SAFFORD — It seemed the stars were aligned against Plane Jane.
To perform at the 20th Battle of the Bands Saturday at Graham County Fairgrounds, the band had to travel from the Show Low area to Graham County, only to find a portion of U.S. Highway 60 closed due to the Flying V fire.
Instead of calling it a day, the band doubled back and traveled through Springerville, Morenci and Clifton to arrive just in time to play.
However, the band’s guitarist wasn’t able to make it, forcing Tyler King to play lead guitar in addition to her duties on vocals.
Now a trio, King, bassist Manuel Gonzalez and drummer Gean Garcia gave an impassioned performance, that was so impressive two of the three Battle of the Bands judges got out of their seats and made their way to the front of the stage to watch the set.
So it was no wonder the judges award Plane Jane the top prize of $2,000 at the 2023 Battle of the Bands.
“It’s a testament to our work,” Garcia said. “These two work really hard to do this.”
The judges also named King the best vocalist on the day, earning her a Trophies N’ Tees plaque and $100 gift card to Richard’s Music. King said she didn’t realize her performance stood out.
“I guess I was just thinking about all the notes I was missing,” King said. “I was just trying to get it right.”
The second-place trophy and a $500 gift card to Richard’s Music went to Tucson’s Znora, who performed two originals written by guitarist and singer Adrian Negrete and one cover.
“It was crazy man. I love doing live shows and live stuff for people,” Negrete said, who also won a plaque and $100 Richard’s Music gift card for winning the Jim Aker Memorial Best Guitarist award.
Znora is a trio made up of Negrete, 17, drummer Joshua Montano, 19, and bassist Johnathon Rhodey, 15.
Third place of a plaque and a $300 gift card to Richard’s Music went to Safford’s Happy and the Ghosts, made up of guitarist and singer Jace Hughes, keyboardist and singer Zaylie Windsor — who won the 2023 Gila Idol singing competition — bassist and singer Marie Nicholson and drummer Josh Nicholson.
“Some of the bands that we heard earlier, that were amazing, made me more excited to play music,” Marie Nicholson said. “It’s like a community thing; you hear other people and all that music and it makes you want to join in.”
Adrian Thomas of One Way Sky, a four-piece band from the Gila River Indian Nation, won an individual award for the second year in a row. Last year he was named best vocalist and this year he took the plaque and a $100 gift card to Richard’s Music for best specialty instrument for his performance with the Native American flute.
The plaque and $100 Richard’s Music gift card for best bassist went to Vincent Merino of Farquaad, and the plaque and $100 Richard’s Music gift card for best drummer was awarded to Antonio Vasquez of Crown Syndicate.
The event was also a fund-raiser for a number of local groups. Safford Rotary Club sold five-cent hot dogs — selling out of 1,200 — as well as bratwurst, nachos, pickles and soft drinks; SEACUS sold Budweiser products to help fund its Meals on Wheels program for homebound seniors; and Mt. Graham Little League raised funds to sent both Majors and Minors all-star teams to the state tournaments.
Kempton Chevrolet sponsored the stage; Joe’s Ride and Dine provided the hot dogs for Safford Rotary; and sponsors for Battle of the Bands included Freeport-McMoRan; Richard’s Music; Swire Coca-Cola; Trophies N’ Tees; Bud Light; NEXLVL; Sparklight; Mack’s Auto Supply/Napa; Audio Visions; and the Double R Communications family of radio stations, Kat Kountry 94.5, Sunny 102.3 and KATO AM 1230.
