Back in 2008, I was living in La Costa, walking for hours every day to clear my head and write music.
On one of those walks, I passed a house with a van parked out front. Not just any van. It was obviously a reggae van. I walked by it three or four times before I couldn't deny how compelled I felt to knock on the door.
That's how I met Alex Somerville. Long blonde dreadlocks, big smile, warm eyes, great energy, and as it turned out, keyboardist/producer for a San Diego band called The Devastators. It was a nice connection. Over time, I'd stop by, catch one of their shows.
Years later, I told him about this idea I'd been carrying for decades. Mantras in roots reggae. He asked to hear something. So I put together a rough demo in my home studio and sent it over. Just me on guitar, badly programmed drums, and my lead vocal. Oh yeah and around 10 background vocal tracks.
(Oh! btw, check out the new animated music video for Irie Om Namah Shivaya!)
Some time later (weeks? months?), he called. "Want to come over to the studio and hear a track we’ve been working on?"
When I got there, Alex was with his bandmate John Allen — the drummer of The Devastators, who's an even better guitarist and bassist than he is a drummer. He damn, he drums! They greeted me like an old friend and played me a track they'd been working on. Really good.
It was so good being in a studio again with great musicians. The vibe. After we talked about their track, they smiled at each other and said, "Hey, check this one out."
And it was their demo. Of my track.
They'd taken my scratch guitar, my lead vocals, all my background harmonies, and built a full reggae production around them.
It sounded great. The mantra had come to life. In reggae. My mind couldn't quite register it. I was in a state of… “Huh???”
Part of what made it so powerful wasn't just the music — though the music was real. It was that they'd taken the time. The care. They'd sat with my vision and built something around it from their hearts and souls.
That kind of generosity is rare and precious. Though I could express my utmost gratitude there was no way to fully thank them for what they'd given me.
And here's what I didn't yet know standing in Alex's home studio: that demo would become the offering. The thing I'd eventually hand to Fully Fullwood years later, outside a Reggae for a Reason show in Long Beach.
The bridge to Soul Syndicate was built on a smaller, earlier bridge. Built by two friends who said yes before there was any reason to.
Before any legend heard the music, Alex and John heard it. And believed in it enough to make it real.
That's what made everything that came after possible. Friends. Pure kindness. Love in action.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify :https://open.spotify.com/album/1aJgQJDQFGDwznzAieHm0m
🎧 Listen now on all platforms: https://found.ee/Irie-Om-Namah-Shivaya-Single
🎬 Watch the Official Music Video: https://youtu.be/OBj57emqs-I
P.S. — If you know anyone who practices mantra meditation, does kirtan, or loves roots reggae, send this their way. This project lives at the intersection of those worlds, and I’d love for it to reach as many wonderful people as possible.
Peace and harmony,
Bodhi