Darien Rockers’ Band Wins Contest, Recording Session

The Dead Hands, a bluesy alternative-rock band with half of its members hailing from Darien, has been named the winner of WGN TV’s “Rock and Roll Breakthrough Band Contest,” scoring a studio-recording package worth $10,000.

According to the Herald-News, the band—Jason “Bassy” Gerren and Brett Lee, both of Darien, along with Jason Newcomb of Plainfield and Willard J. Wilcox of Joliet—will record their first professional EP at Chicago’s I.V. Labs in September, four years after the quartet of 20-somethings began playing together.

“Once we get the CD out, we think it will have a lot more exposure, just from winning the competition,” guitarist-singer Wilcox told the paper. “We play from our heart and soul. Our name, The Dead Hands, means that we will never stop playing music until our hands die.”

The band also won an acoustic guitar in the contest, the paper said.

The music video for the band’s song “Grind Your Teeth” can be viewed above or here on Vimeo. More information about The Dead Hands is also available at their Facebook page.

Read more at the Herald-News website and watch interviews with the band at the WGN TV website.