New Delhi:  Some of India’s biggest bands including Indian Ocean, Pentagram, Menwhopause along with a host of hot young bands like Undying Inc and Sky Rabbit are among the major nominees for Jack Daniel’s Annual Rock Awards 2011 to be held at Mehboob Studio in Mumbai on February 23, 2012. The nominees list was officially released at a press conference in New Delhi today. A total of 15 awards, largely  based on  original music created  in the year 2011 (October 1, 2010 to September 30,2011) will be given out at the star studded ceremony. A combination of internet based popular vote and a distinguished jury ballot will determine the winners.

The most prestigious honour of Best Band of the Year carries with it a prize money of Rs. 5 lakh this year. The nominees for this award include four bands from Delhi — Indian Ocean, Menwhopause, Undying Inc and Peter Cat Recording Co– along with Pentagram from Mumbai, all of whom have had new albums this year.

The Jack Daniel’s Annual Rock Awards has, in the last few years, become the country’s best-known platform to honour excellence in rock and roll. Now in its seventh year, Jack Daniel’s Annual Rock Awards continues to recognise new and upcoming talent while celebrating the very best of India’s exponentially growing rock scene.

The Jack Daniel’s Annual Rock Awards has played an important role in bringing rock music into the main stream in India, over the past decade. “ Earlier rock music was mostly  confined to the college campuses. However over the past decade there are more venues and clubs that play live rock music than ever before, more magazines that cover this genre, and even Bollywood has created block busters such as Rock On and Rockstar, which bear ample testimony to the success of this Jack Daniel’s program in India,” says Mr Amrit Kiran Singh, Vice President & Area Director, South Asia for Brown-Forman Worldwide, the owners of Jack Daniel’s family of brands.

The journey to the grand finale of the Jack Daniel’s Annual Rock Awards 2011 saw a series of build-up shows at some of the best known rock music venues in the country including Kyra in Bengaluru on December 2, 2011 and  Some Place Else in Kolkata on December 16. The Delhi show will be held tomorrow (January 12, 2012) at Striker in Gurgaon.

The build-up shows are in the form of Open Mic Nights hosted by Luke Kenny and  feature both young undiscovered talents as well as established musicians. The tour and the finale are being organized in association with Rolling Stone India, the Indian edition of the world’s best loved music magazine.

The Awards process was kick-started on November 15, 2011 when www.jdrockawards.com was opened to bands for a six week period for submission of  entries in the form of original music created during the year. More than 300 entries were received across nine award categories from 81 bands based across the countries. Based on the quality of the submission, the entries where whittled down by the editors of Rolling Stone to the current list of nominees — numbers ranging eight in the Best Song category, and four for Best Vocalist (Female).

Winners in the top three categories – Best Band, Best Album and Best Song will be determined by a combination of public voting and distinguished jury ballot. 70 per cent weightage will be given to public vote and the remainder 30 per cent to jury preference. The jury consists of well known musicians and industry experts. As of today (January 11, 2012) the nominees list for the three public voting categories  has been uploaded on www.jdrockawards.com. Voting will close on February 12, 2012.

The awards for seven categories — Best Vocalist (Male), Best Vocalist (Female), Best Guitarist, Best Bassist, Best Drummer, Best Keyboardist and Best Emerging Artist will be based entirely on jury ballot. Awards for four of the remainder categories, Best Producer, Best Live Music Venue, Best Album Art, Best Video and the prestigious Years of Excellence Award will be chosen by editors of Rolling Stone and the Jack Daniel’s team. Previous winners of the Years of Excellence Awards include Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Biddu and Gary Lawyer.