Before I even begin to tell you about this band, let us all acknowledge their epic name: Thayir Sadam Blues! A serving of South Indian musical flavours with an influence of Jazz and Blues — that’s what anyone would think, no? But their music is so much more! Read on…

Aditya Veer, the lead vocalist of the group, got me so hooked to the band’s story that I felt overwhelmed by how the love for music has the potential to bring people together for the journey of a lifetime.

This band started off in July 2016 with just three tech guys who shared a similar love for music. Sunder, the percussionist; Bharadwaj, a self-learnt saxophonist; and lead vocalist Aditya came together to perform as a band at an open mic event at Lost the Plot, Pune. The first song they covered was Mike Posner’s Cooler Than Me, using a bongo, a guitar and a saxophone. If you’re familiar with the song, I can imagine the look of confusion on your face. But, guess what? Not only did they pull it off with such unexpected instruments but they also bagged their first offer to perform at a wedding at close-by Lonavla. Dressed in hats, they sang sweet serenades walking from table to table covering Bollywood hits and Western classics. At this event, they were joined by two more musicians — Suhas on the acoustic guitar and Arihant on the bass guitar. They had also invested in a recording studio at home.

The band managed their own marketing, sales and support in between work hours. “It’s called work-love balance,” laughs Aditya. “When I’m too stressed at work, I walk out, make a few cold calls, send out promotional emails and bag at least one deal in the process. This is how we managed almost 200 shows in two years at great places in Mumbai and Pune like Stables, and Swip and Habitat,” says Aditya cheekily.

Apart from covering different genres of music, here’s a little back story on how Thayir Sadam Blues came up with their originals. Sundar, the drummer is an old school romantic and when he got into ‘the feels’ he wrote songs like Back To You (that talks about cherished memories and travelling back to see old friends), Ride to Remember (describing a scenic view while one is riding on a Yamaha with his loved one) and Lake Of Dreams (giving life insights about cutting yourself away from every day monotony). Such insightful, slice of life lyrics were bound to invoke the interest of urban, music loving millennials.

Studies say when people listen to music they enjoy, their brain drifts into a daydream, regardless of the genre. Similarly, Bharadwaj, the saxophonist (a hard core fan of AR Rahman) kept revisiting some of his classics and transformed them in three different regional languages while adding a flavour of jazz to it. Why you ask? Because when all else fails, jazz will save!

Their music stands out for its well-crafted lyrics and amalgamation of diverse musical genres. Aditya cites his father as his sole inspiration, who introduced him to Eric Clapton, Sting, Shania Twain and Phil Collins while growing up.

The band now calls Bangalore home and is ready to release a brand new album soon. Like Aditya puts it casually: “It is best not to take life too seriously, for everything else there’s thayir sadam.”

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