Lahayna - the band

The East London based band Lahayna is a band that had a hit called "In The City" in 2007, despite the fact they didn't even have a record label. The song made it up to number 33 on the UK charts, but despite their success the band decided to go it's separate ways in 2009.

Lahayna was a funk rock band with a classic rock twist. Their style was compared to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with beefy choruses and melodic verses. Their songs were written in a way that their lyrics could bring back memories for many people. You could tell that the band was heavily influenced by Motown and classic rock. Being influenced by many of the great bands from the sixties and seventies, such as Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and The Beatles, their music was relevant to today's society while still having a throwback sound that included excellent musicianship and a feel of classic rock stylings.

The band consisted of James Ullman, lead singer, Rory Littlebury on drums, Chris Judge on bass, Matt Eden on lead guitar, and Mehmet Mehmet playing rhythm guitar. The band's success was mostly due to their own efforts. After recording "In The City" at Way Studio with engineer/producer Luke Buttery, they launched thier own self promotion campaign which led to their eventual destination to no. 33 on the UK charts, which was a historical event for an unsigned band. They used their I-pods on the streets to give people a listen to their song and a chance to pre-order it by texting CITY to 82822. Much of their success came without airplay, which is why this band is truly one-of-a-kind.

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In November of 2007, Lahayna's single was the number one downloaded song on easymusic.com for three days. The band could be seen playing shows at places like Winchester's Railway Tavern, The Clapham Grand, Talking Heads in Southampton, the Cavern Club in Liverpool, and ULU.

The band Lahayna did something that no other band had ever done before, and will be hard for any band to ever do again. Unfortunately, even with the success of their self-promoted hit "In The City", no labels seemed to be interested in signing the band. After playing numerous gigs and recording new songs, the band would never again seem to find the success they achieved in 2007. This lead to the band breaking up in 2009, and each is now working on other projects.

Created by Robin Goss, 2009