Los Skarnales (8 p.m.)
Nominated In: Best Latin Artist
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If you've lived in Houston long and haven't seen Los Skarnales, you probably don't much care about the HPMAs anyway. Frequent winners and perennial nominees, the band has gone through some personnel changes since last year but keeps playing revved-up shows to a faithful flash-mob-like following. Skarnales are also extremely popular in Monterrey, where they recently played a huge festival. WILLIAM MICHAEL SMITH
Doughbeezy (9 p.m.)
Nominated In: Local Musician of the Year
Here's the recipe: Make dope music, do dope things, outwork everybody. That's all Doughbeezy has done for the last 18 months: Released mixtapes, his own official snapback hat, performed at 4,000 shows. Everywhere. The cliché says someone ran out of fucks to give. Doughbeezy is the antithesis — he stole all the fucks SHEA SERRANO
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LUCKY'S PUB
801 St. Emanuel
La Sien (5 p.m.)
Nominated In: Best Bassist, Best Latin Artist
These fiery, sexy Latin rockers haven't been around all that long but make waves with smart songs, romantic harmonies and torrid performances. The impassioned quartet have absorbed the edgiest, most dramatic elements of U2, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. WILLIAM MICHAEL SMITH
Another Run (6 p.m.)
Nominated In: Best Modern Rock
For more than a decade now, Houston perennial Another Run has made the kind of music that's distinctive because it's difficult to pinpoint. It's electric, poppy and usually upbeat, and pairs nicely with their unconventional vocals and a few ear-perking harmonies. Latest LP I'll Be There came along in 2010. MATTHEW KEEVER
The Trimms (7 p.m.)
Nominated In: Best Drummer, Best Rock
The Trimms owe their spot on the ballot to one man, a man's man, drummer Gabe Bravo. The perfectly pompadoured percussionist is a rhythmic hellbeast with more swagger than a limping pirate. It's no wonder your average Trimms evening includes party rock and half-naked women. JEF WITH ONE F
Downfall 2012 (8 p.m.)
Nominated In: Best Metal
Downfall 2012 chose its name nearly 15 years ago, and this year has indeed turned out to be an important one for the Humble-based metalheads. The band has become a staple of sorts within the local metal scene, spending much of this year working on another album and occasionally appearing on 94.5 FM's Texas Buzz on Sundays. MATTHEW KEEVER
The Suffers (9 p.m.)
Nominated In: Best New Act, Best Female Vocals, Best Reggae/Ska/Dub
Fronted by Kam Franklin's heavenly howl, the Suffers bring forth a sexy brew of seductive vocals, horns and an almost ghostly sway that keeps first-wave ska and rocksteady alive. Built on a pedigree of Los Skarnales, Heptic Skeptic and Ryan Scroggins's Trenchtown Texans, among others, the ten-piece drops that holy skanking beat into more than able hands. CRAIG HLAVATY
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BEN'S BEANS
1302 Dallas
Vince King (5 p.m.)
Nominated In: Best Cover/Tribute Act
Why travel to Graceland when you can look up Vince King most any week of the year and experience the real, live (but faux) Elvis experience? King's tribute act covers every facet of the boy from Tupelo's career, from Memphis to Vegas, and the screams and swoons follow. CRAIG HLAVATY
Mike Stinson (6 p.m.)
Nominated In: Best Country
Mike Stinson moved here as the pen inside Dwight Yoakam's "The Late Great Golden State" and soon enough gave Houston its best honky-tonk album of the young decade, The Jukebox in Your Heart. A wounded warrior-poet like Bruce Springsteen ("Atlantic City" is a set highlight), Stinson has recorded an as-yet-unreleased follow-up that steps on the gas and lets the heartaches fly. CHRIS GRAY
Nick Greer (7 p.m.)
Nominated In: Best Pop Artist
Greer describes his music as piano-rock blues and passionate funk, which is pretty accurate, but he's also making his name in the music industry with the acclaimed Wire Studios. As a songwriter and producer, Greer is already well on his way to ushering good acts like fellow HPMA nominees the Niceguys into pure greatness. JEF WITH ONE F
Potbelly (8 p.m.)
Nominated In: Best Reggae/Ska/Dub
These Cy-Fair alt-rockers pepper their tunes with just enough dub and reggae bounce to squeak into a category they've already won once. The four-piece's recent eponymous CD shows some newfound maturity and musical sophistication in a batch of tunes dealing with divorce, emotional damage, frustration and anger. WILLIAM MICHAEL SMITH
Nathan Quick (9 p.m.)
Nominated In: Best Song, Best Songwriter, Best Male Vocals, Best Americana
Nathan Quick's folksy, spiritual, HPMA-nominated tune "Running" combines the timelessness of Neil Young with the bite of Jace Everett. We vote him Most Likely to End Up on the True Blood Soundtrack Next Season. There's too much blood in his lyrics for it not to happen. JEF WITH ONE F
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LUCKY STRIKE
LANES & LOUNGE
1204 Caroline
Miss Leslie (5 p.m.)
Nominated In: Best Country
Houston's reigning queen of honky-tonk is reason alone to venture out into the city's bars just to make her delightful acquaintance. That's assuming she's not out on tour as far away as Sweden and France, with a voice that's all guts but sweet as homemade divinity. Her regular blogging reveals a rather remarkable woman and musician. JEF WITH ONE F
Tianna Hall (6 p.m.)
