Dayton Battle of the Bands finale is today
Musical diversity has been part of the DNA of Dayton Battle of the Bands since it began in January 2020. True to form the finals of this year’s competition at The Brightside in Dayton on Saturday, features a diverse array of local artists competing for a grand prize package. Past winners are folk duo the Katawicks, rock outfit Bohemian Funk and jazz band Crabswithoutlegs.
“We really do try to make it diverse,” event organizer Libby Ballengee said. “Having different genres gives it more variety. The biggest thing we’re trying to do is cultivate musical curiosity. It’s really hard to get people to go see a band they don’t recognize whether it’s a national act or it’s their buddy’s band. To just go out and see music they don’t know and experience it for the first time live takes a lot of courage for the audience. The fact that so many people come out each week and for the finale really warms my heart.”
This year’s finalists are singer-songwriter Austin Wolfe, pop-rock group the Bruins, R&B singer MelinaMarie, progressive funk-rock act Freakquency, hard rockers Sheller and bluegrass band the Shady Pine.
“It should be a good finale this year,” Ballengee said. “Most of the bands that participated were new to me. That was cool because I got to check out all the bands during the rounds and was pleasantly surprised. A couple of weeks I was like, ‘I hope these bands are good.’ It’s hard to tell from one good sample song. I was really pleased with the rounds themselves. Obviously having strong playoff rounds leads to a strong finale. I’m really excited for it.”
The fourth installment of the event, which began weekly rounds on Thursday Jan. 18, recently wrapped up six weeks of preliminary competition in The Brightside’s intimate Vod-Vil Bar. The finals are in the venue’s larger ballroom space.
“We really had a solidly great turnout every single week,” Ballengee said. “One of our rounds that has been traditionally lower turnouts was one of our biggest weeks this year, the hip-hop and R&B week. That night was absolutely bonkers. It was crazy how many people were there. The first time we did the Battle of the Bands there were like 35 people for hip-hop.
“To see that grow has been great but it’s been great to see them all grow,” Ballengee said. “Singer-songwriter is typically a hard genre to get people out for and we had a very full room for that one. Every week was a really, really strong turnout and the audiences were so respectful.”
The winner of the 2024 competition receives a $1,000 cash prize, an opportunity to perform at Levitt Pavilion during the upcoming summer season, 50 custom t-shirts from Little Monster Printing and a free EP recording session at Dayton Sound Studios.
All acts participating in the Battle of the Bands get professional live photos by Jordan Lynn Freshour Photography. All finalists receive a live performance video filmed and produced by Sound Valley’s Ashley Karsten.
“A lot of these bands don’t have great photography to get other gigs,” Ballengee said. “The photos Jordan does are really one of the main prizes all the bands get for participating. The finalists all get a professional video from Ashley. This year Dayton Sound Studios is going to master the audio for those bands, so they’ll have one really nice, professional video to send out to bookers and everyone.
“They also get a Levitt Pavilion spot. The prizes are really geared toward that same spirit of helping them get to the next level as far as helping them start to get merch, get new fans and get an album out there.”