Very Last Resort, Stone Bridge’s favorite teenage indie rock/alt band, performed in Jammin’ Java’s 30th Battle of the Bands on Feb. 21. After competing against five other groups, members Ian Crittenden, Houston Johnson, Keelyn Anderson, Vincent Dicaro, and Gabriel Berentzen took home the win with a check of a whopping $2,000.

Jammin’ Java, a live music venue in Vienna, Virginia, hosts an annual Battle of the Bands. Spanning five days, Jammin’ Java invites bands of any kind to participate, regardless of age or experience, to see who can put on the best performance. While this is an exciting opportunity, entering the “battle” field wasn’t this band’s initial goal. 

“We were originally trying to get an opening slot [to perform] at Jammin’ Java,” senior and lead vocalist Keelyn Anderson said. “They said they didn’t have many openings, but they had a Battle of the Bands coming up, so we decided to participate in that. We ended up being the youngest band there; there were no other high school bands, just mostly 20 to 25 year olds.”

In order to make it to the final round, bands must pass through one of four preliminary rounds that took place in January against about seven other bands. However, two lucky bands can be picked as “Wild Cards”: talented and promising bands that the judges believe deserve to move forward alongside preliminary winners. Very Last Resort, to no one’s surprise but theirs, was one of those two standout picks. 

“We had no idea we were going to be selected as a Wild Card,” senior and foundational guitarist Ian Crittenden said. “So after we didn’t win the first round, we just figured that we were done. We felt fine about that, though, the preliminary round was pretty fun, and we went up against some tough competition. So, naturally, when we were invited to the final we never really let ourselves think that we had a chance.”

Despite their doubt in winning, Very Last Resort wasn’t ready to give up the energy and quality that is consistent throughout each of their shows. They prepared for about three weeks before the competition and worked through balancing their other commitments in order to produce a quality set. 

“We put a lot of thought into what our setlist should look like and for our second round we settled with playing only original material,” Crittenden said. “We believed this would show off our capabilities the best.”

By chance, Very Last Resort ended up being the very last performance of the night. Despite that being quite serendipitous, performing last can initially be seen as a downside- band members have more time to sit in their stress and the anxiety of performing. Also judges, as well as the band members themselves, can become musically tired by the time the 10:15 PM slot comes around. Fortunately, this was no setback: Very Last Resort was able to perform both exceptional music and an energetic show with light choreography and crowd interaction.

“As we got closer to the time and later into the evening I was worried about our collective presence with how tired we were talking about being before we even got on stage,” Liberty University freshman and lead guitarist Houston Johnson said. “Before performing I thought we had a relatively equal chance, but when we got to the venue and got through a couple sets it began to grow on me that we might have more than a good chance to come away on top. When they called us [as the winners], I was incredibly taken back in surprise and excitement.”

Along with their impressive cash prize, the band received a day’s worth of recording time at a professional studio, discounts at a guitar repair shop, and, to come full circle, a headlining show at Jammin’ Java. Just from the exposure, “Very Last Resort” has gained many new listeners and followers and are planning to make themselves the very first resort when fans are in need of some energetic tunes to listen to. 

“Now a lot of people know our name,” Anderson said. “We’re just excited to get our headlining show, that’s going to be a really good experience. We have a few new songs in the works, so we’re trying to get an EP out, hopefully by this summer. Stay tuned: we’re definitely going to use that studio.”

To stay updated on the band’s future performances and projects, visit their website verylastresort.com.