Meet the Nominees: Providence

We take a closer look at the bands in the running for this year's Rolling Stone Metal Awards

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Photo: Tushar Dhanawade

Mumbai-based Providence is Shezan Shaikh (guitars), Charan Singh Pathania (guitars) Shrikanth Rao (bass), Aaron Pinto (drums) and Karan Pote (vocals).  Former frontman Sunneith Revankar quit the band last week but remains nominated for best vocalist.

Formed in

January 2011

Sound:

“Providence is a vile blend of old school groove and modern brutality, armed with sludge-laden riffs backed by cheap booze, and a bludgeoning assault of speed and groove. That’s the ‘trOO’ version of what we think our sound is,” says guitarist Shezan Shaikh. “But in all seriousness, we’ve been told that it’s a different, fresh sound. I don’t know how true that is, but I do know that we’ve been one of the few bands who got their sound sorted out in the very first few months of formation. Also, for us, it’s all about the CHUGGS!”

Discography

Vanguard (2011)

Nominated for

Best Band

Best Album – Vanguard

Best Song – “Watch Them Fall”

Best Vocalist – Sunneith Revankar

Best Guitarist – Shezan Shaikh & Charan Singh Pathania

Best Bassist – Srikanth Rao

Best Drummer – Aaron Pinto

On winning

“I don’t know what our chances of winning are, but our album Vanguard is definitely a benchmark for other bands. Keshav Dhar [Skyharbor] has done a brilliant job producing it.” says Shaikh, “Working with Keshav was pretty kickass, especially since he is a pro.” The band caught the attention of Dhar when he heard an early demo of the band and was immediately interested in collaborating with them. Interestingly, Dhar is also nominated in the Best Song and Best Guitarist categories and will compete against Providence.

Shaikh says the band are hoping to bag the top two critics choice awards. “We are hoping for Best Band and Album, however I think Eccentric Pendulum might take a piss on our plans. I actually like them quite a lot. But we are quite happy, considering the band is only a year old. We bagged a lot of gigs in the last year including some good headlining shows. And then for our debut album to be nominated in seven categories, that itself is pretty kickass!”

 On their competition

“I’ve always been a big fan of Eccentric Pendulum and I’ve heard one other song by Dark Helm. The competition seems pretty strong, but I hope we win,” says Shaikh.

Things you didn’t know about Providence

“Providence was earlier going to be called “Jenova Project” taken from this game called Final Fantasy VII,” says Shaikh. “We dropped the idea when Jimmy Bhore from Zygnema went ‘Dude, nice! Sounds like a good porno movie starring Jenna Jameson.’”

Listen

 Interview by Swathy Sethumadhavan

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