Sockeye salmon are blue tinged with silver in color while living in the ocean. When they return to spawning grounds, their bodies become red and their heads turn green. Sockeye can be anywhere from in length and weigh from . Two distinguishing features are their long, serrated gill rakers that range from 30 to 40 in number, and their lack of a spot on their tail or back. Sockeye salmon range as far south as the Columbia River in the eastern Pacific (although individuals have been spotted as far south as the 10 Mile River on the Mendocino Coast of California) and
What It Is to Burn the label. Reines offered the group a chance to perform and subsequently invited his sister, and co-label owner, Stefanie to the performance. The pair were impressed and signed the group. Pre-production and demos were done at DML Studios in Escondido, California in February and April 2001. They began recording "What It Is to Burn" in June at Big Fish Studios in Encinitas, California with producer Mark Trombino. They started tracking guitars in July. Strohmeyer used Fender guitars and Marshall amplifiers. Linares used ESP guitars and Mesa amplifiers. Trombino did guitar effects for the album, earning him a programming credit in