Roycin’s predictions on the Jack Daniel’s Rock Awards 2012

They won a total of 5 awards at the JD Rock Awards 2011

I’ve shot 9/10 bands that are nominated, have heard all their albums and have been following them closely for years. Apart form Pentagram being nominated in almost every category, its great to see acts like Ska Vengers, Goddess Gagged, Allegro Fudge, Fire Exit, Dischordian, and Arcane Deception nominated. Here go my predictions for 2012′s Jack Daniel’s Rock Awards.

BEST BAND -

• Indian Ocean
• Pentagram
• Peter Cat Recording Co.
• Undying Inc
• menwhopause

My Prediction – Pentagram.

Why? They’ve stuck together for years, continued to do what they do best, and came out with a bad ass album. So much more power and energy, a music video and a successful online Video series. They’ve even revisited some of their tracks live, too.

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BEST ALBUM -

• Dischordian – The Feni Farm Riot
• Indian Ocean – 16/330 Khajoor Road
• menwhopause – Easy
• Undying Inc – Aggressive World Dynasty
• Pentagram – Bloodywood

My Prediction – Indian Ocean for 16/330 Khajroor Road. Or Pentagram’s Bloodywood. I’d love UndyingINC to win this,but the competition is tough.

Why? This in Indian Ocean’s grooviest record and they’ve toured across the country mostly playing songs from the new album only. I personally found Pentagram’s Bloodywood a little too monotonous when heard over a single seating. But they might just win it purely because how catchy, melodious and well produced it is.

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BEST SONG -

• Eccentric Pendulum– ‘Mathematicians Of Ambient Waters’
• Indian Ocean – ‘Darte Ho’
• menwhopause – ‘Easy’
• Pentagram – ‘Tomorrow’s Decided’
• Peter Cat Recording Co – ‘Clown on the 22nd Floor’
• Sky Rabbit – ‘I Become I’
• The Circus – ‘F.O.P.S’
• Undying Inc – ‘Xenophobe’

My Prediction – Tomorrow’s Decided (Pentagram).

Why? This song is so “in your face”, you hear it once and you’ve got the lyrics memorized. It’s one of those songs which will make you jump even if you’ve got a broken leg. Plus for some odd reason, it lurks of Bombay city.

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Best Vocalist (Male)

• Kishore Krishna – Adam & The Fish Eyed Poets
• Garreth D’Mello – Dischordian
• Siddharth Basrur – Goddess Gagged
• Vishal Dadlani – Pentagram
• Raxit Tewari – Sky Rabbit
• Shashank Bhatnagar – Undying Inc

My Prediction – Siddharth Basrur of Goddess Gagged. [Song - Visionary (Resurfaces 2011)]

Why? This man has outdone himself! From his iconic comeback with Goddess Gagged to playing solo gigs at the Frog and his side acts – Bones For Bertie and the Venus Project to collaborating with various artists and bands, his powerful voice deserves this award.

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Best Vocalist (Female)

• Subhadra Kamath – Fire Exit
• Pragnya Wakhlu
• Suchitra Pillai
• Samara Chopra – The Ska Vengers

My Prediction – Samara C (Ska Vengers)

Why? Ska Vengers have surfaced as one of India’s freshest acts and Samara’s got a strong, versatile voice and singing style.

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Best Guitarist -

• Arjun Mulky & Faheemul Hasan – Eccentric Pendulum
• Prashant Shah – Exhumation
• Anup Kutty – menwhopause
• Randolph Correia – Pentagram
• Biswarup Gupta – Undying Inc

My Prediction – Biswarup Gupta (Undying Inc)

Why? GOODMOTHEROFSWEETBABYJESUS, Have you heard those riffs, man? I haven’t heard any Indian Metal guitarist come up with something so different and consistent. On the other hand, I have a feeling Prashant Shah (Exhumation/ Scribe) might take this. His work on ‘Consider This’ is commendable, fresh and technical.

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Best Bassist -

• Ruell Barretto – Bombay Bassment
• Randeep Singh – menwhopause
• Makarand Mane – Pentagram
• Siddharth Shah – Sky Rabbit
• Abhinav Chaudhary – The Circus

My Prediction – Abhinav Chaudhary (The Circus).

Why? Ive seen this guy grow as a Musician with circus & he is definitely among my Top 3 bassists in the scene. I haven’t seen any rock bassist as fluid as this guy and his work on ‘From Space’ is excellent – with bass lines throughout the album!

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Best Drummer -

• Vibhas Venkatram – Eccentric Pendulum
• Hemendra Nath – menwhopause
• Shiraz Bhattacharya – Pentagram
• Harsh Karangale – Sky Rabbit
• Yuvraj Sen Gupta – Undying Inc

My Prediction -  Yuvraj Sen Gupta (Undying Inc)

Why? Polyrythms for President. It’s not easy to play blast beats at unconventional time signatures specially when you know that you’re prone to cramps. Honestly, the other nominees haven’t been too spectacular in 2011 for me to rethink this prediction.

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Best Keyboardist -

• Jason Zachariah – Allegro Fudge
• Akshat Taneja – Arcane Deception
• Vikram Ashok – Frank’s Got the Funk
• Jonathan Wesley – Slain
• Stefan Kaye – The Ska Vengers

My Prediction – Jonathan Wesley of Slain. Again.

Why? He is good at what he does and has been acknowledged for it, time and again. Slain hasn’t been gigging too often, but I’m pretty sure Jonathan is taking this.

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Well, these were my predictions. I was 80% right the last 2 Rock and Metal Awards. Let’s see how things fly this year.

PS – I do not endorse any of these bands/ artists/ record labels. I don’t endorse JD/ Rolling Stone either. These are my personal opinions. Share the post if you think alike. Also, I’ll be at Mehboob Studios tomorrow. Say hello.