“With the second year of the awards, we celebrate the country’s rock scene and its our way of rewarding talent and the genre to become more mainstream,” says Amrit Kiran Singh, Area Director & VP, Brown- Forman Worldwide, title-sponsor of the awards.

With a jury comprising the likes of Rahul Ram of Indian Ocean , Paresh Kamath and Naresh Kamath of Kailasa (with Kailash Kher) and drummer Gino Banks, nominees were selected from a total of 193 entries. Pentagram’s singer Vishal Dadlani’s (of Vishal-Shekhar duo) has got a ‘Best Vocalist’ nomination and the band has been nominated in three categories including ‘Song of the Year’ and ‘Album of the Year’. Others selected include Lounge Piranha, Joint Family, Parikrama, Swarathma and Thermal and a Quarter. Last year’s winners Them Clones have been nominated in the ‘Best Band’ category this year again alongside Junkyard Groove and menwhopause. “This year’s winner will get to perform among the winners from across 35 countries including UK, Turkey and Canada at the Legendary Mash Festival in the Barbeque Hills, Lynchburg, Tennessee on April 11 and 12,” informs Singh.