Saint Social, courtesy.

Some bands release music soon after meeting each other. But for the three dads in Saint Social, the wait has been years in the making.

Singer Quinn Erwin and drummer Bryan Bourque grew up and played together since high school. As that ended, so did their band. But their friendship and collaboration was just beginning. Years later, Bourque discovered that his sister’s new boyfriend—and his soon-to-be brother-in-law—Justin Gollott was a guitarist. After playing together in various combinations for decades, the three started a band in 2020. Four more years later, they’ve released their first EP, Don’t Let the Fire Die.

Starting the band was a long time in coming, the three said from in a video call from their different home bases along the Gulf Coast. Erwin, who was working on his own music, thought he’d found the perfect new backup musicians. But he quickly realized that wasn’t the right role for his friends, which initially also included Ben Lowrimore, who’s still part of the touring family but left the lineup to focus on family life.

“It felt silly for us to be friends for so long and for them to just play my music, when we could instead be making something that we’re all a part of,” he said.

With its heat and humidity, the Gulf Coast is not only close to Erwin’s heart but an essential part of Saint Social’s identity.

“We’re big fans of The Killers, and one of the things that Brandon Flowers says about The Killers is that they ‘run Springsteen through the Vegas strip,'” he said. “So we’re kind of stealing that idea: I like to say that we take our favorite bands—The Killers, Kings of Leon, Coldplay—and run them through I-10, the big stretch of highway that runs across the Gulf Coast.”

All three grew up in the region, giving them a strong sense of shared cultural identity. Birthed out of the difficult period of pandemic quarantine, the band aims to hone in on the joy and togetherness the members see as an antidote to solitude. They do this not through subtle references but with full-fledged jubilance seen in jovial lyrics backed by bright and vivacious soundscapes. “Clap your hands ‘til you feel all right/ Get up and dance ‘til you know you’re alive,” Erwin sings on the title track.

“Some people might think those lines are uncool. But to us, that’s a clear way of clapping back at challenges and deciding to have a good time,” he said.

The four pop-rock songs on their EP are a sampling of an upcoming LP. Gollott compared it to a film trailer that shares the plot points without giving everything away—and to a thesis statement for Saint Social.

“We want to create something that is ecstatic, that speaks to a deeper reality, that is atmospheric and that creates an environment for people to have catharsis,” Erwin said. “I just don’t know that there’s a lot of joy in music. I don’t mean something that is just happy. I mean something that carries the weight of grief and says ‘we’re still going to dance.’”

Both the EP and forthcoming long-player are pseudo-concept records, with intentional track order that imply character interaction.

“Swagger” was an obvious choice to release ahead of the album because it’s so boldly confident.

“We wanted to put a banger up front, but there’s plenty more to come,” Gollott said.

Of the song, Erwin said he was thinking of a protagonist knocked down but confidently getting up to fight back. He’s bruised, and his slicked-back hair (Erwin’s description) is probably ruffled but he still looks cool as he reengages the one who knocks him down.

During shows, the band tests out new material to see what clicks with its audience. “Swagger” was one of the songs that immediately brought the energy up.

“I went through a really dark period in the middle of the songs being born,” Erwin said. “And all of a sudden, I realized that the songs showed up before I knew how much I would need them.”

While Erwin finds catharsis through songwriting, Bourque does so through smashing his drum set.

“I get a lot of fulfillment from trying to build in certain areas or change a song dynamically to match a song’s message in a more physical way,” he said.

Living in different cities, parenting young children and working nine-to-five day jobs, it’s difficult for Saint Social to find time to rehearse. They’ve found a couple solutions to this, though. One of these comes from growing up in church band culture, where musicians sometimes have to work off a list of songs someone wants played on Sunday. So it goes for the band and its shows.

The members’ kids are their biggest fans.

“Every time we get in the car, it’s Saint Social songs. My son will beg for it,” Bourque said. “His baseball walkout song is ‘Swagger.’ It was a cool moment because everyone at the games wonders what the song is, and it helps us build a following.”