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Souls on Monday is a band with many influences and started in 1989. Four friends had a dream while in high school to start up their own rock band after watching their friends who had a band of their own. Rayne Langley (vocalist) was first a guitar player before being elected to become the front man. Ricky John (guitarist) learned to play his six string while he was in the Air Force. Both Roland Castillo (drummer) and Gabriel Castillo (bass) both played for the church. The band didn’t get started till a few years after high school graduation but eventually this group of friends never gave up on their dreams to start a band. They practice in a community center for 2 years learning tons of rock covers before they stepped out into the world. Dreams of playing in parties and little hole in the wall joints was all they wanted and for ten years. They were an awesome cover band. They tried writing their own materials but just couldn’t find the sound they were looking for. They were influenced by so many groups and era that it was hard to write their own tunes.
The group was first called “Trail of Tears” because of being Native American they figured it would be cool to name the group that would relate to Native Americans. Booking a show was difficult because of the assumption that the band was a traditional flute and drum show, but little did the venues know that this band had a powerful rock and roll punch, which later people started to realize and slowly started requesting the band to play at their venue. Around 95/96’, they were joined by a young guitar player, Wayne Wilson, who also been in bands playing country and rock. Shortly after Wayne joined, the band breaks up. Everyone went their own separate ways by joining or starting other bands. Some settled down and went to work but years passed and slowly the members of Trail of Tears started talking about a reunion and decided to play an opening spot with Rayne Langley’s band. At the time, Rayne was singing for both bands. The original line up of Trail of Tears got up and played like they never broke up and sounded so awesome, so it was decided that they would form the band again but under a new name, which is now “Souls on Monday”. In the down time of the Trail of Tears breakup, Langley and John would sometimes get together and write songs so they were prepared to bring the songs into the new band, which sounded dark and melodic and tuning their guitars to a low B tuning which made the heavy driving sound they have today. Souls on Monday’s first cd dropped in 2003 titled, “Realize”, which they toured the states supporting the album from New York, NY, all southern states, to Las Vegas, NV
Things were looking good and promising for the Souls on Monday. They had the pleasure to open a big show (Dog Jam) which headlined 3 Doors Down, Sevendust, Shinedown, and Seether. They played on the main stage in front of thousands which was a dream come true and caught the fever of wanting more, so the next year they played with Puddle of Mudd, Trapt, Earshot, and Dropbox. The songs “Wait” and “Litterbox” aired on college radio stations, Other stations from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Alabama, Oregon, and even up in Canada. TV spots, in store performance and festivals was what it looked like for SOM. A&R Reps from Interscope, and Warner Bros, approached the band and was interested to help the band but the timing turned out to be wrong. Like a lot of bands in the industry, Souls on Monday is a working band and some members had to work and couldn’t afford to hit the road. It was very difficult to work around 5 different members schedules, so a new guitar player, Joey Lacombe filled the spot on a temporary basis. Eventually, 2009 was the departure of Ricky John and Joey took the full time spot.
Today Souls on Monday is getting stronger and aiming for the stardom that each of the members unquestionably want. Music is a lot heavier and more mature from their debut CD and look forward to showcasing to the world the new Souls on Monday.
Watch Souls on Monday's "Realize" music video
BAND UPDATE: Souls on Monday is working hard in writing new materials for their next cd. The music is awesome!!! this next go round, if you liked the first cd, well you gonna like this next one. Souls on Monday is slowly getting back on the road and playing venues they can get their hands on. The show is just as powerful as it was before or maybe more, so people it's time to turn on them amps, strap on the guitars, re-skin the drums, heat up the lights, and yell into the mic and ask this one question, ARE YOU READY?!!!!!
Festivals and events contact Trina Martinez Promotions / Manager 505-362-8694 soulsonmonday2004@yahoo.com and for local bookings within the state of Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi, you can contact Raven Langley at 337-322-3374.
