â€˜Fightâ€™ Shouts â€˜When Chai Met Toastâ€™

07 Aug 2017
Nikhil
Features

Kochi had the first preview of When Chai Met Toast’s latest song ‘Fight’, directed by Ganesh Raj (Director of 'Anandam') at Cafe Papaya'

Text Credits: Nikhil Wilson Image Credits: FWD Media

As I walked into Cafe Papaya I saw the entire place filled with no one other than the sound engineer. I was roaming around the whole room, trying to find the perfect spot before the huge crowd starts flowing in. The stage was deserted along with two keyboards, a drum kit, a banjo and few mic stands. As I stood there with my camera waiting for the band to make their appearance, the doors opened and the crowd started pouring in.
After waiting more than fifteen minutes, the lead vocalist of the band came in with his fellow band mate and the crowd went nuts. After another few minutes, all the band members came in and Ashwin (lead vocalist) gets up on the stage and asks the crowd to face towards the TV where the audience got a preview of their latest song ‘Fight’ directed by Ganesh Raj.The spot lights came on and the stage was no longer deserted. The band members took their positions with their instruments, Achyuth on guitar, Palee on the keyboard, Pai on drums and Ashwin on the mic.

‘When Chai Met Toast’ had one of their breaks with their song ‘Beautiful Day’ and this time the band started with this song and the whole crowd was heard singing along with the band and sometimes it felt like the crowd was the lead singers of the band. Yes, I was also singing and their songs literally made me forget to take the pictures of the band performing (I took the photos when I realized it). The band took the whole crowd into a happy world and the whole night was just like this.

Another unique factor of performing at Cafe Papaya is that the artists are so much closer to the audience, literally. From song requests and screaming their throats for each song and after, the crowd had those ‘ Joy of little things’ and were like ‘Firefly’ with their smartphones moving around with their bright white screens in the dark.
After the interview, I had the chance to speak with one of the band members and a true friend of mine Palee

“ The audience in Kochi is always special to us. The audience we had for this show was great and we didn’t have to do much work teaching the audience the tune of the songs or make them interact with the band, as they were doing it from the start to the very end.”

I met a school gang of college teenagers and they said this was one of their friendship day plans for this year. Talking about the band Joanna, one of the friends from the gang said they came here expecting from what ever they have heard on youtube and the live show was felt much happier and joyful.

The new song ‘Fight’ is all about our struggles and hurdles each of us faces in our life. The song gives the message of never giving up and fighting to break those barriers in front of us. The song also tells us to find news ways if we are not happy with what we do. When I see and hear them perform I feel like the band's main aim is "Being happy and making people happy". The music video of 'Fight' will be released on August 13 and just like ‘When Chai Met Toast’ the fans are eagerly waiting for the ‘Fight’ to go online.