_{By Richard Provost}

Friday the 13th at Velour. Between all the taxidermy, religious memorabilia, and the FilmQuest graphic on the front door of a giant monster attacking Velour, it somehow just felt right. Fun fact: Velour actually opened on a Friday the 13th. Anyway, I warded off the bad luck by knocking on wood, throwing salt over my shoulder, and luckily the place didn’t burn down. You’re welcome, Corey.

Crewless

Crewless came out strong to start the night. Full of obvious vets, their set was tight and professional. The visual was cohesive, and they had a few fun things like an old landline phone rigged up as a vocal mic. Plus, they had a saxophone player, which is always a cheat code.

They did a lot of things right. Their only real downfall was simply that they didn’t have a drummer. Their whole set was upbeat, fun, and meant to make you dance, but it’s just hard to pull that off live without a drummer in my opinion. When they got to their last song, “Say Goodbye” with more of a groovy, trip hop beat, it really landed. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they do moving forward, and the music they’ll be releasing.

Just Khakis

People love saxophone, man. As soon as the sax player for Just Khakis started sound checking, they already won the crowd over. Their lead singer, Christian Affleck, feels like a young Chris Crabb, though not quite as well dressed. In fact, the whole thing reminded me of We Are The Strike/The Str!ke, if you are old enough to remember those renditions of The Strike. It was a fun, high energy set, but they were still smart enough to find their moments for being dynamic. I know the sax player and singer are going to get all the love, but the rhythm section is what makes this band work, with a special shout out to Jeff Jacobson the keyboard player who is the unsung hero in my eyes.

Honestly, my only criticism is that I would like to see a more cohesive aesthetic to make the whole thing feel more intentional. I’m not saying you should be wearing The Wonders style matching suits, but you can’t have one guy in a blazer, and another in hoodie. At least match levels of formality.

PRKR

PRKR is the band from last night who I’m personally most excited to see their progress. Their opener is one of the best performances I’ve seen in a good while and had me out of seat. Backed by Lovingly Clad and nailing some hip hop vocals with swagger at unacceptable levels, I was super excited for the rest of the set… Except the rest of the set didn’t feature any of the elements from the first song. Don’t get me wrong, the rest of it was good, but it took a song or two for me to stop wishing for more of the first song. That being said, the songwriting was great and relatable, vocals were solid and got stronger as the set went on, and there was just something authentic about the performance that came through and made me want to root for them.

If I may, I’d like to offer up one piece of advice to PRKR and anybody prepping for Battle of the Bands: please don’t tune audibly while on stage. Nothing screams “I don’t usually do this” like hearing you tuning your guitar. Get a tuner pedal. Any of your guitarist friends probably have a half a dozen polytunes of various colors and sizes. You can borrow one from them.

Garden Drive

Unfortunately for Garden Drive, some technical difficulties delayed the start of their set and killed the momentum a bit, causing the crowd to start filing out as likely not many of them were Garden Drive fans who made the long drive down from the band’s hometown of Logan. Stinks to be all of the people who left because they missed Garden Drive, who I would argue had the most complete set of the night. They were certainly the most unique of the evening, but not in a way that requires a refined palette to appreciate.

I have to say, after an evening of very high energy sets, it was a breath of fresh air for a band to show restraint and take the time to just sit in the pocket and let the song breathe a bit. That’s not to say that their set was low energy — they had plenty of high energy moments, like their beautifully crafted transition between the first two songs that culminated in a fun rhythmic shift and a guitar solo, all of which caused those in the judge’s area to look at each other, make a face, and nod along – the ultimate compliment amongst musicians. I genuinely have no feedback for these guys. Great set. Let me know the next time you’re down this way.

Results

With only three points between the top three bands, it was a nail-biter, but Just Khakis pulled it off. They join Sage Lane, Wilbere, Sabrina Fair, and CAYSN as the last finalist for this year’s winter battle.

Velour’s Winter 2024 Battle of the Bands concludes tonight! Doors open at 7:30 PM and tickets often sell out, so be sure to get in line early to claim your spot. While you wait, check out “Say Goodbye” by Crewless!