CLOWN WITH A FROWN: The Bangalore alt-rock band earned a slot for themselves at the Bindass Fully Fantastic Stage at the Bacardi NH7 Weekender 2012, Bangalore where they triumphed over their rivals Hungry, The Scratch Cards and The Indus Valley Project. The band consisting of Pramod Pratap (percussion), Abby Bec Attavar (vocals), Abheet Anand (bass), Jonathan Reuben (guitars, vocals) and Reuben Jacob (guitars). The band won Strawberry Fields ,the 2012 edition of the annual NLS (National Law School) rock competition. They were among the five finalists, which included Bangalore progressive metal band Orchid, Mumbai metal act Anthracite, Chennai alt-rockers The F16′s and Bangalore rock band The News.
PARVAAZ: Bangalore based blues/psychedelic rock band comprising of Khalid Ahmed (vocals, guitars, lyrics), Kashif Iqbal (guitars, various instruments, lyrics), Neil Simon (bass) and Sachin Banandur (drums) was formed in 2010. This year the band released their debut EP Behosh. The band’s lyrics mostly in Urdu and Kashmiri have developed a sound for itself.An unique sound of their own, the band plans to release their full time album soon.
SOULMATE: The band is comprising of guitarist Rudy Wallang and vocalist Tipriti Kharbangar have played over 500 gigs in various clubs across the country and abroad as well and this year the band sure did reignite the ‘Blues’ in India and have taken it to a whole new level.The band Shillong-based Blue Rock band also opened the show for legendary guitarist Carlos Santana at F1 Rocks concert in India on October 28.
INNER SANCTUM: Chintan and Michael, the founder members of the band supported by Abhinav, Tejas and Gaurav went on an opening spree this year.The band even headlined IIM- A ‘Chaos 2012’ and IIT- Chennai ‘Saarang 2012’. They have headlined for everyone! Slayer, Metallica, Cradle of Filth, to name a few.
ZYGNEMA: Mumbai thrash metal monsters Zygnema joined Eccentric Pendulum, Providence and Abraxas for the loudest evening at the Rolling Stone Metal Awards 2012.This year has been amazing for the band as they played WACKEN OPEN AIR at Wacken, Germany on 1st August 2012, Indo-German Mela at Palace Grounds, Bangalore on 24th June 2012. Moreover they also emerged as winners Of Wacken Metal Battle- INDIA Winners of Wacken Metal Battle- Mumbai Leg Headlined Rolling Stone Metal Awards 2012. To top it all,the band also headlined Bandslam at Medicaps, Indore on 22nd March 2012 and also headlined Resonance at Terna College, Nerul on 14th March 2012.
THERMAL AND A QUARTER: The band which describes its music as ‘Bangalore Rock’; a sound as unique and layered as the fast-growing city of its birth toured the US playing in New York, Dallas, Seattle and many more. The band even got a feature spot at the 2012 Mosaic Festival, Singapore. The band also launched their fifth studio album, 3 Wheels 9 Lives this year. The band also opened for Guns N Roses on the 7th December 2012 for their first ever Indian gig.
EKA: After having won the Best Group at ArtistAloud Awards 2011, this year has been a year of tours for this band. In total now their concert numbers have increased it to 2100 concerts in 15 countries and have recorded over 100 songs in various capacities. They have managed to take their style ‘Swatantra Rock’to an all new level in 2012.
SKYHARBOR: This year accounted for band’s first Album release, ‘Blinding White Noise : Illusion & Chaos’ on April 23rd, 2012 worldwide via Basick Records to glowing praise from fans and press alike. The band followed up the launch with an epic live performance in support of LAMB OF GOD on their 2012 world tour, where they were joined by vocalist Dan Tompkins and played to nearly 10,000 people. October 2012 was be a landmark moment for the band this year, as they travelled to Europe for the first time to play an exclusive EU show at the Euroblast Festival alongside SCAR SYMMETRY, TESSERACT, JEFF LOOMIS and SYBREED.
RAGHU DIXIT PROJECT: One of India’s best contemporary folk bands and currently, India’s biggest cultural export Rahu Dixit also made an appearance at TED Global 2012.They were also with Jools Holland with none other than Robert Plant this year. Raghu Dixit also played for an illustrious audience; none other than Queen Elizabeth II. It has indeed been an awesome year for the boys from Bangalore.
INDUS CREED: They released their album ‘Evolve’ this year. Originally called Rock Machine, the band also featured in the famous music show – MTV Unplugged.With a unique sound associated to their music, 2012 was an amazing one for this band as they ‘evolve’d yet again. Hands down best sound, best songs, overall superbly awesome band, hence, they are worthy of our number 1 spot!
