By Jim Browski

Fresh from a recent visit to Rick Dees morning show on KIIS, Bayadera, an Orange County, California band has made a name for themselves in their region, and now they are starting to branch out with their new release 90 MILLION MILES, which seems to be their moniker that no gig is too far away for them to play. Evidence is gigs between Hollywood and here. In a few short years, the band has played some cool spots: the Whiskey-a-Go-Go, House of Blues, Disney's theme parks, various radio shows, and their local TV. Also, they have shared the stage with Dick Dale, Arturo Sandoval, Tito Puente, and others.
SPLASH caught up to the band after the show at Guadalajara's. The following is an interview with the members, Gina Bandy (lead vocals), Dat Nguyen (guitars), Chris Payne (bass), Mehrdad Saatara (guitars), and Adam Reesman (drums).
SPLASH: How would you describe your band?

GINA: Bayadera is a high energy band with innovative music, infusing traditional with progressive ideas, thus creating music with a unique sound & universal appeal. As the lead singer of the band, I, personally, find that being a member of Bayadera is extremely exciting & satisfying. There's always a new twist to keep me interested.

CHRIS: We're a couple of very good friends who are serious about making music and pushing this band to its limits. Style-wise I'd say alternative rock with world music influences. Think if you put Evanescence, Dave Matthews, and Aimee Mann in a blender, mix in a bunch of hot sauce and a couple kabobs and you got us.

SPLASH: What did you think of your visit to Virginia Beach?

MEHRDAD: We love Virginia Beach, and the search for snow crab brought us out here. Well, actually, it was Everlasting Entertainment Agency that really brought us out here. We were playing the big festival in Richmond called City Celebrations and Everlasting Entertainment took care of the Virginia Beach area. The sea food was great and the management of Guadalajara's was helpful and friendly, two things that are key to having a successful show away from home.

DAT: Virginia Beach is very chill. It's a good party place, the kind of place that our music could settle right into.

CHRIS: We love it out there. I've been to VA Beach many times because most of my family's from Virginia. I was born in Pittsburgh. It's way hotter, though. Anyplace you can break a sweat by picking your nose is some serious heat. Since we live in southern California, we are all very comfortable at the beach. Everlasting Entertainment gave us an opportunity away from the festivals in Richmond that we were involved in to play at Guadalajara's, and they really took care of everything. We're looking forward to doing it again.

ADAM: I thought Virginia Beach was a great experience for me. Since this was my first tour anywhere, I didn't know what to expect, but for the most part, the trip couldn't have gone smoother. Although I had a tough time holding on to my sticks since it was so goddamn humid.

SPLASH: How did you guys get together?

MEHRDAD: Chris, Dat, and I were in college together and we started to play in front of the music building bench (a concrete slab that was pretty cold in the winter if you can imagine) and annoy the hell out of the classical pianists, cause we were loud and had more of an audience. People used to actually hang out and watch us write and jam outside. We thought that that was fun... both the annoying the classical pianist and writing music together. From that point on, we expanded. The chemistry was great and we eventually added the sexy Gina (lead vocalist) after a long drawn out search. Then we needed someone to throw drum sticks at us, so we found Adam (the maestro del percussione) who completed the band.

SPLASH: What are your band's greatest attributes? What makes you stand out from the rest?

DAT: One of our attributes is our unique sound, using our electric and nylon string guitars, our powerful singing style of Gina, our grooving bass, and our energetic drumming. We're playing a kind of rock music that is enjoyed by practically all ages. What makes us unique, beside the fact that we're a live band, is when people say that it's hard to point out exactly who we sound like. We just have our own sound.

ADAM: I feel each player in the band has a lot to offer. It's a matter of time before the gelling process is complete, and when this occurs I think the music will evolve to a level that is very special...each person can contribute so many different points of views, which I think is the coolest attribute. As far as uniqueness goes, our band is composed of different people. We have a rock jam vibe mixed with a female vocalist, which is not common today. There are many bands with a solo female vocalists or a straight forward band with a female vocalist, but nothing that pushes the limits at live shows to display versatility; that's a characteristic that we provide the fans.

CHRIS: There's a bunch of strong qualities in each individual of the group and the combination of them is what makes us stand out. Every member is a very competent musician and most can play more than one instrument. Dat is completely blind and plays about 17 instruments. You won't find a better guitar player than that guy. There are different ethnicities, backgrounds, and musical tastes that we use to our advantage rather than as road blocks. If you listen to the album, you'll hear them without a doubt. We are all songwriters, so there is a lot of criticism when it comes down to the songwriting process, although we try to keep it positive. When all of us are feeling a song, it's done in 10 minutes or less. And probably the most important thing is that we are good friends, and that's what holds us together.

SPLASH: How would you compare your local music scene to ours from what you've seen your short stay here?
 

MEHRDAD: Mine is bigger than yours!!!......but bigger doesn't always mean better, there are a lot of avid music fans here in Virginia Beach, who are thirsty for new music, and that is one of the cool things about Virginia. But in LA, there are a lot of things happening all the time, a lot of clubs, a lot of drugs, national touring acts, local touring acts, local yet non touring acts, and non local non touring - non national non touring - touring acts. We actually avoid certain clubs out in LA because it's too much hype and not enough promotion. At the same time, it is "the entertainment capital of the world," so you can network and meet a lot of the movers and shakers of the business. But I don't necessarily subscribe to the myth that "you have to be in Hollywood" to have a successful band. Southern California is a huge area with a lot of great people and a lot of people who will take advantage of you, so regardless of where you are, if musicians set a higher standard and lookout for their best interests, then you can turn the tables around.
My first impressions: "it's so green out here"... and "what the hell is Dirty Dicks Crab House"? We like Virginia, it is part of our tour now, and it is very different than beach areas in Southern California. The people here have been very nice, easy to work with, and supportive.

CHRIS: There are more similarities than differences to me. Maybe because I've spent so much time here I look for them. "Y'all" like to party, and we like to party. The people here seem to be very receptive to our music, and the people back home think we suck. Other than that, we've been so busy with our other shows out here that we haven't been able to just hit the town and get a feel of what it's really about. Oh, yea, we don't get many hurricane-like storms in Cali like the one that hit the night we played in VA Beach. Of course, you probably would have called it a sprinkle. I think I saw some chickens blowing down the street

SPLASH: What do you see in Bayadera's future?

GINA: As far as Bayadera's future goes, I see us at the very beginning of a long road stretched ahead. Right now, we are just working on establishing a firm foundation. Apart from the simple fact that we are delving into our musical identity, which will evolve with time, we are also developing a fan base which will be a part of our careers for the entire process. We want them to come along for the ride, so to speak....

MEHRDAD: Music, late nights, traveling, groupies.

DAT: We can see that in the future I'll learn how to drive my own car straight into my swimming pool just for fun. Mehrdad would chill in his own Jacuzzi with 4 hot chicks and the whole band would stand beside to take photographs.

CHRIS: I see us going as far as we're willing to work for. We've had a lot of successes that we've busted our asses for; this tour being one of them. We're in it for the long haul, and we hope to stick around for a while.