What: Hedley with My Name Is Kay

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

Where: Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre

Tickets: $29.50-$45 plus service charges. Available at Save-on-Foods box office or 250-220-7777.

Fresh from a run with his dog and getting ready for some yoga before practice, pop-punk Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard may be tiring of mundane formalities.

"My day is going well so far." He begins the sentence normally enough but raises his voice to a cartoonish pitch by the end. A natural showman, even over the phone.

Since snagging a deal with Universal Music Canada and being launched into the spotlight in 2005 following Hoggard's run as a Canadian Idol contestant, the Vancouver-based group has earned a reputation as committed performers. The multi-platinum stars were named among the Top 100 touring artists in 2010 by Pollstar, and a Regina reviewer called Hoggard "the engine that powers the show."

Hedley's hold on mass Canadian audiences was confirmed Tuesday when this year's Juno nominees were announced.

Hedley leads the pack with four nods alongside five other performers, including Drake and Justin Bieber. Bringing their career total of Juno nominations up to 19, Hedley is in the running for Group of the Year, Pop Album of the Year for Storms, Single of the Year for Invincible, as well as the Juno Fan Choice Award.

In a sea of other awards and acknowledgements, they've also sold more than one million downloads and had 10 straight videos reach No. 1 on the MuchMusic Countdown.

But an unending supply of energy, dedication and business savvy can't prepare even the most poised for life's curveballs. Though the group was tight-lipped while promoting its fourth studio album in November, alluding to vague "life and death" challenges the band faced while putting together Storms, Hoggard now talks more freely about bassist Tommy Mac's cancer.

The group, which also includes lead guitarist Dave Rosin and drummer Chris Crippin, learned about it during pre-production last spring.

"When we first heard the news it was like, f--- man, do you want to, like, take five? Should we just stop everything we're doing?" Hoggard said. "Being there for each other became paramount for us."

Band members also considered taking a hiatus or even touring with someone else. But Hoggard says they followed Mac's positive lead, recording his bass parts before he began chemotherapy treatment.

"He was so strong about it and so positive about it that it was inspiring and motivating for us to be like, OK, well, we can do this, we can make it all work," Hoggard said. "You can get better, we can make this record and, you know, we can fit it into your schedule."

While Hoggard would not to reveal the type of cancer, he said it was operable — between its second and third stage — and Mac is "on the road to recovery." Mac will be on tour.

Beyond cancer, the group has faced other significant challenges — not only personally, but artistically.

"All of that was going on, while we're also sitting there going . . . it's our fourth record. What are we going to talk about? Why are we even here? How are we going to make this record?" Hoggard said.

"Making a record isn't just about going to the studio, coming up with a bunch of music and f---ing print, packaging and selling it." Hoggard maintains that writing music is a personal process. Hedley wants to create music of substance.

Whatever they did to make it happen seemed to work. Storms is a top-selling album on iTunes and debuted at No. 2 on Canadian charts when it was released in November. It features a collaboration with R&B Grammy winner Babyface on the track Stormy, as well as Juno-nominated Invincible, the group's fastest-selling digital track to date.

With the album out and selling well, the band can now focus on what Hoggard calls a point of pride: their ability to perform and play. He's promising a set of more than 90 minutes that will cover songs from each of their four albums — "a show that hopefully encompasses all four records into one night of music."

It seems that Hedley is weathering the storm.

"I don't know if we've been faced with our collective mortality," Hoggard said. "We've learned to stick together through anything."

asmart@timescolonist.com