Chicane dancing on Indian shores

Goa’s going to witness one of its biggest acts this week as 90s dance music sensation Chicane make their way to the stage to perform hits like Offshore and Poppiholla for the first time in India.

Band member Trash Andrews is excited. “At the moment it’s really cold in England so we are looking forward to some winter sun in Goa. We have a couple of days and we want to explore the place and the music as this will be our first time in India,” says the Chicane band member.

Expect Chicane to roll out all their classics like Offshore, Saltwater and recent hits like the instrumental Poppiholla (that was huge in the summer) and some newer hits like Hiding All Stars at the two-day Blast Live Festival in Goa starting December 19.

The band hasn’t released a new album since 2007’s Somersault though, as Chicane lead man Nicholas Bracegirdle has been working on evolving their sound. “Bracegirdle has taken a while to see what’s the right sound for these times. Our last album was more live. Our new album is going to be a mix of the new and old styles of dance music,” says Trash.

Chicane has been a trendsetter. In times of complete electronic sounds, the band is still coming up with live instrument-based and song-based dance music. “I think Chicane has been classified as trance. The scene was quite big when we came in. Dance music today is not really song-based like rock and pop. But we have been trendsetters when it comes to song-based dance music. It’s more fun to have an interactive and visual performance of music — live music on stage. A DJ feels a bit impersonal,” says Trash.