Battle of the Bands gave students more than a chance to listen to free music; students engaged in picking the crowd’s favorite and determined who the best band was.
The free student-only event, hosted by the Utah Tech Student Association, was part of kick-off week and was the first Wednesday activity of the semester.
Five bands performed for a 10-minute set, being judged by a panel of faculty to be scored at the end of the night. There were two awards given. One was for the crowd’s favorite, voted by the students, and it was awarded to Dopamine Crash.
The other prize was the winner of the battle, with a cash prize of $300 and a performance slot at this spring’s Live and Local. The winner was Black Cat Parade.
Aside from live music from the bands, there was a soda bar for students to indulge in and a pop-up booth from Rock House Records, a local record shop in St. George.
UTSA was also holding raffles for students to participate in, which included winning a Fender guitar, a record player and disposable cameras.
The bands that performed were:
Just Girls
The band’s motto for performing during Battle of the Bands was to just go out. This three-person band, based in St. George, gave it their all as the opening act with high energy and an alternative music vibe. Even though they didn’t know what to expect, they wanted to go out and have fun.
Jayson Haslan, guitarist for Just Girls, said, “I just threw everything we had into two songs, and then left them [crowd] wanting more.”
Sober and Lush
Sober and Lush is the newest formed band, and they’ve only existed for six months. Ieshua Ramirez, a sophomore criminal justice major from St. George, was inspired to play rock music from the ’70s and ’80s. The four-person band loves to come together and reintroduce audiences to their favorite genre of music.
Though they are new to performing, the band enjoys getting together and rediscovering music to play.
Ramirez said, “I think we are all in agreeance that [rock music] was the best era of music, so we kind of want to bring that style back.”
Vernon Worthen
Vernon Worthen is not new to performing at Utah Tech University. They performed at the 2025 spring Live and Local event. Kellon Packer, a St. George native, knows how important live music and these kinds of events are for smaller bands.
Packer said, “This [event] gives people a sense of motivation, and it gets people recognition.”
Packer decided to perform again at Utah Tech because of the good energy and people who attended Live and Local.
Black Cat Parade
Black Cat Parade is a Cedar City band with four members and has been creating and performing music for three years.
The band opened with an original song called “The Lonely Ones.” When they play shows, the band loves the way the audience reacts. They ended with “Elephant” by Tame Impala.
Ethan Bullock, guitarist for Black Cat Parade, said: “We just wanted to make it [the setlist] different. I wanted to show as much range as we could in two songs, kind of polar opposites but similar enough to be cohesive.”
Dopamine Crash
This female-dominant band showed the crowd they were not messing around, as they were voted crowd favorite. Dopamine Crash, based in Cedar City, are students attending Southern Utah University. This four-member band was formed from their love of music.
Kaylin deLespinasse, lead guitarist, said, “We work together really well and we can just be ourselves and have fun.”
Being the last band to perform, they were excited to feel the energy from the crowd.
deLespinasse said, “I crave making music and playing music, so I’m just so grateful that I have these girls so I can express that.”
