THAYIRSADAM
BLUES
TRIVIA
What is Thayir Sadam Blues
Thayir Sadam blues is a multi-genre
band that was formed accidentally in
Pune at an open mic where the 3 South-
Indian founders- Bharadwaj Krishnan
(Saxophonist), Aditya Veera (Lead Vocalist)
and Sundar Subramaniam (Drummer) -
met and decided they will play together
based on similar music tastes and
complimentary music styles. The addition of
the other members were also accidental - a
saxophonist playing on a rooftop, a pianist
playing at a music shop etc.
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Tell us the story behind the
interesting name.
At our first open mic, the 3
founding members went on
stage. We were put on the spot
by the emcee to come up with
a name in 30 seconds. We got
into a huddle. We thought this
would be the first and last time
we would perform together and
thought- let’s make it a fun name.
We looked for commonalities
between the 3 of us- we were all
South Indian and we all loved
curd rice (Thayir Sadam in
Tamil). So we called ourselves
ThayirSadam Blues- the Blues
was added because we had a
saxophonist- we did not play
blues that night. We got a gig
by the end of the night. It’s been
little over a year now, inspired
by the elegant simplicity of curd
rice, we have done over 60 gigs
primarily in Pune and Mumbai.
Life is full of surprises.
As a band, do you think varied
interests among members help you
with the music or does it come in
the way?
While we do a few common
tastes in music and all of us are
addicted to music in our band,
each person brings a different
flavour to the band as we have
many different styles coming
together. It would be unfair
to point out one artist or one
style to be a sole influence on
our band. We bring together
gospel, carnatic, blues, funk and
electronic influences into our
music. We are completely an
experimental band and try to
perform songs in our own unique
styles that includes a saxophone
and a beat boxer (Parag Bhide) too.
What are you guys doing different from
the bands that are already out there?
The most unique thing about
our band is probably the ability
to work with so many different
artists and play so many different
styles and languages. We were
once approached by an event
management company to dress
up as waiters and take requests
at tables at a gujju wedding!
Other musicians refused to do
it because they thought it was
demeaning. We thought it was
innovative and fun and took
it up. We had a blast! It also
happened to be our first paid
gig and it paid for a couple of
instruments for the band and
got us off the ground! We just
focus on improving ourselves as
musicians and are open to any
kind of music and don’t have
the restrictions that most artists
typically do.
With such a wide set of
instruments, how do you manage to
balance the compositions?
We have a long way to go to get
our visions to life. But every once
in a while, we hit that perfect
‘aha moment’ as a band with
some songs. All the musicians
who play with us are pretty
accomplished as individual
musicians and we have no
attention seekers in the band.
So everyone contributes their
uniqueness and gets recognised
for awesomeness.
Do you guys love to play live or
do you think you are better off in
the studio?
We have primarily been a live
performance band so far. We
have been primarily playing
covers. However, you will see a
very different side of the band
once our originals are released-
the studio side. We want to
have fun as a band and grow as
musicians. We enjoy a music
loving audience, be it online
or offline.