Endless Sunsets festival debuts at Waterfront Park
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Creature Canyon lounging in San Diego. Photo: Courtesy of Creature Canyon
San Diego breakout stars Thee Sacred Souls are headlining Saturday's inaugural Endless Sunsets festival at Waterfront Park, but don't sleep on Creature Canyon, the local indie rock band that's opening the day.
Why it matters: Endless Sunsets is the new offering from Outriders West, the group behind December's annual Wild Horses festival at Petco Park, and could make for a successful pairing, even as the festival industry copes with a difficult market.
- Outriders West recently announced that Post Malone will headline this year's Wild Horses on Dec. 30.
Driving the news: Endless Sunsets is Thee Sacred Souls' only local date this year ahead of a European tour and the Oct. 4 release of their new album.
- Not bad for a band who was playing for free at South Park's Communal Coffee in 2019.
- Bluegrass stars Trampled by Turtles and Seattle-based funk and R&B band The Dip will also play after Creature Canyon kicks things off.
Zoom in: Creature Canyon started in 2015 with a familiar origin story: a show at 710 Beach Club to which almost no one showed up.
- "The story of any successful musician is taking pride playing to an empty room — there isn't an artist who hasn't done it," said frontman Austin Steele, who graduated from Poway's Westview High.
Catch up quick: Not long after that, though, their bluesy, indie sound landed them a spot at the sold-out 2018 KAABOO, where Billboard called them a festival highlight.
- "COVID was a reset button on our trajectory," said bassist Aaron Lund. "A lot of things hit a halt, and since then, it's about honing our writing process."
- The last year has seen them headline hometown shows at both Belly Up and Soma.
Inside the room: Lund said he and guitarist Ryan Amyot met Thee Sacred Souls during a recent night out at Part Time Lover and talked about playing together.
- "Less than a year later, we get hit up to play something with them," he said.
The latest: Creature Canyon has hit a groove releasing self-produced singles like this year's "American Movie" and "Give Me Life."
- Last week, they released an acoustic version of "American Movie" as a collaboration with Taylor Guitars.
The bottom line: Their writing process now is geared toward the live performance.
- "If it's not translating to energy that's going to make people get up and move, we move on from that," Lund said.