A team of six young musicians had a show coming up. Great news, you may think, sure, but the dilemma was also real — they didn’t have a name for their band! That’s when frontman and founder Sammie came across a meme that read: ‘Somebody toucha my spaghet’. The word ‘spaghets’ was stuck to Sammie’s head. “It’s a random name, but I liked it because it has a nice ring to it, so we decided to go with the name Spaghetts,” says Sammie, adding, “Also, people constantly get it confused with spaghetti, so it’s even more funny; gets people talking about the name and the band itself. It’s a bonus.”
At their upcoming gig in the city, Spaghetts is going to play a few originals, which has a “funny story”. Letting us in, Sammie says, “One day, Skandha, Joseph and I were jamming at Skandha’s place, trying to record a few cover songs, but ran out of ideas. This is when we came up with a completely random idea, and this song is the first unreleased original of the Spaghetts called Do what you do.”
The band’s impending performance will include a few songs from Sammie’s upcoming album, along with a few covers. “Prepare to go on a creative experience filled with various genres of music, humour, laughter, joy, sorrow and, of course, Kill Me Twice — Sammie’s original that’s streaming on all platforms!” says guitarist Skandha Jay.
Sammie, Juan and Joseph — the first members of the band — shared a similar idea where music was concerned. Sammie was playing solo music but started looking for like-minded people to play and write songs with. This is when Sammie and Juan met through a mutual friend and played together as a part of the original Spaghetts.
Joseph, who was Juan’s college mate, seemed to share similar musical interest, and after a short jam session, he too joined as pianist. Skandha met Sammie the previous year at a concert in Bengaluru and expressed mutual interest towards music. Sammie and Skandha also perform as a duo under the name Sammie x Skandha. As the band grew and had a few internal rearrangements, Shreya and Jaswanth, who were college friends of the existing band-mates eventually started playing with the Spaghetts.
Formed last year, the band comprises Sammie; Juan Malmsteem and Skandha (guitarists); Joseph Jerome (pianist); Shreya (bassist); and Jaswanth (drummer). Skandha and Joseph also sing backing vocals for the band.
The band enjoys the freedom to explore and innovate music rather than “confining ourselves to a single genre”. “Our music is pretty experimental in nature. We experiment around various genres such as Indie Pop, RnB, Indie Rock, Blues. We draw inspiration from artistes like The Lumineers, Hozier, John Mayer, Peter Cat Recording Co. We all unanimously decided that we will not label ourselves under a single genre, which allows us to have more creative freedom,” Skanda tells us.
While Sammie is working on his own album, which contains an unreleased original — Pink and Orange Skies, Skandha is working on his debut single, which will be out by January next year.
Tickets at Rs 299.
November 24, 7.30 pm.
At Medai – The Stage, Alwarpet.
Email: rupam@newindianexpress.com
X: @rupsjain