From a musical perspective, rootsy rockers John Q. of St. Petersburg don't have much in common with Jimmy Buffett -- aside from the fact that they both live in Florida, of course.

But it seems fans of Buffett's beer, Land Shark Lager, have taken a shine to John Q. The band recently entered a nationwide Battle of the Bands called Land Shark Rocks, and they did so well in the opening rounds of voting that they reached the top 12 nationally (out of more than 360 bands).

As a result, John Q. is heading to Chicago this week for the regional finals, where they'll play alongside 17 Candle (from Iowa), Facing Forward (Illinois) and Chester Bay (Minnesota). All four bands will play a show at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Double Door. (If you're in the neighborhood, the show is free, but you have to RSVP here.)

The performances will be filmed, and one song from each band (as well as bands in two other regions) will be posted at landsharkrocks.com for the final round of voting, which runs from Oct. 23 to Nov. 23. "We will need all the help we can get once the voting starts back up," said bassist Scott McAtasney.

What's at stake for the former Soundcheck Artist of the Day? A prize pack worth more than $100,000, including a full-page ad in Rolling Stone, digital distribution deal, a new Rhapsody artist page, banner ads on rollingstone.com and rhapsody.com and more. So yeah, it's a pretty sweet deal.

Keep tabs here and at John Q.'s Web site to see how you can vote for these hometown dudes. And click here to listen to John Q.'s Brushfire.

-- Jay Cridlin, tbt*