We’re down to eight local artists in the running as we move on to the second round in The Arizona Republic’s online-only Battle of the Bands for 2026.
It’s a March Madness bracket-style poll where the remaining eight artists are paired off into four individual battles and the winners of those battles advance to Round 3, which will, in turn, determine the two finalists.
The eventual winner of the final round will be featured in a USA TODAY Network Acoustic mini-concert filmed at The Arizona Republic.
This entire process 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 Battle of the Bands.
Mesa indie greats Bethany
Home won that first poll with 25.5% of the vote, advancing to the first round of our Battle of the Bands, where write-in candidates The Rebel Set managed to bring in more votes.
For Round 2, we've included a short description of each artist.
Vote in Battle of the Bands Round 2 here
Voting closes at 9:59 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 18.
AJJ
Originally known as Andrew Jackson Jihad, these Phoenix folk-punk legends are currently touring the States in support of the just-released “Dirty Old Power,” their much-anticipated follow-up to “Disposable Everything.” In keeping with AJJ tradition, their ninth album finds singer-songwriter Sean Bonnette responding to a world gone mad around him with the darkly comic observations you’d expect after setting the tone with a practically Lennon-esque reminder that what we really need right now is some rarely experienced beauty and truth.
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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 Black Moods
These Tempe rockers landed four songs from 2020’s "Sunshine," in the Billboard mainstream rock Top 40. That's the most Top 40 entries any album by a Valley act has managed on that chart since Gin Blossoms' quadruple-platinum breakthrough with "New Miserable Experience." This year’s “Time Bomb” is their sixth Top 40 entry on that chart and much like those earlier singles, it’s mostly a matter of filtering seemingly effortless pop sensibilities and commanding guitar riffs through the radio-ready vocals of Josh Kennedy, who’s rarely sounded better.
Good Boy Daisy
Identical twin sisters from Scottsdale, Hallie and Dylinn Mayes have more than 141,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, recently completed their first tour as headliners and sold out Valley Bar. In 2021, they were chosen as one of 100 Bands You Need to Know in Alternative Press. Their new album, “Blitz,” is a winning collection of contagious alt-pop gems with personality and attitude to spare, from a funky opener with a singalong chorus who opening line is “If you're not a supermodel, super I'm not that interested” to the vulnerability of the album-closing ballad, “Is This My Life?”
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.
Sydney Sprague
When trend-setting music enthusiast Anthony Fantano shared Five Hidden Gems of the 2020s (So Far) on The Needle Drop in early 2025, he included “maybe i will see you at the end of the world,” Sprague’s acclaimed debut. The Arizona Republic also had nothing but praise for that one, saying she spoke “directly to the emotional minefield of life … while channeling the spirit and sound of such '90s alternative icons as Veruca Salt and Juliana Hatfield.” And she’s still doing everything she does so well two albums later, on 2025’s “Peak Experience.”
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.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Make your Battle of the Bands picks. Meet the Phoenix Elite 8
