Emerson Drive, from left: Dale Wallace, Danick Dupelle, David Pichette, Patrick Bourque (who committed suicide last September), Mike Melancon and lead singer Brad Mates.

You'd think most first-time Grammy nominees might be in the audience at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for tomorrow night's televised ceremony on CBS and Global.

But Canadian country group Emerson Drive, whose No. 1 single, Moments, is up for best country performance by a group or duo with vocals, will be on a Bahamas cruise ship as part of an Ohio cancer benefit.

"I think if you're doing something for a good cause like cancer it wasn't that hard of a decision to make," said lead singer and Grande Prairie, Alta., native Brad Mates, down the line from a tour stop in Columbus, Ohio, this week.

"Obviously we weren't too sure if the show was going to happen a few weeks ago with the writers strike. So we decided either way we were just going to carry on with our shows. And it's good because to be nominated, that's what we're taking away from this whole thing. I mean it's phenomenal. But if it ever comes around again, I think we'll try and do our best to be there for it."

Needless to say Mates and his four Canadian bandmates -- fiddler David Pichette, lead guitarist Danick Dupelle, drummer Mike Melancon, and keyboardist Dale Wallace -- will be crowded around a ship TV tomorrow night.

"Oh, trust me, we'll be watching every minute of it," said Mates with a chuckle.

"Our award that we're up for is not going to be televised, so obviously we'll be waiting to hear from our publicist in L.A. to see what happens. And I can tell you if it does happen then we're going to be celebrating with a lot of friends and family on the cruise."

Bahama Mamas all around then should Emerson Drive defeat the likes of such heavy competition as Brooks & Dunn and The Eagles.

Mates said the band is just happy that Moments, a tough song that deals with depression and thoughts of suicide, has had such an impact.

"I really believe the song has a life of its own, so I'm not going to say that we don't have chance. I really think we do. Ultimately, to have the Emerson Drive name in the same category as The Eagles, that's enough for me. All of our parents are big fans and I remember my dad said to me when he found out, 'You might as well quit right now, you've done it all.' It's really cool to be in the category with a group that we've looked up to for a long time."

The sad irony of Moments, from Emerson Drive's 2006 album, Countrified, is that the group's former bassist Patrick Bourque played on the song and appears in the video, which shows a man contemplating suicide on a bridge.

Bourque left the group in August 2007 and a month later took his own life in his Montreal home.

"The irony in the whole thing has helped us in a way," Mates said. "When this song first was out on radio and the video was out there, a lot of people were coming up to us and saying, 'Thank you for this song. Have you ever lived something like this before? Why did you choose this song?' And a few months later we lose one of our members to suicide, and the song talks about suicide, contemplating it. This song has taken on a whole new meaning now."