Actually, the “band of life” would be around the terminator, the direction of which would depend on the orientation of the axis against the plane of orbit (earth’s is 23.5 degrees). Any angle of axis at all would create “seasons” becaus the terminator would shift during its orbit around the star.
One question the articles haven’t answered: How did they conclude that there was a tidal lock? I doubt our telescopes have the resolution to reveal surface details.
Maybe it has something to do with how close this planet is to it's star.
You'll have to excuse the few here with, "flat earth" mentalities, that occasionally surface here. Clearly, if they can't imagine this, they are not fully equipped to even speculate on planetary life, and where that life might possibly exist.