Silvertung and Kix win big at 2nd annual Maryland Music Awards

The second annual Maryland Music Awards took place at the Kraushaar Auditorium on the Goucher College Campus in Towson, MD over the weekend. A who’s who in the Maryland music scene was on hand. Host for the evening was funny-man Mickey Cucchiella from 98Rock. Maryland is home to a wonderful music community that truly supports one another and offers an amazingly diverse music scene. The Maryland Music Awards came about to show the world what the great state of Maryland has to offer. The evening is a celebration of music, it’s not a competition. The event was televised and will air at a later date.

Big winners for the night were Kix and Silvertung, each band taking home two awards. The complete list of winners can be found below. AXS caught up with the members of Silvertung after the Maryland Music Awards to get their reaction to the night. Speed, the lead singer for Silvertung said, “It was an honor to have been nominated for ‘Best Heavy Metal Artist’ and ‘Breakout Artist for 2016, but winning both categories left us speechless!” He continued, “Our biggest thank you goes out to the fans, who started calling themselves, ‘The TungNation.’ They nominated us, and make the shows possible.” Guitarist Codey chimed in, “I gave my awards to my parents. If it wasn’t for their love and support, I wouldn’t be able to do this.” “It was amazing night, with fantastic bands and people! It was an honor to be nominated and win two awards, but the real winners are the children who benefit from the Nicole Van Horn Foundation,” said drummer, Danno.

Speed added, “I’m still in shock! The last 4 months have been insane! Our last single, ‘Face The Music’ hit the Billboard Mainstream Rock Radio Chart within four weeks, the video has been streamed over 100,000 times, we signed a recording contract with Pavement Entertainment, received a Billboard Music Award, were nominated in two categories for the Maryland Music Awards, asked to perform on the show, and we won two awards. We are four of the luckiest knuckleheads!” “We started out in Baltimore. The scene has so many great bands. We’re lucky that we have some incredible people behind us that believe in us,” said Skoot, bassist for Silvertung. “I don’t view us as a Heavy Metal band, to me it’s all just rock and roll,” he said. Codey expressed, “Winning ‘Breakout Artist’ only reminds us, that we need to work harder.” Silvertung just finished the video for their next single, “Devil’s Advocate.” It will be released on radio June 10. The CD Out Of The Box will be released July 8.

Live performances during the ceremony included an amazing jam band called Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. Jamaal Collier played a mean didgeridoo accompanied by human beatbox Max Bent. These two make so many interesting sounds, it sounded like there was way more than just two people up there. In Gratitude filled the auditorium with joyous music and powerful vocals all accompanied by full horn section. New Street sang the eternally uplifting “Praise the Lord Everybody.” Last year’s Maryland Music Award recipient Eric Karge returned this year as a performer. Higher Hands music can be described as a funky fusion of Soul, Jazz, Rhythm and Blues. They are a tight band. Julian Russo played a pretty little acoustic song. Also performing at the awards ceremony was Revolve, a potent hard rock band that just finished touring with Hinder. Mark Hopkins got the place rocking with his number. Marcella is a beautiful girl with a beautiful singing voice that can hit some killer high notes. Best Heavy Metal Artist and Breakout Artist of the Year Silvertung closed down the evening with a full-throttle set.

All proceeds for the evening went to the Nicole Van Horn Foundation. This trust fund sponsors an annual Fund Raiser and Silent Auction in memory of Nicole to keep her dream of helping other children alive. Kids battling cancer experience more suffering and tragedy than most people do in a lifetime. All monies raised go towards helping terminally sick children. For more information on the foundation, the annual auction or to donate, click here.

The 2016 Maryland Music Award Winners:

Best Gospel Artist-Madison Copelad

Best Live Performer-Kix

Best Funk Band-Higher Hands

Largest Contributor Award-Kevin Hock

Best R&B/Hip Hop-Area 301

Best Country Band-Dean Crawford & the Dunn's River Band

Best Rock Artit-Kix

Best Jazz Artist-David Bach

Maryland Music Icon Award-Dennis Chambers

Best EDM Artist-Electric Love Machine

Best Heavy Metal Artist-Silvertung

Best Regge Artist-Jah Works

Best Song Writer-(first tie in Maryland Music Awards history) Richard Fields and Julian Russo

Best Blues Artist-Kelly Bell Band

Breakout Artist of the Year-Silvertung

Best Cover Band-New Romance