Band Lineup:

Nikhil Cherian

Joshua Raj

Aubrey Sequiera

Willy Demoz

Garage Monsters Inc. was formed one week before IIT-M Saarang Jan, 2004. The band formed “just for kicks” and was initially a classic rock/metal tribute band (toto, extreme, van halen, megadeth, satch). Formed by Britto and lead guitarist, Josh, the band also had Cliff on rhythm and Sanjeev on bass. The band recruited Nikhil to handle vocal duties. On winning the prize for ‘best vocalist’, the one-off gig turned into several and with the gradual change in music style as well as the growing number of original compositions, the reputation of the band grew.

GMI have played regularly at the Unwind Center and also landed a gig at Dublin, Park Sheraton alongside two of India’s most successful bands – Parikrama and Silk Route. GMI were also selected to play in the JRO festival organized by the Unwind Center in July 2004 as well as in 2005. GMI’s own compositions have been written/arranged mainly by nikhil, josh and britto.

The band underwent line-up changes – the departure of Cliff and Sanjeev. With new bassist Wayne, GMI were called by the British Council and the Unwind to be a part of “8 days a week – a tribute to the Beatles”.

GMI then took their brand of grunge to NLS Strawberry Fields 2004 rock competition in which they bagged the 3rd place out of the 50+ bands as well as a ‘best bassist’ prize, after which the band were recognized and acknowledged in a wider spectrum (thank you SS Music). GMI went on to get 1st place and the best guitarist prize at MCC, Chennai’s fest Deepwoods 2004.

The monsters’ next step was to record a demo for the Great Indian Rock 2005 organized by RSJ. The band sent in three of their tracks and to their surprise the song “Stray Bullet” was selected. The band then recruited Aubrey to handle bass duties and played their GIR set on the 20th of Feb to an eight-thousand strong audience with John Myung (dream theater) being a special guest.

After the the departure of Arun, GMI then recruited Willy (Bhumi) to handle drumming duties and played the LIVEVIBE gig at the YMCA grounds in Royapettah, Chennai in March where they released their EP “The Great Divide”. GMI returned to JRO for a second year to rock their local fan following, along with Bhayanak Maut and Parousia.