Iritis

IRITIS blends western music with eastern influences. Their sound bridges many different genres from hard rock to bollywood to piano ballads to psychedelic rock while their lyrics explore philosophical themes and the human condition. With the exception of a few obscure covers, most of their repertoire is comprised of original material. They have had guest performers playing off and on such as Binesh, Ahmed, Çan and Tekle.
Nita was born in the deep South but raised in Maryland. As an American-born Indian she grew up surrounded by her family's eastern musical roots, yet she enjoys playing and listening to American alternative rock, pop and blues. Nita grew up learning classical piano as a kid, but picked up guitar and song-writing in her late teens. For the past couple of years, she has been performing solo shows at bars, coffee shops and improv comedy showcases in the Pittsburgh and D.C. area. Her song, "Amazing Too" was nominated at Borders (Germantown) for song of the year in 2006.
François grew up in South Carolina. He is half French, half South Carolinian. François plays bass and rhythm guitar and writes most of the songs. He has experience performing with several bands including The Shanks and God's Comics both in South Carolina. His father Garriet Wade Smith was a studio musician and member of the band The Counts in the 1960's who recorded and had radio play in the Columbia SC region. He plays a Westone bass with Fender Jazz pickups and for rhythm guitar a Drive Wildfire X3 with a 1960's Haynes Jazz King II amp.
Rahul has lived all over India. He taught himself to play guitar, bass, flute, harmonica, synthesizer in addition to digital audio programming. His sketches and drawings were featured on the Gawker Artists website. His versatility and eclectic musical tastes have led him to play in indo-fusion, nuevo flamenco, progressive metal and pop rock bands. His solo guitar compositions were highlighted in the June 2008 issue of Guitar Player magazine.
Bruce grew up in Mauritius and Morocco. In his early teens, one of his brothers gave him a guitar and his first lessons. Along the way he picked up various traditional and modern percussions. He likes to dabble in just about every instrument and speaks some 6 languages. He has performed classical guitar and african percussions at the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage. He also played guitar and harmonica with the jazzy folk band Atisu and co. which performed live and on the radio in the South of France.