The Gold Souls are new to the Sacramento music scene. They released their debut The Gold Souls E.P. in the summer of 2017, and their new single "Nobody" will hit music streaming services later this month.
They're regular performers at the Shady Lady, and will be holding a single release party there Dec. 30 from 9 p.m. to midnight. The band aims to record a full length follow up and release it this summer.
"We had met in a different band, actually, also in the Davis music scene. We eventually reformed a few times and ended up creating The Gold Souls," says bassist Jace Dorn.
"We have been received really nicely so far," says singer Juniper Waller. "I think that it’s a cool moment for Sacramento music. There's a lot of energy around the arts in Sacramento right now, and so we were lucky to be well poised to hit the scene this year. Also, with music in general, there's been a revival of vintage music. That definitely fits with our style."
"The reason that we recorded the E.P. so early on in the band's existence was because we were asked to go down to San Diego to play a fundraiser in the early summer," says Waller. "We had just gotten together but we were like, 'Yeah, let's go on tour, let's go to San Diego … but if we're going on tour, we'll need something to sell. If we need something to sell, we might as well record some music to have a CD to sell.' We rushed and did ['The Gold Souls E.P.'] early on, and it was just the tunes that Jace and I had written."
The new single "Nobody" started off as an idea from drummer Billy D. Thompson.
"We took a fifth wheel trailer down to San Diego and we were sitting in the back of the trailer speeding down the highway, with Billy working out 'Nobody' on the little travel guitar," says Waller.
"Yeah, 'Nobody' was one of my first efforts in writing blues tunes," says Thompson. "I've written songs since I played in my high school band; it was why I learned guitar and piano, just so I could participate. It's kind of hard to write songs with just a drum set. 'Nobody' was my first effort in trying to combine the funk aesthetics and blues aesthetics."