Despite his screaming rock icon stage persona, Amith Sivashanmugam, lead singer of Chennai glam rockers, White Lady, is surprisingly calm and collected off stage. The 26-year-old, an IT professional, has outlined big plans for his band starting with a headline show at the Unwind Center, Adyar, on April 15.
“This is our fourth show. We have been in lots of different bands, performing anything from classic rock, blues and even jazz, and have performed to many different audiences. But glam rock has always been my passion and I’ve always wanted to play,” explains Amith.
Though the band was formed only three months ago, the group, composed of Amith on vocals and guitar, Darren Netto and Isai Amuthan (22) on guitars, Conrad Simmons, (20), on bass and Eugene Savio Guest, (26) on drums, have already begun their recording sessions. They have also had international airplay, thanks to a lucky break in a music competition. “I think we’re one of the three or four Indian rock bands whose songs have been played on an online international radio. We entered a competition to compose a song about the cricket world cup, and even though we didn’t win, one of the organisers liked us so much that our song was played on Cricket Radio to a worldwide audience.”
The band cite their influences as groups such as Scorpion, Guns N’ Roses and Aerosmith. In fact, it was Aerosmith front-man Steven Tyler, who inspired Amith to turn into a musician in the first place. “When I was 12 years old, I was singing along to an Aerosmith song, and my mum shouted at me to turn the TV off. The funny thing was that I didn’t even have the television on at the time, and that was when I realised I could sing like them,” he laughs.
He picked up the guitar at age 14 and began writing and performing soon after, but his dream is to make White Lady a full time pursuit. “We have big plans for the band,” he says. “First we want to make it big in Chennai and then we will branch out to other towns and cities. We already have a very small cult following, but it grows with every show.”
The band combine intricate tuneful lyrics with intricate guitar play and screaming vocals to mesmerising effect, anyone with a taste for rock would certainly not be remiss to catch a glimpse of White Lady.
Tickets are aavailable at the Unwind Center, Adyar. For details,
call 65379572