THE BEAST

For Immediate Release

Judas Priest’s Metal God, Rob Halford, Announces 

2025 Extreme Music Awards!

January 11, 2025

Watch the announcement here !

Capital District’s very own Extreme Music Awards are back and this year will be bigger and more…EXTREME!  Special guests from Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Overkill and many more, descend upon Albany’s Empire Live on January 11th to honor Capital District local musicians and acknowledge their past years accomplishments.  

“It makes me proud to see such high caliber music veterans come into our hometown and present awards to these local musicians, many of which look up to presenters as their inspirations for getting into music to begin with!” says Mike Valente, founder of the Extreme Music Awards.

And it doesn’t stop there.  Local hometown hero and two time Grammy Award Nominated Drummer, Jason Bitter returns to the EMA’s to corral an All-Star Jam featuring many of the guest presenters.  See his post here .

Jason Bittner (Overkill, Shadows Fall, Category 7) receiving his Lifetime Achievement Award

You don’t want to miss out on the 2025 Extreme Music Awards, January 11th at Empire Live!

About:

The Extreme Music Awards is the culmination of Upstate Black and Blue Productions , RadioRadioX , 93.9 WABY , That Fuzzing Rock Show and 518Scene.com .  2025 marks the second year of this amazing event, which celebrates all things metal, punk and hardcore in the greater 518 Capital Region of Upstate NY. The second-annual EMAs will be held at Albany, NY’s Empire Live — the home of metal, punk and hardcore in Upstate NY — on Saturday, January 11, 2025. Here is your chance to show support for the underdogs and be a part of the biggest 518 event of the year!

The voting is now open!

Cast your vote at:

https://extrememusicawards. com/voting/

We sat down with Mike Valente, co-founder of Extreme Music Awards (EMA’s), guitarist for NY’s metal crossover band, Brick By Brick and talent buyer for Empire Live, for some additional insight on EMA’s.

Mike Valente (EMA Co-Founder) with Danny Shuler (Biohazard) at 2024 EMA’s

Where did the idea for the EMA’s start?

Mike Valente:   The EMA's began out of frustration.  I was attending other awards shows and realized that heavy music NEVER gets its proper accolades. The judges of the typical award shows are misinformed and out of touch.  The genres are skewed, watered down and misrepresented. Even at The Grammy's/Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame, etc..... Remember when Jethro Tull won best Heavy Metal over fucking Metallica?  Case in point.  So I said fuck it…I’ll start my own Awards event with the people I know that actually know something about heavy music.  Albany has a rich history of hardcore and metal and wanted to bring it back home.

Last years (2024 EMA’s) was well attended and stacked with special guests.  Tell us about it!

Mike :  Last year’s EMA’s far exceeded our expectations.  Over 1,000 people attended.  It was incredible.  We had members of Overkill, Exodus, ex Machine Head/Vio-Lence, Agnostic Front, Murphy's Law, Internal Bleeding among special video presentations from Rancid and Slayer. 

We had over 20 different categories and over 60 bands from the local and regional area be nominated.  Some of these bands have never been recognized for any fucking thing.  It was a great atmosphere of camaraderie with like-minded people.

Vinnie Stigma and Mike Gallo (Agnostic Front) present the Award for best Hardcore Band

What goes into planning for an Award show like the EMA’s?

Mike: It usually takes about 8-10 months to plan and prepare for.  So many moving parts. Bands are selected by the public beginning 6 months prior to the event.  We strive to make every year bigger and better. A lot of time and patience is required to start getting in contact with celebrities to attend to present the awards. Matching schedules is a key factor. Our sponsors help us a great deal with the aid of financial backing to bring top notch talent and production to the event.

Any plans to make the EMA’s a national event?

Mike: We are uncertain at this time if we will go national and beyond.  We thought about it, but we want to give the 518 and surrounding areas their due first.  Once again, the Albany scene such a rich history of heavy music.  We were proud to present Bob Riley (Stigmata/Murderer’s Row) with a Lifetime Achievement Award and our very own Jason Bittner (Shadow’s Fall, Overkill, Category 7) with the Most Influential Musician Award.  Keeping it local keeps it simple and relevant to our hometown.  Going bigger means bigger budgets and another city.  Unless we have a major financer, I do not see this happening right away. If the interest continues, then anything is possible.  There is so much great heavy music going on.  We would love for our platform to grow to reach national status and beyond!

Bob Riley (Stigmata) receiving his lifetime achievement Award

There you have it!  Extreme Music Awards 2025, Saturday January 2025 to be held at Albany’s Empire Live.  If you would like more information how to get involved, you can contact anyone of the organizers at: https://extrememusicawards. com/contact/