Monterey, last year's Battle of the Bands winner, is reuniting to open this year's competition.
A couple of the eight-piece ska band's members are traveling long distances for the gig.
Singer-guitarist Jeff Evans and drummer Cordero Kingsley now attend Portland State University in Oregon and are flying back for the show.
Evans and singer-guitarist Jon Plaza, friends since the age of 9, had competed in the Battle of the Bands since 2006, when they entered a band called the Montazh. They were then finalists three years running - with their acoustic act, Jon and Jeff, in 2007 and 2008, and with Monterey in 2008 and 2009.
Monterey, which was formed around May 2007, also includes trombonist Phillip Valine, who is now a junior at the University of Arizona; trumpeter Dillon Mendez, a freshman at Pima Community College; trumpeter Zach Whitman, a senior at Palo Verde High School; bassist Derek Norman, who's at Portland State; and saxophonist Andrew McIntyre.
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McIntyre, who attends Tucson High Magnet School and studies jazz at the Tucson Jazz Institute, says winning the Battle of the Bands put the spotlight on Monterey.
"We got a lot more shows and a lot more recognition," McIntyre says. "This one time I was at Beaver's Band Box, and I met this guy who said, 'Aren't you in Monterey?' And I was like, 'Whoa, that was weird.' "
McIntyre says that after Monterey's battle win, the band landed gigs at a variety of venues, including The Living Room and The Westin La Paloma.
The Battle of the Bands will mark Monterey's first Tucson performance since September, when the group played a farewell show at the Dry River Collective. That gig doubled as its CD-release party.
Unfortunately, not everyone can make Friday's gig.
Bassist Norman won't be there. Neither will Plaza, who attends Marquette University in Milwaukee.
If you didn't get a CD in September, before the band members went their separate ways, don't worry. It's not too late. Monterey will sell its CD, "Chiminea Blowout," at the Battle of the Bands on Friday for $5.
