Sahil Sarin

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Sahil Sarin is a professional instrumentalist based out of the capital of Haryana and Punjab, Chandigarh. He started playing drums at the age of five. An artist of a father, a scholar and poetess of a mother, and a multi-talented sister, he was exposed to diverse art forms at an early age. Sahil grew up around his father’s collection of vinyl records of bands like Abba, Boney M, The Beatles, Sandy Nelson, and many more. He would constantly tap his feet, dance around the house and play with kitchen utensils. Upon observing Sahil’s keen interest, his incredibly supportive mother gave in to his incessant demands and bought him his first drumset at the age of five. A lively, energetic, young boy, loved by all for his charming nature, played the lead role as a child actor in a telefilm called ‘Bashira’ and ‘Sehar’ which aired on the national television. Exposure to national television and press at a young age had a significant impact on his personality and confidence, which reflects in his performance today. It was seven years of getting limited exposure by playing with novice musicians in the school band, that local college bands recognised his talent and offered him the drum throne for their band when he was only 12 years old. He won the regional round of The Campus Rock Idols with the alternate rock band ‘Stoned on Salt’ at the age of 15. It would often turn out that the small wonder was underage for these college competitions but always made his mark and left a lasting impression on the audience. It was playing with all the college bands from where his interest grew to a point when he would wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning to practice before attending school when he was in ninth grade. He would often commute to school on a bicycle to bunk school to practice at the jam pad, which was on the way to the school. Online lessons and hours of frustrating practice sessions, to connect the dots from the overwhelming amount of information available on the internet, made him realise the importance of a good teacher. Sahil's zeal and dedication to learning made him travel all the way to Gurgaon every weekend, undertake a seven hours journey one way, to take private lessons from alumni of the world famous Berklee College of Music while attending school back home. He continued to take private lessons even during his tenth grade Board Exams and passed his Trinity Grade 8 Rockschool exam with merit, within a year of passing his Trinity Grade 1 Rock School exam. While attending classes in Gurgaon, Sahil began playing in the Delhi music circuit. He was recognised in the scene as 'Da Kidd' not only for his drumming, but his spirit and dedication. Sahil has attended master-classes with multi-Grammy winners like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, Steve Smith, Gregg Bissonette, Wolfgang Haffner, Pierre Favre and more. Learning from these artists expanded Sahil’s perspective about the professional world of music. His interaction with these world famous artists played a vital role in giving his musical journey a sense of direction. Sahil Sarin is recognised for his session work all over North India. Sahil has played more than 400 gigs all over the country including studio sessions for artists/bands like Farhan Saeed (Jal), Half Step Down, Level9, Café’ Turtle, Combo3, The Carrot Fish, The Lost Elephant Theory, and much more. He has played sessions for Subhash Ghai’s Studio ‘Audeus’ in Mumbai. Back home, Sahil met his long time friend and mentor Ramit Mehra (the bassist of the first college band).  Sahil played with (Stoned on Salt) who was recording bass for Raman Negi at the time. He introduced them, and the two met at Sahil's Studio for the first time. Soon they started jamming and set the foundation for what was to become The Local Train. After almost a year, they were joined by Paras Thakur. With this the lineup for the band was complete. The band found a home at Sahil's home studio where they would jam for hours making music without any time constraints or deadlines to meet.