Velour Summer 2026 Battle of the Bands – Night 5

The Third Wheel

If it’s been said once, then I have to imagine it’s been said at least four times: being the opening band is one of the hardest things to do at BOTB. The Third Wheel saw that challenge and seemingly refused to engage with it, opting instead to take the set at their own pace. See, many bands with the opening slot make it their mission to break the night wide open with massive energy, clap-along moments, and frenetic tempos. The Third Wheel seemed to shrug off these expectations and instead opened with a bluesy alternative, downtempo bop that only barely exploded into your typical opening raucous jam at the very end.

While the core of their sound was a bluesy indie alt rock with a touch of Provocore, the group was at their best when they leaned into more proggy territory, using sweeping progressions and textural emotion to draw the audience in. Like many other great power trios, the bass stood out as a key feature of the group’s music. The bassist’s tone was vicious, and we were even treated to a bass solo at one point. I’m seriously such a sucker for cool bass work. However, as in love with the bass as I was, I must admit the intensity of the low end also occasionally overwhelmed the rest of the band’s sound.

While their alternative approach to opening worked for them, I think a modified version of their setlist would have been a better fit for the show they were trying to put on. It felt like the energy from one song to the next was inconsistent, and the lengthy pauses between tracks caused their momentum to sag. That said, I absolutely commend the band for eschewing norms as an opening band and doing what they preferred instead; that kind of confidence is hard to fake, and it served them well.

Tame Dog

I think this was the first time I’ve seen a group with “dog” in their name perform at BOTB where they didn’t take the stage to the sound of barking from the audience. (If I had a nickel…)

Tame Dog is another band following in the footsteps of The Backseat Lovers and the rest of the Provocore sound and tradition. They hit the stage full of energy and coordinated stage moments, clearly intent on having fun and raising the temperature of the room by a few degrees. For a band called Tame Dog, the crowd was anything but. The audience was drawn in – even fans of other bands – and their set saw chants, claps, and even crowdsurfing.

The group was also highly professional despite one of the most brutal technical issues I’ve ever seen. Unfazed by a broken kick drum head partway through their first song, Tame Dog handled the situation with grace. No awkward silence or panic, just vamping and working the crowd while the drummer replaced it. Their set was smartly built around transition jams, which helped both cover the replacement time and made for a great flow to the set.

To me, Tame Dog feel like a band still finding their own sound. It’s a really fun start for sure, but I’d love to see them build on the energy and talent they have to carve out their own unique space among the rest of the Provocore space. As is, they risk getting confused with several other bands in the scene with a similar sound. For example, Tame Dog’s second to last song went much harder, cranked the distortion, and showed off the vocalist’s style really well. It was one of my favorite songs all night, and I’d love to see what Tame Dog sound like as they explore that sound further. Sounds like the band is going on hiatus for two years starting in August (the quirks of music in Provo, amirite?), so what the future brings us regarding Tame Dog remains to be seen.

JakDel

You know that feeling of watching someone way better than you at something you’re kinda good at and instead of being mad or jealous, you’re just in awe? That’s kind of what watching JakDel play is like. In all my time judging BOTB, I’m not sure I’ve ever given a band so many points in both musicianship and songwriting. Like, it’s one thing to be able to play hard music. It’s another to write complex music that still sounds good. But to be able to write hard music that sounds good AND be good enough to perform it yourself? That’s serious talent. (But then again, what else do you expect from a guy who is also a racecar driver, studio builder, festival organizer, and turned down an offer to play football in college?)

JakDel’s music pulls from varied genres like Americana, jazz, soft rock, indie, pop, country/blues and more. It sounds like a lot on paper, but the result is a solid variety of sound surrounding a clear core and direction. The piano and acoustic number that closed out the set was my personal favorite from the group, and I was impressed by the emotion in the vocals. The drummer was also incredibly talented, though I found the chops and volume with which they played often distracted from the rest of the band instead of meshing with them.

For all the skill in writing and playing, the performance side is where JakDel has the most room for growth. The songs themselves were showy, but the stage presence from the band members didn’t always match. The stage space wasn’t really used, even during solos. Jake Pedersen laid down the hardest shredding solo of the night right into a breakdown of noise and feedback, and yet it felt I felt like I was watching a master’s recital rather than a rock concert because of how demure the performers were. To be clear, he and the rest of JakDel are INCREDIBLE musicians; the group didn’t fill the stage the way some of the other acts did. Similarly, the quartet ran into a few other performance-related issues, such as constant high volume and the set getting abruptly cut off for time. These are all things that can be learned and practiced though, and for a group as talented as JakDel, I’m not worried. Mark my words, if they can make their live show as strong as their music, you’ll have a hard time getting tickets.

Strawberry Jam

Suddenly: grunge.

For a group featuring a couple of guys in button ups, screaming vocals and headbanging were the last thing I expected when Strawberry Jam took the stage. The audience may have started to thin by this point in the night, but the sudden shift in tone commanded the attention of everyone in the room. Strawberry Jam were loud, aggressive, and ready to rock, using every square inch of Velour stage they were given. It took a moment for the shock to wear off, but their stage presence, banter, and antics made them immediately likeable to all the audience members lucky enough to have stayed.

The tasty bass runs and interwoven guitar riffs of the first track gave way to another track with a distinctive sound – like if Weezer was emo/grunge – filled once again with harsh vocals and vocal effects used to great, er, effect.

And then the third song was straight-up country.

Now, I’ve been known to enjoy a good smorgasbord of genre, but I kid you not when I say that every song played by the group was a different genre. Even more shocking was that they were all good! Strawberry Jam’s vocalists let out everything from rapid fire scat to a Texas-sized yeehaw to guttural screams and somehow, they did it all so well and unlike any other group I’ve heard before. It was a very singular experience because on the one hand, I was enjoying everything they did. On the other, it was impossible to figure out what the core of the group’s sound was. I think Strawberry Jam are at the crossroads that every band faces at some point on the path to greatness: narrowing. Just because you can do it all doesn’t mean you should, and while some variety is necessary, it’s also important to have a solid core foundation.

Results

After votes were submitted, a long deliberation and counting period followed. The top two artists had tied each other across the board, no matter what additional tiebreakers were included to tip the scales, with the third-place band hot on their heels. In the end, the difference of degrees was found, and JakDel was announced as the final group advancing to Saturday’s finals!

Velour’s Summer 2026 Battle of the Bands Finale is tomorrow, Saturday, June 27! (No show tonight due to rooftop concert series.) Lunar Spirit, The Midnite Judges, JakDel, Mortal American Body, and T Street will vie for their chance at victory. Doors open at 7:30 PM, but tickets for finals usually sell out, so you’ll want to be there early!

While you’re waiting for the show to start, check out “REACH FOR THE SKY” by JakDel and follow them on Instagram!