They describe themselves as a “band from the land of coconuts”. So what kind of music would you expect then? The four piece Kochi based band with Ashwin Gopakumar on vocals and guitar, Palee Francis on keys, Sailesh G Pai on drums and Achyuth Jaigopal on guitar and banjo, bring on a unique brand of infectious happy music, which transcends age, genre, and even language. With simple melodies, the band takes inspiration from the lighter side of life to create music that is heartwarming, happy and smile-worthy. 

Verus Ferreira speaks with the members of the band, who in a short but illustrious career has carved a niche for themselves with catchy songs and beautiful videos. The young lads are the next big thing to look out for on the Indie music circuit.

So tell us something on how the band was formed?

Achyuth: Ashwin and I first met at a music café called Springr in Fort Kochi. Though the band wasn’t formed then, we kept in touch and Ashwin collaborated to sing in one of the songs for my solo EP. We wrote the first songs together after realizing that we shared common interests in country and folk music, one being chai and other the toast. So the band started as a two piece with Ashwin and me. Sailesh Pai (drums) and Palee Francis (keyboard and music programming) who we call ‘magic’, joined the band a year later through mutual friends, when we wanted to expand the sound of the band from what it was. They definitely are a huge part of what When Chai Met Toast has evolved into. Long story cut short, it’s about how four South Indian boys met English folk and Indian roots. The other founding member of the band is manager Kishan John, who has been with us in the journey from the start.

I’m sure there’s a story behind the name When Chai Met Toast?

Achyuth: We always say that the hardest part about forming a band is naming the band. The name When Chai Met Toast came about initially influenced by a menu in a cafe. We found that the name relates to the casual, happy mood of the band and the music we play. Chai being Indian and toast being western shows a mix of cultures that we both enjoy and take inspiration from.

Can member share about their journey into forming the band and a bit on their past musical experience?

Achyuth: It might be hard to believe considering the music that we play, but 3 of our members have backgrounds in the metal scene, and have been and also are still part of front-running metal bands in Kerala. There’s Pai who initially found it very different stylistically from what he had played before, but took it as a challenge to adapt to the sound of the band, strip down the drum kit and incorporate his own ideas. Palee, skyped with Ashwin (when he was in the US) on his 2G connection when the band was looking for a keyboard player, and joined us on New Years’ day of 2016; we both wrote Firefly in our first jam. Firefly our first official music video and was shot across 6 different live shows in different parts of the country,

Ashwin:  I was the front man and lead vocalist for Purple Blood, one of the states’s pioneering metal bands at the time. After a stint in America I was back in India and met up with Achyuth.

Achyuth: I was Ashwin’s intern at the music café Springr, and a solo finger style guitarist in Bali, where I studied in high school.

Who does the song writing in the band and what do a few songs speak about?

Achyuth: The writing is mostly done by Ashwin and Achyuth Firefly for example talks about being a firefly and lighting the path you travel, inspiring and guiding others around you. Fight talks about the warrior and ninja in each and every one of us, who finds the path to triumph before we call it a day, portrayed through the story of 4 artists a painter, a boxer, a mime artist and a supermodel. There’s also Beautiful World, which actually is a break up song, but seen in a light-hearted happy way.

Besides a few originals, you also do cover songs of other artists. Which songs do you usually like to cover?

Achyuth: We look up to bands like Mumford and Sons, Zac Brown Band, The Lumineers, Bear's Den, The Alabama Shakes and Coldplay. We also take influences from our Indian roots and film music that we grew up listening to.  A.R Rahman naturally, when it comes to Hindi and regional music.

Sometime in August 2020 you released the Nature Tapes. Can you tell us what's it all about.

Achyuth: Yeah, Nature Tapes is just a fun concept in our head. We travel somewhere and we try to establish a more stripped down version of our produced tracks.

You recently released an album ‘When we feel young’. What are the songs lyrically about and do you have any music videos to support it.

Achyuth: The album deals with thoughts about happiness, remnicense, fate, love and belief. We released music videos for 3 of the songs with more on the pipeline. We all have had phases that we go through in life from when you are young to even thinking about what your future would be like at some point only the other. The title is sorta like a timeline of a person put into songs, going through different emotions in life. We love to put to a visual identity to a song.

What were you guys up to during the lockdown. Did you work on any music.

Achyuth: I think working on music is the only thing that’s keeping us sane now. We’ve been at it from different places in the state itself. We still have 4 songs from the album to come out. We got the time during lockdown to actually revisit the arrangements of songs we had written for the album. It was sort of a much needed a break for all of us from playing live shows, and gave us the space to experiement and try out new things!

What style of music would you label your compositions?

Achyuth: We wouldn't put ourselves under a single style as we feel that we have to keep evolving our sound as musicians. We don’t want to name it any. I think we write music with emotions, each song has a character and a story, we don’t want to restrict ourselves from thinking different too.

You were part of the line-up for NH7, how did it feel to do a virtual fest.

Achyuth: Oh it’s fantastic this time it’s even more special with the lumineers and hiatus on the bill. Also, the fact that we shot the whole festival through sunset in a cliff overlooking the ocean made it even more special. It's great to see NH7 go online and put out an amazing line up for fans to get as close to the concert experience as possible from their homes. We were also stoked to be part of this line up.

2020 has been bad for the music industry. What do you feel about it and what do you think is the future of the music industry in these trying times.

Achyuth: We think the fact that music business stuck through it all and is inventing new ways to consume music itself says the industry isn’t falling. In fact we guess in India, the independent musicians wouldn’t complain about the growth in listening base for them. We made songs from our bedrooms and a lot of people know there are other songwriters in different parts of the country.

You were adjudged on the Indian Indie Hotlist playlist. Comment.

Achyuth: Crazy. It’s more like being on a hoarding. People who love music would know us by face now. Crazzzyyy. Huge thanks to everyone who's been listening to our new releases and the Indian India Hotlist playlist for featuring us.

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira