Just 11 Nominees For Four CASBY Music Awards

Some of Canada's top modern rock artists will vie for four titles at the annual CASBY (Canadian Artists Selected By You) Music Awards, which will be presented by Toronto's 102.1 The Edge at the Kool Haus on Nov. 22.

The winners will be determined by nationwide fan voting through the Edge website. Billy Talent, Three Days Grace, City And Colour, Neverending White Lights, Evans Blue, Mobile, IllScarlett and Hostage Life are all up for multiple awards. In fact, Champion, Sam Roberts and Alexisonfire are the only acts with one nomination. Is this an indictment of how few popular alternative rock albums that this country's major record companies are releasing, how narrow the station's playlist has become, or a combination of both?

"Our domestic artists continue to create a buzz in the international scene, establishing Canada as one of the premier birthplaces for new rock," says 102.1 The Edge program director Alan Cross. "This year's nominees are leading the pack while the fans catapult them to success."

Performers and presenters for the show will be announced in the coming weeks.

The CASBYs began as the U-Knows in 1981 as an alternative to the Juno Awards. Votes for this year's awards can be cast online until midnight on Nov. 5.

Here are the 2006 CASBY nominees:

Favourite New Artist:
City And Colour
Evans Blue
Mobile
Neverending White Lights
IllScarlett
Hostage Life

Favourite New Single:
Billy Talent — "Devil In A Midnight Mass"
Three Days Grace — "Animal I Have Become"
Champion — "No Heaven"
Mobile — "Out Of My Head"
Neverending White Lights — "The Grace"

Favourite New Album:
Billy Talent — Billy Talent II
Evans Blue — The Melody And The Energetic Nature Of Volume
Mobile — Tomorrow Starts Today
Sam Roberts — Chemical City
Three Days Grace — One X

NXNE Favourite New Indie Release:
Neverending White Lights — Act 1: Goodbye Friends Of The Heavenly Bodies
City And Colour — The Death Of Me
Alexisonfire — Crisis
IllScarlett — IllScarlett
Hostage Life — Walking Papers