British India are a four piece band from [Mentone], Australia.
Featuring the vocals of Declan, lead guitar of Nic, backing vocals and bass of Will and backbeat of Dougy, the band is currently riding on the success of its first hit Outside 109

Managed by Neil Wedd, they have worked with producers from Lindsay Gravina to Harry Vanda. The band often dedicates their show the the memory of close friend Ian Hedger.
Their official website has recently moved from www.britishindia.org to www.britishindia.com.au.

BIOGRAPHY
by greg power

A young Nic and a young Declan wore identical ties and blazers.

Their high-school uniform demanded they dressed alike. They paid no mind. A collar and a Windsor knot don’t choke noise. Nor do books and pens, six hours a day, five days a week.

They didn’t even notice their polished shoes and ironed shirts during the first jam. Their attention was firmly fixated on recreating the Chemical Brothers’ Music:Response. Nic had the time for it, and Declan had the inclination.

They liked what they played, heard, made. Eyes saw homogenised school chums. Ears saw waves of unbridled colour. Pastel to neon.

They progressed past replication, and entered the limitless world of creation. Early songs Teeth and Nails and Mind Cancer were drawn, dyed and decorated in this premature stage.

Songs began to flow like acrylics from a tube. Before Nic had whiskers and Declan had kissed a girl, they’d written songs about both. They knew what they wanted to do. But were unsure how to do it.

Two guitarists hardly compromise a band. They needed to recruit.
Weeks later, somewhere along the sand bordering Port Phillip, an argument turned to fisticuffs. Hands were clenched, fists were thrown, injuries were received. On the drunken team was Declan. On the drunker team was Will Drummond.

The reasons for fighting are still unknown. But never the less at the next musical session Will was there. The hatchet deeply buried with a flawed harmony. A giggle of feedback.
And so a third dimension was added to their schoolboy jams. A triumvirate equal to the Big Three. They became Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey ruling over their respective instruments. With the added element of Will, both the songs and songwriting evolved.

Several months later. St. Jerome’s nightclub Melbourne. Nic awaiting a taxicab to convey him home. Matt O’Gorman (wearing an exquisite fur coat) stood just across the street.

“Could I trouble you for a straight sir?” Certainly. The fact that the tall fur clad youth understood Nic’s outdated vernacular was enough for conversation to ensue.

It was along time until Matt sat behind the other three as drummer. So long that he had since lost said fur-coat. I know Nic was clandestinely disappointed.

Things were changing as British India entered their embryonic stage as a four piece. World music was being plagued by a turbulent locust. A locust titled by one unimaginative music scribe as ‘the return of garage rock’. Behold! It was even whispered that Australian bands could be snatched in the furore!

British India watched as the likes of the Vines, Jet and the Sleepy Jackson were winched to national and even international stardom with the burly arm of media hype at the end of the pulley. British India observed their rise with a twisted smile. It may not be their time right at this very second (david). But their time would come.

It seems back in those days patience was a virtue.