AMERiCAN Hi-Fi, LUKAS ROSSi, GAYLE CLOUD, HANDFUL OF LUViN, V.T.G. AND RHETT FRAZiER iNC. EMERGE ViCTORiOUS iN THE 2011 ROCKWiRED RADiO MUSiC AWARDS !!!

AMERiCAN Hi-Fi, LUKAS ROSSi, GAYLE CLOUD, HANDFUL OF LUViN, V.T.G. AND RHETT FRAZiER iNC. EMERGE ViCTORiOUS iN THE 2011 ROCKWiRED RADiO MUSiC AWARDS !!!

MARCH 7, 2011 - The polls have closed, the votes have been counted and the winners of the 2011 ROCKWIRED RADIO MUSIC AWARDS have been announced in a special edition of the online radio show ROCKWIRED RADIO PROFILES. This year, the fifth annual awards celebration is especially poignant for ROCKWIRED founder BRIAN LUSH. “After we had struggled in the past couple of years, it feels like we have become the website that we always needed to be.” says LUSH who is quick to point out that much of ROCKWIRED’s success in the year previous has had much to do with the website changing its format from an online music magazine to hosting the daily online radio show ROCKWIRED RADIO PROFILES. “The numbers have been great in the past year and advertising revenue is up but the most important thing to keep in mind is that now ROCKWIRED is a forum that can give 110% to the artists that have great music out there and to listeners who want something interesting to listen to.”

This year’s winners are indeed a group of artists with sounds as diverse as what listeners and readers have come to expect from ROCKWIRED.COM since 2005. The victors in the 2011 ROCKWIRED RADIO MUSIC AWARDS include Seattle-based jam band HANDFUL OF LUVIN for BEST BAND, former ROCKSTAR: SUPERNOVA front man LUKAS ROSSI for BEST MALE ARTIST and ethereal vocalist GAYLE CLOUD for FEMALE ARTIST. Aughties power pop progenitors AMERICAN HI-FI returned to the scene in 2010 and were rewarded by ROCKWIRED listeners with the BEST RECORDING (L.P.) award for their album ‘FIGHT THE FREQUENCY’. Electro-rock artist V.T.G. walked away with the BEST RECORDING (E.P.) award for his short album ‘LOVE IS LETTING GO’ while the dynamic electro-soul duo RHETT FRAZIER INC. scored the BEST SONG award for their stomping single ‘U CAN’T STOP’.

Despite the establishment of ROCKWIRED.COM’s ARTIST OF THE MONTH campaign in late 2010, this year’s polling for the ROCKWIRED RADIO MUSIC AWARDS yielded the highest results ever. “I’m really quite surprised by that! Our ARTIST OF THE MONTH polls have continued to generate a great deal of excitement amongst our listeners and the fans of the artists and as a result, the listenership has grown exponentially into areas of the country that were always hard to reach for us – like the Midwest for instance. For the firs time in a long time, it feels like anything is possible for ROCKWIRED.”

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AND THE WiNNERS ARE:

BEST FEMALE ARTiST: GAYLE CLOUD - 'MANY WATERS'

Brilliant pop singer-songwriters always get compared to the likes of ELVIS COSTELLO or AIMEE MANN. The lyrics of these artists are literate, clever and universally praised for their insight and dissections of human relationships through song. Seattle-based singer-songwriter GAYLE CLOUD has all of these things going for her as well but there is one thing that makes CLOUD stand out from the rest - her lush and intricate world rhythm sound. Her latest release 'MANY WATERS' marks the second time that CLOUD has teamed up with producer JOHN PAHMER following her previous CD 'SECOND CHANCE'. Clearly this musical partnership thought it best to keep a good thing going. PAHMER provides the perfect percussive and melodic soundscape for CLOUD's sensuous vocals to swoop and swirl over - namely on such wistful and whimsical numbers as BOMBAY, SNOW KEEPS FALLING and the incandescent GOLDEN WINGS.

OTHER BEST FEMALE ARTiST NOMINEES INCLUDED:
KATIE KERKHOVER, BETH THORNLEY, TOMEKA WILLIAMS, JANE BADLER, ANNA MADORSKY, DHANA and KELLYLEE EVANS.

LiSTEN TO AN EXCLUSiVE iNTERViEW WiTH GAYLE CLOUD HERE!!!

BEST MALE ARTiST: LUKAS ROSSi - 'HOLLYWOOD'

Since the advent of reality television and the establishment of programs like AMERICAN IDOL, pop music is full of Cinderella stories. Lead singers are no longer auditioning for bands in a garage, but on a Hollywood soundstage. Such was the case for Canadian rocker LUKAS ROSSI, who was a contestant in the controversial ROCK STAR: SUPERNOVA, showing off his chops before a panel of his future bandmates: TOMMY LEE (MOTLEY CRUE), JASON NEWSTED (METALLICA), and GILBY CLARKE (GUN AND ROSES). By all outward appearances, it seemed as if ROSSI had reached that rock n roll zenith, but in fact, the ROCKSTAR:SUPERNOVA was a magic carpet ride mired by lack of commitment and lawsuits (stemming from the fact that a band based in San Diego already had the name SUPERNOVA). Compounded by album sales that were less than stellar, the band called it quits but ROSSI persevered with the knowledge that music was the only thing that could save him. Four years later, ROSSI returns to the limelight with his debut solo release HOLLYWOOD and the protagonist in the albums lead single is no longer a wide eyed boy dreaming of fame but hardened survivor who’s not about to be broken.

OTHER BEST MALE ARTiST NOMiNEES iNCLUDED:
PAUL MANOUSOS, JOHN ENGHAUSER, JOSH RiFKiN, DON PUGLiSi, BRANDON McHOSE, JOSE ALVAREZ and ADAM RADER.

LiSTEN TO AN EXCLUSiVE iNTERViEW WiTH LUKAS ROSSi HERE!!!

BEST BAND: HANDFUL OF LUViN' - 'LiFE iN BETWEEN'

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With the music industry squarely focused on pulsating electronic pop sounds, one would begin to wonder whatever happened to that 90's college radio aesthetic which rewarded musicianship and content above celebrity. The Seattle-based Jam-Americana band HANDFUL OF LUVIN have both musicianship and content to spare on their latest offering LIFE IN BETWEEN, an engaging concept album (a first for the band according to violinist ANDREW JOSLYN) detailing the rocky, winding road of life. Despite the heaviness of this oh-so ambitious approach, the music is never weighed down by good intentions . In fact, HANDFUL OF LUVIN are an adept band of troubadours who aren't about to let their rich, earthy sound grow stale or have it fall upon deaf ears given their ability to change rhythms at a moments notice. The results here are amazing, memorable and - above all else - catchy.

BEST BAND NOMiNEES:
THE JESUS REHAB, GOLD MOTEL, NEVERWONDER, CANOBLiSS, RHETT FRAZiER iNC., WHiTE APPLE TREE and AMERiCAN Hi-Fi.

LiSTEN TO AN EXCLUSiVE iNTERViEW WiTH HANDFUL OF LUViN' HERE!!!

BEST RECORDiNG (L.P.): AMERiCAN Hi-Fi - 'FiGHT THE FREQUENCY'

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No band from the aughts personified pre-9/11 innocence like the power pop progenitors AMERICAN HI-FI. When they released their self-titled debut CD and it's lead-off single FLAVOR OF THE WEAK in the early, better-half of 2001, their brash, power chord-charged pop moment was a welcome change to the teen pop and rap-metal that one had come to expect from pop radio at that time. Little did these lads know that they had come up with the template for other power pop acts to follow in the turbulent decade to come. The world is a much different place now then it was when AMERICAN HI-FI made their debut onto the music scene and after having been bounced from label to label for subsequent releases, the band has chosen to forego major label acceptance and come out fighting on their latest release FIGHT THE FREQUENCY.

BEST RECORDiNG (L.P.) NOMiNEES:
GOLD MOTEL - 'SUMMER HOUSE', HANDFUL OF LUViN' - 'LiFE iN BETWEEN', WHiTE APPLE TREE - 'VELVET MUSTACHE', LUKAS ROSSi - 'HOLLYWOOD', ANNA MADORSKY - 'TALK iS CHEAP', RHETT FRAZiER iNC. - 'ESCAPE FROM DEE-TROYT', and CANOBLiSS - 'MAN iS THE ENEMY'

LiSTEN TO AN EXCLUSiVE iNTERViEW WiTH AMERiCAN Hi-Fi HERE!!!

BEST RECORDiNG (E.P.): V.T.G. - 'LOVE iS LETTiNG GO'

In combining the cold, distant, ambient sound of electronica with the gritty sound of rock an roll, LAWRENCE STONE of VTG has forged a sound that could serve as the soundtrack to a million relationships gone sour. The addition of a rock sensibility to VTG's electronic pulse is a recent shift in the band's sound and it has been ushered in with the release of their latest EP 'LOVE IS LETTING GO'. With just six songs, VTG demonstrate both musical and technological prowess while songwriter STONE surveys the wreckage and disaster left behind after the dissolution of a relationship that was doomed from the start with such thumping numbers as 'I LIE PRETTY', 'SHE KILLS ME' and 'INFECTION'.

BEST RECORDiNG (E.P.) NOMiNEES:
DHANA - 'CONFESSiONS OF LiLY ROGUE', CiRCLEDOWN - 'MOBiUS', LE REVERiE - 'TRUTH AND LiES', FRiEND SLASH LOVER - 'AS AMERiCAN AS ONES AND ZEROES', BiRDCALL - 'THE ANiMALS KNOW', ALiVE iN STEREO - 'ALiVE iN STEREO', LiTHiUM SEVEN - 'SOMETHiNG ELSE iS WAiTiNG'

LiSTEN TO AN EXCLUSiVE iNTERViEW WiTH V.T.G. HERE!!!

BEST SONG: RHETT FRAZiER iNC. - 'U CAN'T STOP'

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Please don’t confuse the story of RHETT FRAZIER INC with the story of JAKE and ELWOOD of THE BLUES BROTHERS! In the 1980 film starring JOHN BELUSHI and DAN ACKROYD, the brothers BLUES are on “a mission from God” to save the orphanage they both grew up in. In the case of RHETT FRAZIER INC, singer RHETT FRAZIER and drummer/producer DONNY GRUENDLER are on a mission to combine MOTOWN and STAX soul with electronic sound bites and “out there” guitar effects. The results of the duo’s four year mission to create and perfect such a sound has resulted in their debut CD ‘ESCAPE FROM DEE-TROYT’. While giving soul music a futuristic finish is as old an idea as EURYTHMICS’ seminal LP ‘SWEET DREAMS (ARE MADE OF THIS)’ back in 1982, there are two ingredients that ESCAPE FROM DEE-TROYT possesses in abundance that the sharply dressed LENNOX/STEWART partnership lacked – balls and reckless abandon.

BEST SONG NOMiNEES:
BETH THORNLEY - 'WASH U CLEAN', TOMEKA WiLLiAMS - 'HO', THE JESUS REHAB - 'iF iT FEELS GOOD iT iS GOOD', MAD PLANET - 'LOVE ADDiCTS', GOLD MOTEL - 'PERFECT iN MY MiND', WHiTE APPLE TREE - 'BROKEN BONES' and V.T.G. - 'i LiE PRETTY'

LiSTEN TO AN EXCLUSiVE iNTERViEW WiTH RHETT FRAZiER iNC. HERE!!!

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