It’s time to meet the Final 4 in the 2026 edition of The Arizona Republic online-only Battle of the Bands, a March Madness bracket-style poll.
The winners of this round advance to the championship round.
The winner of that round will be featured in a USA TODAY Network Acoustic mini-concert filmed at The Republic.
The contest started with an online poll that featured 60 artists on a ballot that encouraged write-in voting. The top 14 vote-getters and two write-in candidates moved on to the first round of our bracket poll.
Two of the artists of the Final 4 – The Rebel Set and Prince Mirth – entered the poll as write-in candidates. The Rebel Set will now face off against Prince Mirth with Victoria Bigelow facing off against The Joeys.
Vote for the Final 4 in Battle of the Bands Round 3
Voting closes at
9:59 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25.
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Victoria Bigelow
This singer-songwriter is based in Phoenix but was raised in Marietta, Georgia, where her mom brought home a $10 guitar on Bigelow’s 12th birthday. By the next day, she’d written her first song, which I suspect is not the song that led to those eventual comparisons to Weyes Blood, Angel Olsen and/or Mazzy Star. Her breakthrough single, a breathtaking ballad called “Low,” has been streamed more 7 million times on Spotify.
The Joeys
There are times when the Southwestern twang at the heart of the Joeys’ new EP, “Sonoran Dreams,” invites you to imagine an aspiring rockabilly trio of the 1950s. Other highlights sound like they were written on the way home from a Sergio Leone film fest. There’s even a suitably swaggering cover of the Elvis Presley ballad “Love Me.” One thing you won’t find is the slightest indication that the kid supplying all those tasty lead-guitar licks on a hollow-body Gretsch Chet Atkins model is just barely old enough to drink.
Prince Mirth
As it says on their website, “Prince Mirth is what happens when noisy indie rock grows a sense of humor and a desert soul.” Highlight of their new release, “We Three Or Four,” is range from an opening track, “Sometimes a Thief,” that finds their singer emoting his way through the anthemic chorus in a soulful rasp like a Southwestern Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen, to the haunting desert vibe of acoustic-guitar-driven “No Love in Vain” and the majestic “Gloriana.”
The Rebel Set
Singer-guitarist Joe Zimmerman formed an early version of The Rebel Set in 2006. Their latest album, “Bummer City,” is a master class in the sort of reverb-drenched guitar twang that took the late Duane Eddy from humble beginnings in Phoenix to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and raw 1960s garage punk that should speak directly to fans of Billy Childish and the Mummies with Katey Wilkins adding to the magic on Farfisa.
So how did we get here?
Readers were given a choice of 60 candidates in that initial poll, which may seem a lot of names; yet it barely scratched the surface of our vibrant local music scene, so much so that a number of my favorite bands were not included.
That’s why we reserved two spots for write-in candidates in this round of our Battle of the Bands. Those write-in candidates are Prince Mirth and The Rebel Set. JAM Now and Kregg also earned a respectable number of write-in votes.
Maybe next year we can start with even more names on the ballot. I know I would like that.
How we assembled that list of 60 names on the initial ballot
This is how we came up with that list of 60 names that started this process.
We reached out to DJs known to celebrate the local scene at KWSS-FM and ALT AZ for nominations. We also checked in with a couple club owners to see if they had any thoughts on who should be included, which they did.
We also did our best to include the most popular bands in town. But only within reason.
You may notice that a number of the most beloved bands in metro Phoenix aren’t included on this ballot.
That’s because when we assembled that initial list, we ruled out acts whose popularity is such that while we do reserve the right to take great pride in their success, it could be argued that their fame transcends the concept of what people mean when they say local music.
This is why Jimmy Eat World, The Maine, and Authority Zero to name a few, are nowhere to be found. It could be argued that a few acts on this list are awfully close to being in that category. Judgement calls were made.
We also did our best not to include musicians or bands who moved away after getting their start on local stages, although a few bands did sneak through because we didn’t know they’d moved. We knew Robin Wilson, Jesse Valenzuela, Nate Reuss and Jim Dalton don't live here. So The Format, Gin Blossoms and Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers all had two reasons not to be included on the ballot.
Artists averaging just one show a year were also not included. You had to be at least a little active.
Ed has covered pop music for The Republic since 2007, reviewing festivals and concerts, interviewing legends, covering the local scene and more. He did the same in Pittsburgh for more than a decade. Follow him on X and Instagram @edmasley and on Facebook as Ed Masley. Email him at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Who's the best local band in Phoenix? Vote now on the Final 4
