beneathesalt brings a new flavor to the San Diego music scene, blending hard-hitting, alternative rock with reggae, pop-punk, and just a touch of old school classic rock. Female and male lead vocals bring something you don't hear alot of in the "mainstream" music scene, especially when you combine them with the experience and creativity of guitarist Jason Cowles, and the funky, bangin', focused beats of drummer Justin Hoover.
When someone asks us what type of music we play, the answer is usually "an alternative to alternative rock". Really we've just become a style all our own. We want people to find something in each and every song, lyrically, musically, or both, that pulls at their soul and says, "yeah--that's me". Honestly, we never try for one style of music. We have such a wide variety of influences throughout the band, ranging from jazz to blues to classical to punk to ska to reggae to hip-hop to rock and roll---the list goes on and on, man. So, we just treat each song individually, each of us adding our own ideas of what we are hearing in our heads, take it to the studio, and whatever comes out, comes out. We never throw out a song just because it doesn't sound enough like the rest of our style. If we like what we're hearing and feeling, it's added to the list. Our band is driven by each and every member in it, by the pure and true love of music that each of us has for all styles and cultures behind it, making us one, just like the name."Where did you guys get your name?" has become a question we hear alot. "Beneath the salt" was a phrase commonly used in the Rennaissance Era. Salt was really expensive back then, and there were a lot of poor people in those times, and salt being the pricey item that it was, if you couldn't afford it, the rich people would say you were "beneath the salt", or beneath those who COULD afford it. It became the popular phrase to describe poor people in general, and was also used to describe someone who couldn't afford expensive liquor or wine, so the phrase was also "he drinks beneath the salt". For these reasons, to us, it's a statement of humility, hence the lower-case-letter form.
How did we become a band?? Well, we originally started as a three piece, with Sara, Alan, and Justin. Sara and Alan met in Idaho in October 2000. Alan had moved to Idaho in 1997, got in some trouble, and served some time in prison, got out on parole and met Sara. They broke it off when Alan went back on a P.V. in August 2001. He always wrote to her at least once a month and one day in September 2002, she unexpectedly showed up at visiting to see him. They fell in love all over again and got married the day Alan got out on August 21st, 2003. They moved to California two weeks later, followed by Justin about 10 months later, who moved back from Arizona. Justin and Alan both grew up in good ol' Santuckee (Santee, CA) and have been friends since they were 14. Both shared a love for the drums, until Alan discovered he could play the guitar. Sara picked up the bass, and so beneathesalt was born. Jason Cowles (who also plays guitar for the rockinist party band Collage Menage) joined us and, after only jamming with us three times, we played our first show as a four piece band in November 2006 at Fannies in Spring Valley. After stealing the show from two other bands, we realized we have alot to offer.
So, there you have it. This is us, and we tear it up. Word.
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