British India (band)

Formation

The members of British India met at high school in 2004 whilst attending St. Bede's College, in Melbourne, Victoria. ^[3] Reportedly social misfits throughout high school, the band would converge during school lunchtimes and study periods to rehearse and compose in the school music room. The band later relocated to drummer Matt O'Gorman's parents shed.

1st Recording

The band's first studio recording was a vinyl single called 'Outside 109'. Recorded with producer Lindsay Gravina at his Birdland studio. The song's inspiration came from a quip made by Mick Jagger in an interview in 1964, when asked if he would ever play any Lennon/McCartney numbers he told the interviewer that the Beatles had offered The Stones the song 'Outside 109', Jagger should have said 'One after 909' The single was sent to Australia's youth radio station Triple J,^[4] where it received some spot airplay, enough to start a buzz in the music industry.

Harry Vanda

In 2006 the band met manager and producer Glenn Goldsmith who was working with music legend Harry Vanda. Harry & Glenn had recently produced a number one hit for supergroup The Wrights, a remake of Stevie Wright's classic 'Evie part 1,2&3. This had been an all star cast assembled by Jet vocalist Nic Cester. The duo were looking for a young band to work with.

An invite to see the band play live from the band's original management team, Neil Wedd and Tim Bull led to a demo session. Glenn invited the boys to a studio in Melbourne to record several tracks. He took the recordings to Sydney. Harry liked the raw sound of the demos, he agreed to finance and produce their debut album. The team's first effort, a 4 track EP missed the mark, but was quickly corrected with the recording of their debut album 'Guillotine'.

On completion of the recording EMI Records Sydney offered the band a record deal. EMI rescinded their offer to British India, citing cutbacks due to falling CD sales worldwide.

'Guillotine' was shelved for several months. Without a label or demand for live gigs things looked bleak. After several attempts to shop 'Guillotine' to record companies, it appeared the buzz had come and gone. A choice was made to release the album independently through Flashpoint Music. Harry agreed to advance marketing money and Flashpoint locked in distribution with Shock Records in Melbourne.

In January 2007 Flashpoint Music set about releasing their first single from 'Guillotine' the punk anthem 'Black & White Radio' Triple J radio did not hesitate adding the song to rotation with the station proclaiming "What a great comeback from this band"

British India parted ways with their management and Glenn Goldsmith agreed to manage the band. In April they released their 2nd single from the forthcoming album 'Tie Up My Hands' and things began to change rapidly. A budget video clip hit the top spot on the now defunct Triple j TV.' Tie Up My Hands' became a nightly favourite on the triple Js request line. The band geared up for their first national headline tour, 11 dates in support of the album release. '

Guillotine' was released in July 2007 to little fanfare, debuting at number 51 in the national ARIA chart, however the ground level things were different. The band sold out all 11 shows on the 'Guillotine' tour and by the year's end had sold 20,000 Cd's. British India were now the youngest and most popular garage band in the country. Guillotine was nominated for Triple J's J Award in 2007, and won the Australian Independent Record (AIR) Award for Best New Independent Artist.^[5]

The band continued to play sold out shows and music festivals including Big Day Out, Homebake and Golden Plains. They continued recording demos at Flashpoint studios in Melbourne. In April 2008 they again travelled to Sydney to begin recording their 2nd album Thieves. with Harry Vanda at Flashpoint. The 2nd album released exactly one year after their debut showed the band's forward momentum, this time entering the ARIA Album Chart at No. 5. and featuring the tracks 'God Is Dead' 'You Will Die & I Will Take Over' and "I Said I'm Sorry". Thieves sold 25,000 Cds, over the coming months.

British India embarked on their biggest tour to date in support of 'Thieves'. Popular Television host 'Dicko' announced that British India were one of his favourite Australian bands because "they did things the old school way" touring up and down the country taking their music to the people. At this time British India earned the reputation as the hardest working band in the country.

Shock & UK

In 2009 a dispute over business management resulted in British India parting ways with Flashpoint Music. Glenn Goldsmith made the decision to stay. The band produced their 3rd album 'Avalanche' at Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne. The song "Vanilla" was released exclusively to triple J radio as a free download and proved to be one of the band's most popular songs. Avalanche released in March 2010 debuted in the ARIA top 10 and sold in excess of 20,000 copies. This turned out to be a bittersweet year. Following the release of 'Avalanche' the band's distributor Shock Records fell into receivership, owing the band unpaid royalties.Later in the year interest from Warner Music UK saw the band head over to the UK for a series of gigs. A showcase at London's Borderline in the west end sold out and Warner's A&R were impressed with the band. Unfortunately the head of Warner Music was not convinced that guitar bands were the way forward in 2011 and the international deal never eventuated.

'Mushroom Music and Liberation

In February 2011 the band headed back to the studio to record a new single 'March Into The Ocean' released in March 2011 both the song and a film clip produced by the band's guitarist Nic Wilson, received a great reaction at radio and on music television. The boys played a national tour, however by mid year were heading into an uncertain future. Their rehearsal space of 6 years had flooded and they were forced to close it down. Without a workspace to meet daily and without Shock Records the band felt adrift. In an effort to pull it back together they rented a vacant shop in the outer suburb of Preston and built a studio. It was at this time they began talking to Liberation Records.

Over the next 6 months the band continued talks and exchanged demos and ideas with Liberation. In 2012 they signed a two album deal and a publishing contract with Mushroom Music. With new vigour and impetus from the label they returned to the studio to record their fourth album "Controller" Released in 2013 'Controller' saw the band achieve their first gold record for the single 'I Can Make You Love Me' the song became the bands most popular record to date. Other singles from the album included "Summer Forgive Me", "Plastic Souvenirs" and "Blinded". The album received extensive national airplay on Triple J and for the first time national Triple M radio. The band continued working in 2014, touring, playing festivals and recording tracks for their 5th album scheduled for release early in 2015. When not on the road they were at their studio in Preston.

'Nothing Touches Me'

2015 began with news that the band would be releasing their 5th album in March. The album again debuted at Number five. Singles 'Suddenly' and 'Wrong Direction' received high rotation on national radio. The 'Nothing Touches Me' tour sold out 17 shows in row around the country. British India were picked as the last minute replacement to the Black Keys at Byron Bay Bluesfest, playing the coveted main stage spot at 7.30 Friday night. 2015 turned into the bands biggest touring year and cemented British India's position as one of Australia's most established rock bands. 'Forgetting The Future'

In 2016 the band continued touring and writing. They teamed up with emerging producer Oscar Dawson early in 2017 to work on their 6th album 'Forgetting The Future'. Released in 2017 'Forgetting The Future' was picked up by New York based indie label 'Antifragile' and became the band's first album to be licensed worldwide. The singles Precious & My Love Both received high rotation on radio and British India continue to remain one of Australia's Tour most successful indie rock bands..

Albums

• Guillotine (30 June 2007)AUS 51
• Thieves (19 July 2008) AUS #5
• Avalanche (30 April 2010) AUS #10
• Controller (22 March 2013) AUS #10
• Nothing Touches Me (13 March 2015) AUS #5
• Forgetting the Future (22 September 2017)^[6] AUS #12^[7]

EPs

• Counter Culture - 21 November 2005

Singles

• "Outside 109 / Automatic Blitzkrieg" (2005)
• "Black & White Radio" (2006)
• "Tie Up My Hands" (2007)
• "Run the Red Light" (2007) AUS#50 / AUS#22 (ARIA Physical Singles Chart)
• "I Said I'm Sorry" (2008)
• "God Is Dead, Meet the Kids" (2009)
• "Vanilla" (2009)
• "Beneath the Satellites" (2010)
• "Avalanche" (2010)
• "March Into the Ocean" (2011)
• "I Can Make You Love Me" (2012) - #70 AUS, ARIA Gold^[8]
• "Summer Forgive Me" (2013)
• "Plastic Souvenirs" (2013)
• "Blinded" (2013)
• "Wrong Direction" (2014)
• "Suddenly" (2015)
• "I Thought We Knew Each Other" (2016)
• "Precious" (2017)

Compilation appearances

• Discoveries (2007) – "Black & White Radio"
• Triple J Hottest 100 Vol.15 (2007) - "Tie Up My Hands"
• Triple J's Like a Version 4 (2008) - "And I Was a Boy from School"

Music videos