A San Diego soul trio signed to Daptone after two shows

Thee Sacred Souls came together in April 2019, but the story starts a year earlier. Bassist Sal Samano and drummer Alex Garcia met in San Diego in 2018 and formed an instrumental oldies band. A few months later they met Josh Lane, who joined as the singer, and the group became a trio.

Their sound drew on Chicano soul, gospel, doo-wop and oldies. At first they played only live, at local venues in San Diego. After their second show, Bosco Mann invited them to record at Daptone Records’ Penrose Studios in Riverside, California, an invitation that came early. The first song they ever created, “Can I Call You Rose?”, was released in March 2020 as the debut single.

The first album took time. Work began in 2019 and finished in 2022, and in June of that year the band announced the self-titled record for August 27, along with a video for “Easier Said Than Done”. In November 2022 they performed that song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! They also opened for St. Paul and The Broken Bones on The Alien Coast Tour in 2022, and headlined their own tour for the album across 2022 and 2023.

In 2023 they also supported Portugal. The Man and Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats on the road, widening the audience that had first found them in small San Diego rooms. A second album, Got a Story to Tell, was announced for 2024 on Daptone. The inspiration is easy to hear, and their path is short but direct: from a pair of oldies fans in San Diego to a Daptone recording session, and from a first live show to national television within a few years.