Artist Information

While the band took a while to come into being, once formed British India hit the ground running, gaining managers from their first-ever gig who then booked them in to support the Hoodoo Gurus at their second.

Nic Wilson was the local guitar prodigy about school when he met Declan Melia. The two bonded musically and first played together acoustically in a friend's kitchen. A drunken fight on a beach resulted in them finding bass player Will Drummond and the three then sought a drummer by scouring Melbourne's music venues, eventually choosing Matt O'Gorman. Songs were forged over a year of playing together and once enough were written it was time to start gigging.

In 2004, the band took out that year's grand final at prominent band competition Future Rock. Their debut release, the single 'Outside 109', was played on Triple J within an hour of them receiving it. The band's debut EP We Are the Counter Culture was recorded and produced by former Easybeat Harry Vanda. Off the back of the EP, the band toured widely, including supports with Gomez and the bulk of the Australian summer fests such as the Big Day Out, Homebake, Meredith Music Festival, and the Pyramid Festival.

The band recorded their debut album Guillotine in early 2006, again with Vanda, and made their return to the stage supporting seminal '80s band the Psychedelic Furs and touring the east coast of Australia the same year. The band's second album Thieves was released in 2008 and debuted at number five in the ARIA charts.