called Sorizon.
When I first met Danny I thought ok this Danny guy is pretty laid back, maybe even kinda lazy, and in conversation he's often awkwardly slow to answer my questions. He keeps a skate board in his car, how serious of a musician can he be? How do my initial impressions of Danny compare to the Danny I know today?
It seems like so many guitarists I run across nowadays have their favorite band and they just copy everything about their playing, this is not Danny. Danny is simple, you put a guitar into Danny's hands and he plays, writes, and learns the way that feels good to him, and that's what makes him happy. It's plain and simple but it's rare for someone to take this approach. When Danny plays guitar I can tell it's his playing because he's got his own sound. His sound is kind of loose, even if the guitar parts are very difficult they still have this very human feel. Danny is a laid back guy, but NO, not in any way is he lazy. I've come to know there is a consistency with the level of seriousness that he applies to every task of his life. If Danny is playing guitar on stage he's always 100% in the zone. If you ask Danny a question...He will give you a quality response, regardless of how much time it takes to divine the answer. If Danny wants to be better at something, he becomes better.
It is amazing to me the diversity of tasks Danny will accomplish in a week, and still succeed at all of them with stupid effortless success. As an example a typical week for Danny might include: Attending 1-2 band practices, writing new music, playing ample amounts of guitar, going to the beach, driving to Los Angeles, hosting parties, playing competitive video games...oh wait and I almost left out being a grad-student at UCI for cognitive science [Jack is too] where he also is a teacher's assistant that grades papers and assists other undergraduate students. Still with all these accomplishments Danny's clock runs 20 minutes fast. See Danny lives in the future, that's his secret to getting so much accomplished. But somehow he still arrives late to his appointments. But maybe I shouldn't mention that. He has been making it to band practices on time as of late. Being the youngest member in the band Danny's talents are on track to eclipse us all!
What does Danny mean to Sorizon? With our first album Behind the Emerald Starscape, he wrote most of all the guitar material himself. Even though our newer album will be more of a collaboration, it was Danny that laid the foundation of Sorizon. And it's through his vision that we follow in example and take turns driving the boat (car, pirate ship, or spaceship... whatever analogy you prefer) that is Sorizon.
Tim Hall (guitar)
As known by Jack Payne (previous bassist):
The first thing I noticed when I met Tim Hall was how excited he was about Sorizon. The more time I spend with him, the more I find that he’s a true lover of life. It’s always fun to hang out with him, he’s always in high-spirits. He’s the kind of guy that will have fun doing whatever he’s doing all the time. That makes for an awesome person to be around. He’s a California native, and accordingly he enjoys surfing, skateboarding and of course METAL. A lot of people here enjoy the outdoors but Tim seems to enjoy them a lot more than average. When I found out that he actually teaches surfing lessons I seriously considered asking for some pointers, but I figured we’d just paddle out sometime and I’d get some advice for free. I saw a compilation he put together of his skateboarding, with Cosmic Eden in the background and I must say I was damn impressed.
Tim actually plays a number of instruments but his weapon of choice is decidedly the guitar. Soon after joining the band, he upgraded all his gear to get a nice edgy, heavy sound to add to Sorizon’s sonic landscape and he achieved just that. It’s refreshing to have not one, but two guitarists that are dedicated to weaving intricate harmonic and rhythmic webs with their instruments, and refusing to play inarticulate sounding mush. His tone and stage presence mesh really well with Danny’s; the two form the meat of our sound and both of them have a ton of energy- it’s really fun to watch and interact with them on stage. He knows a lot about metal music, and uses that knowledge to help create the best possible sounds for us. He’s already started to add some crazy new riffs to the songwriting process, and should have a song finished on our upcoming album. Sorizon is definitely moving in a good direction with Tim on board.
The first thing I noticed when I met Tim Hall was how excited he was about Sorizon. The more time I spend with him, the more I find that he’s a true lover of life. It’s always fun to hang out with him, he’s always in high-spirits. He’s the kind of guy that will have fun doing whatever he’s doing all the time. That makes for an awesome person to be around. He’s a California native, and accordingly he enjoys surfing, skateboarding and of course METAL. A lot of people here enjoy the outdoors but Tim seems to enjoy them a lot more than average. When I found out that he actually teaches surfing lessons I seriously considered asking for some pointers, but I figured we’d just paddle out sometime and I’d get some advice for free. I saw a compilation he put together of his skateboarding, with Cosmic Eden in the background and I must say I was damn impressed.
Tim actually plays a number of instruments but his weapon of choice is decidedly the guitar. Soon after joining the band, he upgraded all his gear to get a nice edgy, heavy sound to add to Sorizon’s sonic landscape and he achieved just that. It’s refreshing to have not one, but two guitarists that are dedicated to weaving intricate harmonic and rhythmic webs with their instruments, and refusing to play inarticulate sounding mush. His tone and stage presence mesh really well with Danny’s; the two form the meat of our sound and both of them have a ton of energy- it’s really fun to watch and interact with them on stage. He knows a lot about metal music, and uses that knowledge to help create the best possible sounds for us. He’s already started to add some crazy new riffs to the songwriting process, and should have a song finished on our upcoming album. Sorizon is definitely moving in a good direction with Tim on board.
Sean Elston (drums)
As known by Tim Hall:
My first encounter with Sean was in April '11 when I showed up to try out for Sorizon. I remember some dude who has just tried out was leaving and all the guys were saying bye to him. As I got out of my car, I noticed Sean's attention was focused on me and he was smiling as I walked up. The first sentence I ever heard come out of Sean's mouth was, "Your shirt is awesome!" I was wearing my Wintersun shirt and I guess he was feeling as stoked as I was. Obviously, my immediate reaction was that this guy is freakin rad.
The first few times I spoke with Sean, he seemed like a shy and gentle person, which is interesting because he will aggressively tear a drum set to pieces with his fast hands and incredible precision. There are times when I am honestly baffled by his skill while listening to him drum while we are jamming. He is professional enough to tolerate the use of a metronome blaring in his ear but his rhythm is so solid that I don't know how much he actually needs it. Somehow, when the time signature changes in a song, Sean calculates some mathematically confusing rhythm to follow until the metronome gets back on track. I don't know how he is able to that, but it's outrageous.
It's easy to see how much Sean cares about the music when you realize how much time he spends mixing. "I spent a few hours on this mix, but I'm not done yet. I will need a couple more hours." Keep in mind that is just for a demo recording! What most people don't know is that Sean mixed the entire "Behind The Emerald Starscape" album! The rest of the guys helped a bit, but it was Sean that did the majority of the work.
Sean is an awesome musician and person, and I definitely look forward to getting to know him better in the years to come.
My first encounter with Sean was in April '11 when I showed up to try out for Sorizon. I remember some dude who has just tried out was leaving and all the guys were saying bye to him. As I got out of my car, I noticed Sean's attention was focused on me and he was smiling as I walked up. The first sentence I ever heard come out of Sean's mouth was, "Your shirt is awesome!" I was wearing my Wintersun shirt and I guess he was feeling as stoked as I was. Obviously, my immediate reaction was that this guy is freakin rad.
The first few times I spoke with Sean, he seemed like a shy and gentle person, which is interesting because he will aggressively tear a drum set to pieces with his fast hands and incredible precision. There are times when I am honestly baffled by his skill while listening to him drum while we are jamming. He is professional enough to tolerate the use of a metronome blaring in his ear but his rhythm is so solid that I don't know how much he actually needs it. Somehow, when the time signature changes in a song, Sean calculates some mathematically confusing rhythm to follow until the metronome gets back on track. I don't know how he is able to that, but it's outrageous.
It's easy to see how much Sean cares about the music when you realize how much time he spends mixing. "I spent a few hours on this mix, but I'm not done yet. I will need a couple more hours." Keep in mind that is just for a demo recording! What most people don't know is that Sean mixed the entire "Behind The Emerald Starscape" album! The rest of the guys helped a bit, but it was Sean that did the majority of the work.
Sean is an awesome musician and person, and I definitely look forward to getting to know him better in the years to come.
Kevin Vickers (bass) Coming Soon!
Previous Members
Jack Payne (bass)
As known by Keith McIntosh:
I first met Jack on Halloween 2010 at a costume party that Danny was having. Danny introduced us and my first thought was "Why would you come to a costume party, but not dress up?" But I’m sure Jack was taking me as an odd one because of my Pocahontas costume haha. He seemed very friendly and sincere and Danny had been talking him up as an incredible bassist. At first glance, someone who doesn't know Jack very well would think he is just an average college guy but after getting to know him, I can say not only is he the best bass player I know but is also an amazing all around musician. Bass is only one of the many musical talents he obtains along with, cello, guitar and singing and he also produces his own recordings aside from Sorizon.
After knowing him a while and getting to know him better I was somewhat surprised to know of Jack's "wild side." This guy doesn’t look like the junkie/partygoer and by no means is he either of those, but he does like to have a good time now and then and has some pretty funny stories to tell. Jack also is one of the most athletic people I know. He is always amped to exercise and doesn't stick to only one activity. We have surfed together but Mr. Payne also enjoys weight lifting, rowing, and working out at the gym. All in all Jack is a great guy with a positive attitude and also a fun person to party, exercise, play music or just to hang out with.
I first met Jack on Halloween 2010 at a costume party that Danny was having. Danny introduced us and my first thought was "Why would you come to a costume party, but not dress up?" But I’m sure Jack was taking me as an odd one because of my Pocahontas costume haha. He seemed very friendly and sincere and Danny had been talking him up as an incredible bassist. At first glance, someone who doesn't know Jack very well would think he is just an average college guy but after getting to know him, I can say not only is he the best bass player I know but is also an amazing all around musician. Bass is only one of the many musical talents he obtains along with, cello, guitar and singing and he also produces his own recordings aside from Sorizon.
After knowing him a while and getting to know him better I was somewhat surprised to know of Jack's "wild side." This guy doesn’t look like the junkie/partygoer and by no means is he either of those, but he does like to have a good time now and then and has some pretty funny stories to tell. Jack also is one of the most athletic people I know. He is always amped to exercise and doesn't stick to only one activity. We have surfed together but Mr. Payne also enjoys weight lifting, rowing, and working out at the gym. All in all Jack is a great guy with a positive attitude and also a fun person to party, exercise, play music or just to hang out with.
