“Onstage with When Chai Met Toast”
“Onstage with When Chai Met Toast”
with Shure Audio
When Chai Met Toast (WCMT) is a four-piece band from Kochi, Kerala who play uplifting, warm, melodious folk rock; they’ve set themselves apart with multilingual original compositions (English, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam) – they’re one of the few bands we’ve seen in the indie scene who command a strong following with fans singing along to these compositions.
They call this the “WCMT experience”
On stage, their energy is infectious.
An interesting characteristic about WCMT’s live performances which they have consistently done over the years – is the ‘silent stage’ setup – an empty stage with just a drum kit – where they play without stage monitors and use in-ear monitoring to hear what they play.
We joined them on stage in Kochi, Kerala as they used Shure’s PSM300 In-ear Personal Stereo Monitor System to play to an auditorium one rainy, Kochi evening. The band recommends the PSM300 as an essential element for individual performing musicians in their art – the sound isolation increases communication, co-ordination and understanding between the band so that the overall quality of performances is the best it can be – and fans can hear studio quality output of their music.
It gives unparalleled mobility on stage and protects musicians from the one thing they are at risk with the most – their hearing.
WCMT recommends the PSM300 as a tool every serious performing musician (or someone aspiring to be) should invest into.
It was quite an experience documenting them live – their discipline, fluidity, energy and tightness sets a standard in stage performance right now. In the film, we talk to the band about their journey through sound, their message and what goes on when they setup on stage. A journey into their process, their personalities and their music.
When Chai Met Toast is:
Ashwin Gopakumar
Achyut Jaigopal
Palee Francis
Sailesh Pai
Recorded at the Jose Thomas Performing Arts Centre centre, Kochi and at the band’s home jam room space.
Instrupad crew for this production:
Pranoy Kanojia
Unmesh Lamture
Tamzid Rahman
Dhananjai Sinha