Funk 'n' soul group The True Loves will perform Friday and Saturday in Sisters.

Recording at Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard’s Studio Litho in Seattle has its perks, as instrumental funk group The True Loves learned recently.

“They have a really nice espresso machine there,” bassist Bryant Moore said.

The True Loves had just finished sound check at a recent tour stop in Tacoma, Washington — the band’s third-to-last gig this year. Its final gig of 2019 will be its debut show at Volcanic Theatre Pub on Saturday. “That’s kind of our favorite thing besides the two-inch tape and the analog equipment,” Moore continued. “The espresso machine got a lot of use. …

One of the songs is too fast on the record, and it’s probably the espresso machine’s fault.”

That too-fast song is slated for the band’s second instrumental album, due out sometime next year. The follow-up to 2017’s “Famous Last Words,” the as-yet-untitled album will mark the septet’s return to Studio Litho, where it recorded its first album with vocalist Grace Love.

The band’s current iteration — led by guitar virtuoso Jabrille “Jimmy James” Williams (also of the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, which played Volcanic in September) and featuring Moore, trombonist Jason Cressey, drummer David McGraw, percussionist Iván Galvez, trombonist Greg Kramer and tenor saxophonist Gordon Brown — went back to its initial, instrumental format after Love left the band in 2016. Her departure marked the halfway point in the group’s history.

“Bryant and David McGraw, our drummer, started this whole thing off,” Cressey said. “There’s a little club up in Seattle called the Sea Monster Lounge, and David and Bryant would put together jams. So there was a handful of jams that happened, and all these people would come through and it was different personnel every time they would put a group together.”

James helped solidify the lineup, and also brought Love into the fold. Though initially, the band had other plans.

“We actually wanted to work with Jimmie Herrod, who is a great singer, but he had just moved to Portland and we thought that was too far to maintain a relationship,” Moore said. “The first demos that Dave, Jabrille and I did, we sent them to Jimmie Herrod and he sent us back his singing over the top of it, and thed (stuff) was great, but him living in Portland was too far away. And then Jimmy James met Grace, and the rest is history there.”

The band has kept mostly tight-lipped about why Love left, but plans were already in motion to move to an instrumental sound before her departure. It took its cues from The Wrecking Crew, Booker T. and the MG’s, Stax and Motown Records, as well as the modern soul revivalists at Daptone Records, home to Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings — with whom James has a close relationship.

Like those aforementioned groups, The True Loves will often back guest vocalists such as Daptone Records’ Saundra Williams and Seattle singer Tiffany Wilson.

“It’s been a thing for a couple of years — I would say even the last 10 years, it’s kind of a trend,” Moore said.

While “Famous Last Words,” which featured Lamaar on organ throughout, showcased this new direction, the band isn’t done evolving. A single released last year, “The Dapper Derp” backed with “Kabuki,” was also recorded at Studio Litho with Lamaar, and offers a taste of the band’s expanding musical palette.

“Some of it sounds similar to the stuff we’ve done,” Moore said, “but we’ve included a cumbia section in a song that we’ve never really done. We’ve added timbales to a couple (of) tunes. There’s a little more Latin influence than there was before; there’s a little harder funk edge than there was before.”

The band also collaborated more in its songwriting process.

“A lot of the songs still came from Jabrille, Dave and I jamming, but Jason started bringing material in that was closer to a finished idea,” Moore said. “Greg Kramer started getting involved in the songwriting; I started bringing in tunes. And on this new record, even Dave McGraw, the drummer, brought in his own tune, which is a first.”

Expect some of these new songs at the Volcanic gig. It will be The True Loves’ first visit to Bend, although most of its members have been to the city before with other bands. (Guitarist Cole Schuster will join the band in Bend.)

“We’re actually looking for a place to stay,” Cressey said. “If you want to throw that one out to any of the True Loves fans.”

“We shower,” Moore added. “We dress nice. We just don’t smell great.”

What: The True Loves

When: 9 p.m. Saturday

Where: Volcanic Theatre Pub, 70 SW Century Drive, Bend

Cost: $12 plus fees in advance, $15 at the door

Contact: volcanictheatre.com or 541-323-1881

GO! listen to The True Loves’ latest single, “The Dapper Derp”/”Kabuki”