'We believe our music is uplifting'

Indie band When Chai Met Toast has made their way into playlists around the country with their warm music

When Chai Met Toast is fast becoming one of the most popular indie bands in the country. Their heartfelt music and multi-lingual lyrics have earned them much praise. Metrolife catches up with them ahead of their Valentine’s Day performance at The Tamara Coorg.

When Chai Met Toast has gone from a young Kochi band to the tenth-most streamed indie artist in the country. What has that journey been like? Is there anything you’d change?

The journey has been fulfilling in more ways than one. From seeing streaming numbers go up slowly month on month, to see more and more people showing up to watch us live, getting international recognition — everything has been fulfilling and keeps us wanting for more.

You’ve described your genre as happy. Why is making happy music important?

The term ‘happy’ came to be associated with our music in a natural way but internally we believe our music is more ‘uplifting’ than happy. Internally we are only concerned about being true and original to ourselves in what we write and create.

You’ve collaborated with a host of interesting people, from illustrators and directors to actors and artists. How do these collaborations come about?

We are always on the lookout for interesting people to collaborate with, especially in the art/video side of things. Usually, once we have a basic framework in place on how we want a particular song to be portrayed, we approach directors/actors/artists who we think will be able to amplify our idea and create something beautiful. For our upcoming music video, we have collaborated with a director called Ria Singh based out of Mumbai and she has put together a superb music video that we can’t wait to release.

Apart from your music as a band, you’ve been involved in movie scores and such. How different are those experiences?

We have not been involved in many external projects as such, but from whatever little that we’ve done we can say that if the requirement for the movie/brand/ad is in-line with our vision and sonic sensibilities, then creating music for commissioned projects are as equally enjoyable as creating for our own.

How different is it performing for an intimate audience versus performing at a huge festival?

In terms of the level of preparedness, both are the same, but the experience is hugely different. In an intimate setting, you have to connect with the audience more and get them involved in the show while for a larger audience, the performance, as well as the audio-visual experience of the show, matter a lot. We love both of these equally.