By Michael Luce

I. Love. BotB. There’s such an electricity in the air beforehand as bands nervously make last minute adjustments, fans gather and greet each other, and everyone prepares for hours of the best performances by local bands. As the crowd grows, the heat builds, and everything feels like a balloon about to burst.

But you aren’t here to listen to me wax poetic about what happens before the band takes the stage; you’re here because you want to find out how last night’s show went, so let’s get right into it!

No 1’s Home

Opening a show can be rough. It doesn’t matter if you have 1 fan or 100 fans in the audience, trying to warm up a crowd can be a herculean task. That said, No 1’s Home did a pretty dang good job. Their first song exploded into a wall of sound that announced they were ready to go and weren’t waiting for anyone to be more ready. They sound a bit like if The Cure or The Smiths did modern punk or Midwest emo, thanks to some massive chorusing effects on the guitar. This first set was certainly full of fun moments, including a late Mother’s Day shout-out and a volley of t-shirts from the stage into the audience. Lead singer Jonah Edwards has a great voice, and he nails the balance between bored slacker energy and legitimately good vocal delivery. Overall, the group exhibited a lot of confidence, which I hope they keep going forward.

In all, No 1’s Home just needs a bit more experience and time together to really nail their performance down. They’re already great, but it’s the little things, like momentum-killing spaces between songs, occasionally getting out of rhythm with each other, and ensuring a performance is more than just a set of songs strung together, that will really take these guys to the next level. (Side note to all bands: tossing shirts is usually most fun during a song or at the end of the set. Doing it between songs slows things down more than you think it will.)

Dead Metro

When Dead Metro took the stage, it was almost as if they saw the previous set and said, “Cool. What if we did that, but sludgier?” They complemented No 1’s Home really well and slid into a more emo/punk sound with a bit of shoegaze atmosphere to it. The group was unfortunately affected by some technical difficulties, but they held their poise and good spirits while things were sorted out. I’ve seen so many bands freeze at tech issues, but Dead Metro just shrugged it off and kept going like champs

Personally, I felt most of their set was imbalanced simply because of the intensity of the drumming. I honestly don’t think the drummer was overplaying; I think the rest of the band just needed to rise to that level. And I feel vindicated in saying this because the group’s last song was night and day compared to the rest of the set; the other members matched the excitement and fervor of the drums and blasted the audience with a winding track that included not one, but two explosive guitar solos. This was Dead Metro at their peak. Oh, but if only that peak hadn’t been so fleeting.

Overall, Dead Metro feel like a group to watch for in the coming years. They write fun music and are clearly enjoying doing what they’re doing. They just haven’t reached their final form yet.

The Friendly Monties

After two sets firmly in the punk-adjacent sphere, The Friendly Monties took a hard left turn and threw out any and all regard for genre. Their set opened with an acoustic riff and traveled through all manner of influences, including funk, rock, Latin, psychedelic, and more. There might have even been a bit of prog-era Rush in there. The group was immensely fun, and kept the audience engaged the whole time with their maxed-out charisma. These guys genuinely seemed to be having a good time, and the rest of us were just guests at their party. I made my first true stank face of the evening during one of their guitar solos. The previous solos were good, but this one was truly stanky.

As the group bounced from style to style, they also switched up their guitar tones and singers. In fact, I’m pretty sure every member of the band either sang lead or led the crowd work at some point. This did lead to a few odd moments, as not every voice was as strong or in-tune as the others, but the pros definitely outweighed the cons. At one point in their set, I had to just sit back and remember just how much I love this job. I get to interact with all this awesome local music; how cool is that?!

Samuel Charles Band

If The Friendly Monties was a left turn of genre, then Samuel Charles Band was taking a completely different form of transportation to begin with. The air changed as the group settled into a folksy singer-songwriter groove, complete with egg shaker and harmonica. And when I say groove here, I need to be clear here that I do not mean a rut; this crew was laying down a certifiable vibe. The frontman’s vocals remind me of Passenger (“Let Her Go”) with how delicately and tenderly they laid on the bed of guitar and percussion set by the rest of the band. The band seemed more content to groove than to win, and I think that’s a large part of what made them so compelling. They had the best vocal harmonies and some of the tightest playing of the night, and confidently dipped into country partway through the set, despite the largely punk crowd (who ate it up, btw. Truly a sight to behold).

I think the band’s simplicity is a two-edged sword. On one hand, the simple songs and structures help lend to that groovy jam I mentioned previously and lets the technical proficiency of the members shine. However, I think simplicity can err into sameness or overly restrained territory if taken too far, and Samuel Charles Band sometimes tread right on that line. All things considered, they’ve improved massively as performers in just the last few months and show no sign of slowing down.

Results

Once judges scores were tallied and audience points were added, the final result put two bands in neck-and-neck placement at the end of the night. Ultimately, Samuel Charles Band was awarded second place and advanced to “Ultimate Runner-Up Night” on Friday, and the Friendly Monties moved on to finals on Saturday. It should not be understated how close this night was, and fans should know their voice (literally) mattered in these tallies, so go support your favorite groups and help push them to victory!

The Boardwalk’s Spring 2024 Battle of the Bands continues tonight at 7 PM with Church Ball, Twin Systems, Internet Lover Boys, and Fairweather Friends. You can catch Samuel Charles Band again on Friday, May 17 and The Friendly Monties on Saturday, May 18. Be sure to follow Samuel Charles Band and The Friendly Monties on Instagram and check out “Eels & Tarantulas” by The Friendly Monties below!