(ALBUQUERQUE, NM) The year has been a struggle for ROCKWiRED MAGAZiNE but there was hardly any need to throw in the towel just because of a little thing like an economic downturn. It’s been said time and time again that hard times makes for some great art and ROCKWiRED’s editor-in-chief BRIAN LUSH has found this to be true within the past year. “ROCKWIRED has always been about diversity in sound and every year there is a little bit of everything.” says LUSH “Despite how different everything this year was sonically, it all seemed to be tied together by an understanding of how fragile things were both politically and economically.”

2009 was a year marked by financial troubles for ROCKWIRED and the loss of the weekly internet radio show ROCKWiRED LiVE after four years. “With a loss of money, you simply learn to make cuts and do what you have to do but losing ROCKWIRED LIVE seemed like the ultimate sacrifice. After four years of doing it, it felt like home and would be lying if I said that there were no tears.”

Despite the losses and a change of scenery from the hustle and bustle of Southern California to the arid, mountainous climate of Albuquerque New Mexico, ROCKWiRED has continued on as an on-line magazine. “It proves to me that the name ROCKWIRED means something if people are still coming back for more. Albuquerque has proven to be a very interesting place to do ROCKWIRED. It’s as far away from the music industry as you can get but at the same time you feel well connected in such a tight little community here.”

The fourth annual ROCKWIRED READER’S POLL AWARDS will also coincide with the fifth anniversary of ROCKWIRED.COM. Despite the changes, it still feels like yesterday for LUSH. “I never expected to be doing ROCKWIRED for this long and I’m even more surprised that I still love doing it.”

An electronic ballot will be set up and posted to ROCKWIRED.COM and voting will begin January 8, 2010. All polling is provided by MICROPOLL.COM and will be closed on February 26, 2010. The winners will be announced on ROCKWiRED.COM on March 1, 2010.

New to the polling process this year is the absence of the BEST SONG category which has been replaced with the BEST MUSiC ViDEO category. The BEST ALBUM nomination has been divided into two distinct categories – BEST RECORDING (L.P.) and BEST RECORDING (E.P.) “With websites like YOUTUBE, it’s so much easier for a band to share their vision in an actual visual sense and not have to meet the approval of some MTV executive so they can play it at six in the morning. In terms of recordings, I could no longer ignore the power of the E.P.. Nearly half of the artists featured on ROCKWIRED this year presented E.P.’s – good ones at that.”

The top nominees this year include the Chicago-based metal band JANUS (BEST MUSiC ViDEO – ‘EYESORE’, BEST BAND and BEST L.P. – ‘RED RiGHT RETURN’) and the Southern California-based SAINT MOTEL ( BEST MUSiC ViDEO – ‘DEAR DiCTATOR’, BEST BAND and BEST E.P. – ‘FOR PLAY’)

Other top nominees include metal band FiNAL GRAVITY ( BEST BAND, BEST L.P. – ‘FiNAL GRAViTY’), the all-female metal band SCARLET SiNS (BEST BAND, BEST L.P. – ‘SCARLET SiNS’), MARGO REYMUNDO (BEST FEMALE ARTIST, BEST L.P. – ‘MY HEART’S DESiRE’), INTO THE PRESENCE (BEST BAND, BEST L.P. – ‘iNTO THE PRESENCE’), XiREN (BEST MALE ARTIST, BEST L.P. – ‘TRiP-R’), BRAY (BEST MALE ARTiST and BEST L.P. – ‘@MPHiBiAN’), Italian pop diva GALA (BEST FEMALE ARTiST and BEST MUSiC ViDEO – ‘TOUGH LOVE’) and brother act FACE TiME POLiCE (BEST BAND and BEST E.P. – ‘THE DEFiNiTiON OF DEViATiON’)

2009 was a year of changes and surprises for ROCKWIRED, but they have only made ROCKWIRED stronger according to LUSH. “ROCKWIRED has always been faced with adversity since its beginning and I think we’ve weathered the storms just fine with great music. I can easily see continuing on for five more years after this and still having a story to tell.”
THE 2010 ROCKWiRED READER’S POLL AWARD NOMiNEES ARE:

BEST MUSiC ViDEO
EATLiZ – HEY
JANUS – EYESORE
SAiNT MOTEL – DEAR DiCTATOR
BABY ANiMALS – GOT iT BAD
ASTRONAUTS OF ANTiQUiTY – EVERYWHERE
ZO2 – AiN’T iT BEAUTiFUL
GALA – TOUGH LOVE

BEST MALE ARTiST
BRAY - @MPHiBiAN
GLENN PATRiK – NUTHiN’ BUT A THANG!
iHSAAN KHATiM – iHSAAN KHATiM
GABY VELAZQUEZ – LET ME iN
CURTiS STiGERS – LOST iN DREAMS
XiREN – TRiP-R
MASON DARiNG – MASON DARiNG

BEST FEMALE ARTiST
NATASHA JAMES – TEQUiLA TiME
LiTA FORD – WiCKED WONDERLAND
ERiN MUiR – POET’S LOVELY DAUGHTER
CANDYE KANE – SUPERHERO
JiLLiAN RiSCOE – ELEVEN:ELEVEN
MARGO REYMUNDO – MY HEART’S DESiRE
GALA – TOUCH LOVE

BEST BAND
SAiNT MOTEL – FOR PLAY
JANUS – RED RiGHT RETURN
FiNAL GRAViTY – FiNAL GRAViTY
MOJORiSiNG – FEEL WHAT YOU FEEL
SCARLET SiNS – SCARLET SiNS
FACE TiME POLiCE – THE DEFiNiTiON OF DEViATiON
iNTO THE PRESENCE – iNTO THE PRESENCE 

BEST RECORDiNG (LP)
FiNAL GRAViTY – FiNAL GRAViTY
iNTO THE PRESENCE – iNTO THE PRESENCE
SCARLET SiNS – SCARLET SiNS
@MPHiBiAN – BRAY
TRiP-R – XiREN
MY HEART’S DESiRE – MARGO REYMUNDO
RED RiGHT RETURN – JANUS

BEST RECORDiNG (EP)
THE DEFiNiTiON OF DEViATiON – FACE TiME POLiCE
FEEL WHAT YOU FEEL – MOJORiSiNG
FOR PLAY – SAiNT MOTEL
FEELS LiKE CENTURiES – TRUE NATURE
iHSAAN KHATiM – iHSAAN KHATiM
THE FADE – SWAMPHOUSE
BLASPHAESTHETiC – DESiLLUSiON