When Chai Met Toast Members 2026 + Albums

Meet the When Chai Met Toast members: who plays what in the Kochi band, how they formed and their key albums and songs.

Key facts

Members: Ashwin Gopakumar, Achyuth Jaigopal, Palee Francis and Pai Sailesh.
Formation: Formed in Kochi, Kerala, in 2016.
Releases: Their first album was Joy of Little Things, released in 2017.
Debut: Their debut album, When We Feel Young, was released in stages through 2020, with Kahaani as its third single and first fully Hindi song.
Profile: They have been recognised as a rising artist in Spotify's RADAR programme and wrote the tracks for Kenny Sebastian's 2018 web series Die Trying.

When Chai Met Toast members are Ashwin Gopakumar (vocals), Achyuth Jaigopal (guitar and banjo), Palee Francis (keyboards and production) and Pai Sailesh (drums and percussion). The four-piece formed in Kochi, Kerala, in 2016 and makes upbeat indie-folk in English and Hindi, sometimes with Tamil and Malayalam lines, according to the band's Wikipedia entry. The band began with Gopakumar and Jaigopal jamming in a Kochi studio before Sailesh and Francis joined, as the two told The Hindu. Here is each member's role, how the line-up came together, and the songs that made the band.

More facts about When Chai Met Toast

Four members: Ashwin Gopakumar, Achyuth Jaigopal, Palee Francis and Pai Sailesh (Wikipedia).
Formed in Kochi, Kerala, in 2016 (Wikipedia).
Their first album was Joy of Little Things, released in 2017 (The Hindu).
Their debut album, When We Feel Young, was released in stages through 2020, with Kahaani as its third single and first fully Hindi song (The Hindu).
They have been recognised as a rising artist in Spotify's RADAR programme and wrote the tracks for Kenny Sebastian's 2018 web series Die Trying (Wikipedia).

Who are When Chai Met Toast

When Chai Met Toast is a multilingual indie-folk and alternative band known for happy, lighthearted songs (Wikipedia). There is no grand story behind the name. Gopakumar told The Hindu that someone suggested it just before a gig and they went with it.

The band says the mix of languages comes from the members' own backgrounds. Gopakumar has a defence-family background that gave him his Hindi, Jaigopal knows Tulu and Tamil, Sailesh has a Konkani lineage and Francis is Malayali. They chose early on to sprinkle Hindi and Tamil phrases into English songs so that listeners who do not follow English music could connect, without forcing lyrics to fit. They are a central name in our Kerala indie music scene guide.

1. Ashwin Gopakumar, vocals

Gopakumar is the lead singer and the band's usual spokesperson in interviews (Wikipedia). He co-founded the band with Jaigopal. During the 2020 lockdown he returned to his family in Thiruvananthapuram, and he has said the title song of When We Feel Young was inspired by watching how his parents care for each other, as he told The Hindu.

2. Achyuth Jaigopal, guitar and banjo

Jaigopal plays guitar and banjo (Wikipedia). The band began as a duo of Gopakumar and Jaigopal jamming in a Kochi studio. The guitar-and-banjo arrangement is the core of Kahaani, which The Hindu described as letting a gentle acoustic guitar and banjo fill in each other's silences.

3. Palee Francis, keyboards and production

Francis plays keyboards and is credited as the band's producer (Wikipedia). The Hindu singled out his synth work on Maybe I Can Fly, the second single from When We Feel Young.

4. Pai Sailesh, drums and percussion

Sailesh plays drums and percussion (Wikipedia). His drumming is credited, with Francis's synths, for the rush of Maybe I Can Fly.

How the line-up came together

According to The Hindu, the timeline runs like this:

2016: Gopakumar and Jaigopal start jamming together in a Kochi studio as a duo.
Later: Sailesh joins on drums and Francis on keyboards, making the band a four-piece.
2017: Joy of Little Things is released.
2018 onwards: YouTube and the launch of Spotify in India put their songs in acoustic and indie playlists, which the band credits for reaching people who had never seen them live.
By December 2019: the band had 12 originals, more than 1.42 lakh Spotify listeners and over 60,000 YouTube subscribers.

The four members named by The Hindu in 2019 are the same four are listed as current members on Wikipedia.

Songs that define When Chai Met Toast

These are the songs that come up most in coverage of the band:

Joy of Little Things (2017): their first album, as noted by The Hindu.
Break Free: its video was chosen as one of VH1 India's top 50 hit videos (Wikipedia).
Nee Ara (2019): the band's first Malayalam song, written as an ode to the Kerala floods (Onmanorama).
When We Feel Young, Maybe I Can Fly and Kahaani (2020): the first three singles from their debut album (The Hindu). Kahaani's lyrics were written by Ankur Tewari, reportedly on a napkin during a flight.
Kahaani video (October 2020): actor Anna Ben appears in the video for the band's first Hindi single (The New Indian Express).
Firefly: one of the band's official videos on its YouTube channel and a good starting point.

Film, TV and live work

Their music was used in the trailer of Farhan Akhtar's film Jee Le Zaraa in August 2021, and Wikipedia lists film work on Friday Night Plan (2023) and Do Aur Do Pyaar (2024). They have played Bacardi NH7 Weekender, SulaFest, OnePlus Music Festival and the Red Bull Tour Bus (Wikipedia). In 2019 they also played Kala Utsavam in Singapore, the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland and the Vajor Festival in Delhi (The Hindu).

For the band's current shows, see our report on the When Chai Met Toast Joy Rooms tour 2026. Fans of their sound should also explore our list of Indian indie folk and acoustic artists.

Nature Tapes and the debut album

The album is themed around what makes people feel young at any age. Gopakumar told The Hindu that the emotions of youth can come back whether you are 20, 40 or 50, and that the band wanted to release new songs in 2020 because it was a bad time for everyone and new music would help them all feel better.

When We Feel Young took a year and a half to make. The band had planned to record in the US for a June 2020 release before the pandemic intervened, and instead released it in stages from Kerala (The Hindu). Alongside it they recorded stripped-down Nature Tapes at Little Flower Farms in Vagamon, which Gopakumar linked to the band's interest in sustainability and minimalism.

FAQ

What are the names of the When Chai Met Toast members

Ashwin Gopakumar (vocals), Achyuth Jaigopal (guitar and banjo), Palee Francis (keyboards and production) and Pai Sailesh (drums and percussion) (Wikipedia).

Where is When Chai Met Toast from

The band is from Kochi, Kerala, and formed there in 2016 (Wikipedia).

What genre is When Chai Met Toast

Wikipedia describes them as a multilingual indie-folk alternative band, and The Hindu has called them acoustic folk and indie rockers who write mostly in English with Hindi and Tamil phrases.