There is potential for incredible confusion Friday: Band of Annuals, from Salt Lake City, performs at the Urban Lounge on Friday. Annuals, from North Carolina, perform at Kilby Court on Friday.

Confusion about the name arrived early in both bands' careers -- BOA originally was known as the Annuals -- but the groups worked it out. "We had chatted a little bit in the past and had always been on friendly terms," said Jeremi Hanson, keyboardist and harmony vocalist for BOA.

"They conceded the name," said Annuals bassist Mike Robinson. "We knew about each other," said Adam Baker, Annuals singer and songwriter. "Maybe they were looking for a reason to change their name. They were sweet about it."

Now that the name change has been negotiated amicably, it is up to each band tonight, on the battleground of Salt Lake City, to show which is the best band in the world to have the word "Annuals" in the name.

Annuals » Baker is the exception to the rule that you must have an awful upbringing to be an artist.

"I had a f------ awesome childhood," he said. "You grow up and it starts sucking."

Baker created the band in his home state of North Carolina in 2003, and it grew into a six-piece indie-rock band that owes a serious debt to the sun-drenched melody and sounds of the Beach Boys. The band's first album, "Be He Me," released in 2006, was an unexpected critical and commercial success. "There's a sense of pride," Robinson said. "We didn't expect it to go as far as it did."

Then the pressures of writing the all-important sophomore album arrived. "The first album was done in a different climate," Baker said. "With the second one, you know people were going to be dissecting it."

Released in 2008, "Such Fun" was a more sprawling album, with an injection of country as well as chamber pop that makes the quintet sound like a symphony at times.

It was an impressive follow-up for a band in which most of the members are under 25.

Band of Annuals » The popular local alt-country band has had a dizzying year, touring beyond the comfortable confines of Idaho and Utah by performing on both coasts.

One of the highlights, said guitarist Jamie Timm, was an opening gig in Seattle for Minus 5, a band that included R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and R.E.M.'s touring guitarist Scott McCaughey. "They still remembered what it was like to be at our level," Timm said.

Another highlight was jamming with Neil Young in Little Rock, Ark., said Brent Dreiling, pedal-steel guitarist.

Now that the band's 2007 "Let Me Live" has sold a very respectable 3,000 copies, the band is working on a full-length follow-up. "We are trying to push ourselves creatively and as musicians with the new album," Timm said. "The songs will always sound like BOA, but they might be a little different." The release date will probably be at the end of 2009.

Meanwhile, the tour warriors will be playing at one their favorite places tonight. "Urban Lounge has become our home over the last few years," Dreiling said.

The band is now becoming big enough that any future band-name changes should be over. Or …

"It was just funny how when we finally changed our name, Band of Horses blew up," Hanson said. "Oh, well."