_{By Zach Collier}

Night 2 of Velour’s Winter 2023 Battle of the Bands was an absolute blast. This is one of the better lineups I’ve seen at this competition, and there were three bands that easily could’ve made the finals. That’s not hyperbole: every single judge had a completely different first place winner and ranking. At the end of the night, two acts were tied for first place and 1 act was in third by only 2 points. Ultimately, the crowd vote decided the night.

I’d like to make it clear that Corey Fox doesn’t reveal 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place rankings. All he said was that because of the near three-way tie, things were so close that it was possible for the third place winner to have jumped to first place simply because of the crowd vote bonus. Not saying that happened here – just saying it’s wild that it could have/may have. And it illustrates just how close this night was. 

It’s officially the closest night in Velour’s Battle of the Bands history. Let’s dive in.

JolleyTime

JolleyTime travelled all the way from Provo, Utah to perform last night. Their group is made up of 3 percussionists. They opened their set with a thoroughly engaging, theatrical drum line before switching instruments and moving onto a fun pop anthem with a solid “oh” chorus and a double-time drum break.

Their lead singer, Paul, definitely has talent. Drumming and singing at the same time is no easy feat, especially when you’re the lead and when you’re singing rapid fire lyrics the way he was. My favorite track of theirs was actually their mid-set ballad. Paul really wears his heart on his sleeve and is a captivating vocalist that sits somewhere between Ben Folds and Nate Reuss. It was a powerful performance. 

They do play to tracks to fill out some of the harmony, but they’re one of those precious few bands that 1) can play in time with the tracks without catastrophe and 2) Don’t rely on the tracks to carry them. They play with such sincerity and energy that the music felt organic. That being said, there were some issues with the tracks starting before the band was ready, or repeating and starting again after a song was over. It felt amateur, and that needs to be tightened up in the future.

All of the band members are thoroughly capable multi-instrumentalists, switching positions and taking up each others’ instruments effortlessly.  However, I think the biggest drawback with JolleyTime is the fact that they do switch instruments so frequently. While it is impressive that they each can play so many instruments so well, I’d like for the band members to find their niche and specialize. Their set was a little too eclectic, and I think that’s because everyone writes differently on each instrument. I think that deciding musical roles will lead to a tighter set overall, and it’ll also help with audience expectation and artistic coherence.

Saving a big instrument switcheroo for a grand, epic moment in the middle of the set as a special surprise would be really cool. In fact, they did just that in their 4th song – one that suddenly got dark and had some Beethoven-esque organ. It was really rad, and they executed it well. But pulling the switcheroo every time is kind of exhausting.

Afternoon All Night

These guys had a major technical difficulty right before their first downbeat. A patch cable went out in the lead guitarists’ pedalboard, which is rotten luck – it was literally working during soundcheck 60 seconds before. I watched the whole thing go down from just off stage and am still perplexed. The group had to stew awkwardly on stage while it was sorted out. This kind of setback would have derailed a lesser band. But not Afternoon All Night.

Good golly I like these guys. 

Once the guitarists’ amp came back on, the band immediately kicked off into one of the most furiously energetic sets I’ve seen in a long time. The first two songs were raucous, near-flawless, and had breakdowns for days. And that lead guitarist with the bad patch cable? Patch cables be damned, this guy unleashed hell and shredded like his life depended on it. And the motherh*cker did it in time with the drums. What a legend.

Afternoon All Night sits squarely in the Utah Clean genre – think bands like the Backseat Lovers, Cardinal Bloom, CAYSN, Lazy Loners, and Sage Lane. Clean guitar tones with a hint of drive and fuzz, lots of reverb, suspended chords and major sevenths (boy howdy are there major sevenths with the kids these days), and a redefinition of the term “breakdown.” Whereas pop punk got us accustomed to time shifts, this genre creates rhythmic soli sections where the whole band hits at once on one intricate rhythm. It’s something really unique to Utah, and really, really cool when done well.

And these guys do it well. They also set themselves apart from their peers by providing a heavier sound, catchier hooks, and a frontman with a voice that sounds like Buddy Holly frantically channeling the energy and grit of Tyler Glenn from Neon Trees. 

To say I had fun during their set would be an understatement.

Frantic Memories

Frantic Memories is a young band, but they’re writing stellar, hook-laden pop rock that would sound great in a set with Poolhouse or almost monday. Their frontman, Christian, has a phenomenal voice, and he’s got the stage presence and charisma to match. Their keyboard player, Cameron, is his vocal equal, and they wisely shared vocal duties Band CAMINO-style throughout the set. Their harmonies locked, and they were a lot of fun.

As part of their set, Jared Ferrin made his return after winning night 1 of Velour’s Winter 2023 Battle of the Bands – this time as a side man. It was really cool hearing his guitar skills in a completely different context. He was playing intricate, mathy parts that would fit on any Minus the Bear or Two Door Cinema Club track.

For me, the only issue with Frantic Memories was inexperience. There were a few noticeable flubs from each band member, a few spots with some rhythm/timing issues across the band, and in some cases the mic technique wasn’t where it should be. We lost some of the vocals/lyrical intelligibility from the two singers pulling away from the mic a little too early.

Given some time, Frantic Memories is going to tighten all of this up and they’re going to be a serious force to be reckoned with. These guys are going places. They’re really, really good. They write catchy, well put together pop songs, and there’s absolutely no reason they can’t blow up in the near future. I can’t recommend Frantic Memories enough.

Bellagrace 

Before show time, we kept trying to come up with some witty way to introduce Bellagrace, but any time I thought of mentioning her as “the only girl in tonight’s lineup” or something to that effect, it just felt condescending. Bellagrace is so much more than a token female performer after a night of dudes. 

What is she? She’s a heartfelt singer songwriter with a sweet voice and a tender delivery. Her delivery has that genteel, down-home country charm without being twangy. She’s a spiritual successor to acts like A Fine Frenzy and Keren DeBerg, and she’s got the mellow, cinematic sad gurl vibe DOWN. If this was 2006, no doubt one of her songs would be playing during a dramatic moment at the end of an episode of Scrubs where it suddenly stops being a comedy and delivers a swift suckerpunch to the heart.

Her band did an excellent job of showing restraint. They never overpowered her, instead complimenting her storytelling with really smart and technically challenging parts. The drummer included some excellent snare work that included ghost notes for days, and the lead guitarist had some really special moments where he let his harmonics ring in a way that was pretty and fitting instead of pretentious. He also wasn’t afraid to double her vocal part with his lead lines – creating a call and response effect during one somber song that was beautiful and heartbreaking.

When these guys picked up the tempo, they all held it down. You could tell that each backing member could shred, and was simply choosing to show restraint and add tasteful moments. I really, really liked their set. These guys need film and TV placements pronto. They just have that vibe.

I’ll be honest, Bellagrace was my choice for the winner last night. They were a solid act all around. Not the best fit for such an uptempo bill, but there’s magic in their music.

In the end, Velour’s handsome, talented, and humble MC, Zach Collier (lol I hate that guy) took the stage to announce the winner of night 2: Afternoon All Night.

Velour’s Winter 2023 Battle of the Bands returns tonight at 7:30 PM. Ignatious, Cannibal Queen, Hollow Hill, and Loafa will perform. Tickets are $10 at the door. While you’re waiting for the show to start, check out “Blignorance” by Afternoon All Night.