THE ROLLING STONE METAL AWARDS PLAYLIST

These are the nominees for the Rolling Stone Metal Awards 2014.
Voting for best song, best album and best band (Popular choice) is open here on their event page, so RSVP too.


Cosmic Infusion
6 nominations
Best band
Best album 'Cosmic Infusion'
Best song - Burial of Thy Own
Best vocalist - Sushan Shetty
Best guitar player - Amnish Lohire
Keyboardist - Sushan Shetty

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For the full song, visit their Bandcamp page, the embed link wasn't working.
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Gutslit 
6 nominations
Best band
Best album 'Skewered in the Sewer'
Best vocalist - Aditya Barve
Best guitar player - Dynell Bangera
Best drummer - Aaron Pinto
Best bass player - Gurdip Singh Narang

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Reptilian Death
7 nominations
Best band
Best album 'The Dawn of Consummation and Emergence'
Best song - O
Best vocalist - Vinay Venkatesh
Best guitar player - Sahil Makhija
Best drummer - Sahil Makhija
Best bass player - Ashwin Shriyan

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Reverrse Polarity
4 nominations
Best band
Best album 'Reverrse Polarity'
Best song - Cross Poly Nation
Best drummer - Gautam Deb

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The Down Troddence
6 nominations
Best band
Best album 'How are You? We are Fine, Thank you'
Best song - Nagavalli
Best guitar player - Varun Raj
Best drummer - Ganesh Radhakrishnan
Best keyboard player - Sushin Shyam

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Undying Inc
4 nominations
Best song - Ironclad
Best vocalist - Shashank Bhatnagar
Best drummer - Nishant Hagjer
Best bass player - Reuben Bhattacharya

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Zygnema
4 nominations
Best song- Shell Broken Hell Loose
Best vocalist - Jimmy Bhore
Best guitar player - Sidharth Kadadi
Best drummer - Mayank Sharma

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Theorized 
1 nomination
 Best bass player - Sankalp Narayanan

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When Stories End 
1 nomination
Best bass player - Gaurav Roka

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Dark Helm
1 nomination
Best keyboard player - Aniketh Shankar

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Lunatic Fringe
1 nomination
Best keyboard player - Gaurav Dutta

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Slain 
1 nomination
Best keyboard player - Jonathan Wesley

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Rolling Stone India
Rolling Stone Metal Awards


\m/ May the best musicians win! \m/

GUITAR PLAYER WEEK: SANJU AGUIAR (DEVOID, THC, ETC ETC.,.)

The best part about this interview is that Sanju's real name is Sanjeev! YYYeeeEEEV! On a more serious note, SANJEEV is a great guitar player. I play in a band with one of his students too. Sanju is the guitar player for Devoid as all you metalheads know, and also has bands and projects like The Hoodwink Circle, Far Travel music and The Mihir Joshi band.

Another thing about him is that he can eat a lot. And I mean, A LOT.  It's sad he couldn't be there himself on the Headbanger's Kitchen season 3 premiere episode with Devoid (WATCH IT HERE), because there wouldn't be any pie left for sure! Fun-loving happy guy as he is, let's take a look at some of his favourite things.

Full name and age.
Sanjeev Aguiar, 26


What is your favourite dish/cuisine?
Scrambled eggs with bacon, ham, cheese and Tobasco.


Kindly tell us about all your precious gear! (guitars, processors, etc.,.)
Guitars: Ibanez RGD2127z Prestige and a Fender American Stratocaster.
Processor- Line 6 Pod HD500


How long have you been playing guitar?
I've been playing music for the past 9 years


What got you into playing guitar?
While growing up I was heavily influenced by Bon Jovi so I guess the solo that Richie Sambora played in 'Bed of Roses' on the mountain is the reason why I first picked up the instrument!


Have you learned to read music as well, or do you just play by ear?
I'm primarily self-taught, but I also had a year's training in Western Classical with Ashley Quiney.


Electric vs. acoustic. What do you prefer?
At this point, electric.

Photo credits: Adityaraj Mehta

What thought goes into riff construction/is there any particular pattern you follow to make riffs? 
As far as riff writing is concerned, I find playing over a metronome or keeping a drum pattern is what works for me. The rest happens as it goes over this.


What music projects are you currently a part of?
I'm currently a part of Devoid, The Hoodwink Circle, Mihir Joshi band, Far travel music and I'm also doing some session work here and there.


Do you have a day job? What is it that you do?
I would have to say my day job is guitar classes at this point.


Your favourite musicians (Indian)

Guitar: Floyd Fernandes
Bass: Sheldon D'silva
Drums: Debashish 'Debu' Banerji
Vocals: Gareth Dmello


Your favourite musicians (international)

Guitar: Guthrie Govan
Bass: Victor Wooten
Drums: Marco Minnemann
Vocals: Maynard James Keenan


Can we expect a release from your band(s) any time soon?
As far as releases are concerned for now,
Devoid should be done with an album by the end of 2014
Far travel music will be done with an EP by July
Both The Hoodwink circle and Mihir Joshi band will be done with debut albums by June.


Whom do you look up to, as a musician and a band? 
I look up to many vocalists like Maynard, Ian Kenny, Steven Wilson, Dave Mathews, the Zero 7 chick (Sophie Barker), Myles Kennedy and as for guitar players, there's Guthrie Govan, Tosin Abasi, John Scofield, Allan Holdsworth, Frank Gambale and my new found favourite Derek Trucks.


A message to all your fans (hello ladies!)
The message is to my male fans as there might be a total of 5 female fans at best obviously: Please come to watch me live with artists that I play for/with and support all of them by buying their merchandise.

Hello ladies!

Devoid on Facebook and Soundcloud
The Hoodwink Circle on Facebook and Reverbnation
Far Travel Music on Facebook and Soundcloud
Mihir Joshi Band

JAI IPL!