Earlier this year, Red Bull Spotlight, a nation-wide programme to identify and support top talent across various fields, kicked off with a band hunt.
Competitions were held in nine cities across the country – Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Goa and Pune – with one band emerging victorious in each city.
Each of the nine finalists was sent into a studio in their city to record one song, and it’s now time to determine the best of the lot.
For one month, all nine songs will be available to listen to and vote for, and at the end of this period, one band will be adjudged the national winner.
The winning band will get the opportunity to record a full-length album at a professional studio, along with a number of other benefits, including a press kit – complete with a photo shoot and album art for their newly recorded album.
At the end of the voting period, one winning band will be selected by a panel of judges from amongst the bands with the highest number of votes.
The judges for this edition of Spotlight are music journalists Amit Gurbaxani and Anurag Tagat, head of programming for OML/NH7 Weekender Debayan Deb, artist manager at Mixtape Anu Anna George and founder-partner of subculture think-tank 4/4 Entertainment and the non-profit Control ALT Delete Nikhil Udupa.
The nine finalists are heavy metal band Illucia from Bengaluru, singer-songwriter Surya Ganjoo from Pune, Hindi progressive/alt rock band Last Minute from Mumbai, hard/alt rock band Drone from Kolkata, rock band Sword from Hyderabad, Deathcore band Jammers Graveyard from Guwahati, blues/rock band TNT from Goa, progressive/alt rock band Khalnayak from Delhi, and hip-hop/soul band Amogh & The Homies from Chennai.