Western Sand were established in the winter of 2008. Tyler Hains and Jimmy Bradshaw met each other while teaching guitar for the Lymington branch of Clive's Rock School. They got together for various jamming sessions, realised there was an almost natural connection between them and decided to form a band.

Tyler and Nathan Kay have known each other since they were 13 and have played together in previous bands throughout their teen years. Tyler therefore knew that Nathan would be up to the job as drummer.

For the first few months, Tyler, Jimmy and Nathan operated as a 3-piece while they started writing their first songs and trying to find a candidate to the fill the bill as bassist. They auditioned a few, but not the right one for them. By the time their first live performance came around at the Thomas Tripp Late n' Live in Christchurch, (don't look for it, it's not there anymore) they still had nobody to complete the rhythm section, so they called in an old friend, Paul Ballantyne to stand in for this one night. This "stand in" ended up providing a useful contribution for a total of 21 months. However, after this time, the band had to let him go on commitment grounds.

In his place they recruited Findlay Hotchkiss. Only 16, he is a fast establishing bassist and settled in very quickly. He was infact the very first that Tyler, Jimmy and Nathan auditioned when they first got together. After 2 years, things had come full circle.

Tyler Hains ~ Lead Guitar/Lead Vocals
Jimmy Bradshaw ~ Lead Guitar
Nathan J. Kay ~ Drums/Percussion/Vocals
Findlay Hotchkiss ~ Bass Guitar/Vocals