In the five years since they formed in San Diego, Thee Sacred Souls have embarked on a smooth journey from dive bars to auditoriums, with their unique combination of deep soul grooves, humility and serendipity. Originating in and around tiny venues in Southern California in 2019, they emerged on the other side of the pandemic in 2022 with a fully-formed debut album that quickly established them globally.
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Crisscrossing the Atlantic, Thee Sacred Souls went on to play over 250 shows in two years, including the Newport Folk Festival and Lollapalooza. TV appearances and peer endorsement from the likes of SZA, Alicia Keys, Leon Bridges and, most notably, Beyoncé, soon followed. Speaking on the morning of show day in Amsterdam, during their most recent European jaunt, all three members – Josh Lane (vocals), Alex Garcia (guitar, drums) and Sal Samano (bass, drums) – talk enthusiastically about their origin story and new second album, ‘Got A Story To Tell’.
They do indeed have a great story to tell, and they recount it in a thoughtful and understated manner. It all began on Instagram, which connected them first with each other and then with Gabriel Roth, Daptone label boss and producer. “Well, Sal is from Imperial Beach and I’m from Chula Vista. They’re smaller cities, 15-20 minutes south of San Diego,” Alex says. “We came from playing house shows and DIY gigs back in the day, and that’s how me and Sal met each other. I was also doing my own stuff and recording by myself. I’d posted a clip of what was going to become the ‘Can I Call You Rose?’ instrumental and Sal and I started talking. I was also following Josh on Instagram, he’s from Sacramento and moved to San Diego. I liked the way he sings. I messaged saying ‘hey, man, you want to, like, come through and jam or something?”’
The jam happened, more songs were written and friends shared clips with Roth. He got in touch and a week or so later, attended the band’s second gig in 2J’s, a dive bar in Fullerton. “There were maybe 20 people max. Gabe Roth was sitting there staring at us,” continues Alex. “After the show, he’s like, ‘Man, you guys, I dig it. You guys want to make a record?”’ Initially, the arrangement was “super loose, we just went over to his house and then he took us to the studio,” but the band, by this point, wanted more.
“I feel like Gabe and Daptone in general, are so much about the music first that honestly, if we hadn’t said that we wanted more than just to do a single at a time, we would have just been doing singles. We had to tell them that we wanted to be signed,” Josh says. Of course, the timing of that first 45 wasn’t the most opportune: ‘Can I Call You Rose?’ came out the first week of March 2020. The COVID period did, at least, leave space and time for writing and recording, luxuries that have been less plentiful since the success of their debut.
Recorded earlier this year (again at Roth’s Penrose Studios in Riverside, California), their new album had been largely written on tour by Alex and Sal, with Josh adding words and vocals at a later stage. It’s to their credit that ‘Got A Story To Tell’ betrays neither the additional stress or expectations that come with a sophomore effort. The warmth of the straight to eight track analogue recording is constant, but the songs are an upgrade on their debut set, with more depth and variety added in for good measure.
“It was stressful because the last year was pretty packed with touring. The writing sessions were in between gigs,” says Alex. “During our time off before playing shows we booked time in the studio, so we had a couple months to get all our ideas together. We had to finish this record in a certain amount of time so it was able to come out this year. Otherwise, we’d have waited till next year and that just wasn’t going to look good for us, you know?”
A glimpse forward finds Thee Sacred Souls touring in bigger auditoriums around the world, but for now the trio seem unencumbered by the hype or adoration. Maintaining a degree of stasis is key. “With touring, we’ve figured out what works for us and tried to find a way of keeping it sustainable,” says Alex, while Sal plays down expectations around the new record. “Personally, I don’t feel like there’s expectations. I do think it’s interesting to see what people think of the record, since our crowd can be quite young. I do wonder how they’ll react when we play the songs live.”
There’s nothing to suggest they’ll be disappointed. As the trio’s fan base grows, there’s no sign of restlessness or a desire to embrace the record labels that seek to commodify their sound. “Thee Sacred Souls doesn’t plan on ever working outside of the Daptone family,” concludes Josh emphatically.
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Words: John Williamson
Photography: César Buitrago
