When Chai Met Toast celebrates Bengaluru’s love with fresh music and ICW performance

CE speaks with Chai Met Toast, a multilingual indie-folk alternative band from Kerala, about the recently performed show and Bengaluru being their second home.
The members of the band When Chai Met Toast
The members of the band When Chai Met Toast
Updated on
3 min read

BENGALURU: For Bengalureans, When Chai Met Toast is more than a household name. Known for their upbeat indie-folk music, the band has been closely tied to the vibrant music scene of the city for almost a decade. As Bengaluru played host to India Cocktail Week (ICW) this weekend, the band celebrated it along with fresh music and exciting energy on stage.

Hailing from Kerala, When Chai Met Toast calls Bengaluru their ‘second home’. “Bengaluru is like our second home, it was here where we grew up as a band playing our first shows,” says Achyuth Jaigopal, the guitarist of the band.

With songs like Khoj, Yellow Paper Daisy and Fireflies having a huge fanbase in Bengaluru, Jaigopal recounts how the Bengaluru audience has been receptive to the band’s music from the beginning. “Bengaluru is definitely our biggest base...I think the audience has just grown with us.

We’ve always gotten the biggest crowds in Bangalore. It’s always been the most supportive audience for our music. And it’s been a while since we did a public show in Bengaluru. So, we were quite excited, actually, for ICW, ” he says, expressing his happiness in coming back to the city to perform.

The band’s connection with the Indian Cocktail Week goes way back having performed at various editions across the country. “We have done ICW in different cities, including Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Pune this year; it’s a very nice vibe, a really good set of people coming to the shows and some good cocktails,” Jaigopal adds.

Interestingly, what set this show apart from their previous concerts was a surprise performance of an unreleased song, performed only once before. Speaking to CE prior to the show, Ashwin Gopakumar, the lead vocalist, notes. “This is the second time we’re going to be featuring a new song from the new album, which has not been released. We’ve performed it once and that was back in the day in Bangalore, before Firefly. After that, we’ve never done it.

The song name is not confirmed yet,” says Gopakumar.

Closely tied to their lives, the band also resonates with the city for being a cornerstone in their personal life. “One major thing about the city is that it gives us a lot of love every time we come. And we want to give it back to them in multiple folds. And that’s something that we’d love to do,” says Gopakumar.

Meanwhile, Jaigopal reflects on how, for Gopakumar and Keyboardist Palee Francis, Bengaluru has played a profound role in them finding their muses – making the city extra special. “We have found our muses and we’ve actually lived through our love story here. So, it’s a part of our journey,” adds Gopakumar.

As the much-anticipated cocktail weekend arrived, the band was stirred up to serve the love they have been receiving from the audience back to them through their refreshing live music and relatable vibes. Sharing their routine, Jaigopal also recounts how, before geting on stage, the band does a group hug, sharing positivity and warmth to add to their on-stage energy.

“We all hug together, we give each other some positive energy. Apart from that, Pai has this warm-up routine before getting on stage. And we have our crew backing us – we have Hemant, who is our stage tech, and Guru and Ashwin Shetty on lights and sound respectively. So, as long as our team is there, we know that we are in safe hands. And we don’t have to worry much,” Jaigopal adds.

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