The Grateful Dead has had a major influence on the world of rock and roll as a pioneer of jam rock. They’ve also influenced a group of OH students to form a band: the Dirty Dead.
The Grateful Dead’s unique fusion of all kinds of rock, blues, jazz, and world music popularized rock as a genre and left room for creativity for future rock bands, like the Dirty Dead, to work with.
The footprint left in rock as a music genre is one to remember and honor, which is what several students at OH have been doing by creating a cover band to celebrate the Grateful Dead and their influence on rock music. But the creation happened by a happy accident.
“I feel like it was just at a certain point where we realized everybody likes listening to the Grateful Dead, and everybody plays an instrument,” said OH senior and band member Charlie DeCarlo. “So we thought, why not [start a band]?”
The band formed in late 2023, featuring the two DeCarlo brothers: OH senior Charlie DeCarlo and OH sophomore Sam DeCarlo. Together, they sing and play guitar.
Echoing his bandmates, Dirty Dead’s drummer and OH senior Finn Kelly said, “We were all friends and all liked the Grateful Dead, so, why not?”
Another one of the band’s drummers is OH senior Ian Ferrell, the keyboardist is OH senior Luke Nelson, and the technician is OH sophomore Ben Altschul. Together, they all work to recreate the Grateful Dead’s mood as a jam band, and they do so extremely well.
The band is supported and appreciated by many OH students, including regular show-goers like OH junior Nick Gallo, who said his main reason that he goes is that “all of the members are charismatic, so it feels like a better connection than just listening to some [generic] band.”
A recent show at Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora proved to be a success, showcasing the band’s signature cover songs from the Grateful Dead and engaged the audience with guitar and drum solos. I enjoyed the light show as an added bonus, but the band shines on their own.
Both sets are accessible on the band’s YouTube channel. Set One features some of my favorite jams from the band, and the setting from Two Brothers Roundhouse adds to the vibe. Set Two is another hour of rock and blues with their unique sound. The band gets the audience into the music, too, which is documented in the video recordings.
An upcoming performance at The Venue in Aurora on April 4 should be another great night of music from the Dirty Dead, showcasing the band’s jams as tributes to the original tracks.
The band is run in part by seniors, so there is some concern by fans that the end of the Dirty Dead is coming soon, but Charlie DeCarlo said that, although performances may become more rare, the Dirty Dead is not ending after the seniors graduate and move on past their lives together at Oswego High School.
“I think we could always get back together in the summer, and get stuff lined up for spring and summer break,” said Charlie De Carlo. “Nobody’s gonna go far enough [away] that we can’t make it work.”
That kind of dedication is part of what makes this band unique: their dedication to the music, and each other, makes for some sweet sounds.
For anybody interested in the Dirty Dead, the band’s official Instagram page, @dirty.dead.band, where they announce their performances, and they perform weekly or bi-weekly in venues that usually do not have paid entry.
howdy ho, this is matt. i am a senior at oswego high school, i like hanging out my friends, parakeets, and fortnite.
