Head Wide Open Takes Top Honors in Irvine’s Battle of the Bands

Six local high school bands — Pelargoniums, 25 After Midnight, Eastla, Chaos Theory, Groundwire, and Head Wide Open — took the stage at the Heritage Park Community Center on April 11th in a long-anticipated reboot of Irvine’s annual Battle of the Bands competition, which had been suspended from 2020 through 2024 due to the Covid pandemic and other organizational challenges.

The three-hour competition was loud and intense, and when the dust settled, Head Wide Open took home the top award after delivering an energy-packed and musically sophisticated performance that elicited fervent head-banging, frenetic jumping, and enthusiastic cheering from the teens and adults in the audience.
 
The four members of Head Wide Open — occasionally stylized as HWO — are Connor Paxton (drums), Ben Agran (guitar, bass & vocals), Christian Liang (guitar & bass), and Deven Dhanidina (guitar & bass). Paxton, who is in 11th grade at Legacy Magnet Academy in Tustin, is the oldest member of the group, while Agran (10th grade), Liang (9th grade), and Dhanidina (8th grade) are all students in the Popular Music Conservatory at the Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) in Santa Ana.
 
The quartet connected initially through School of Rock and decided to form their own band about a year ago. “At our first couple of meetings,” Agran recalled, “we tried to figure out what kind of music inspired us, without limiting ourselves to a particular genre like grunge, metal, or classic rock. We all wanted to create bold and inventive music that would just blow your mind.  And that’s what our name — Head Wide Open — is all about.”

At the Battle of the Bands competition, the group began with an original song, “Face of Fear,” then transitioned straight into an adrenaline-fueled rendition of “Even Flow,” a Pearl Jam classic. Next, they performed another original, “Three Years,” which Agran described on stage as a song written by Paxton about “losing someone close to you and trying to regain the relationship.” The band softened the tone in their fourth song, a cover of the ska-punk and reggae-influenced “Santeria” by Sublime, which sent teens and adults alike surging forward to the stage as Liang (on bass) and Dhanidina (on guitar) played the familiar first notes while Agran belted out the lyrics. Next up was the band’s electrifying version of “Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz, with the audience, urged on by Agran, clapping to the beat for more than three minutes straight. Head Wide Open closed out their set with another catchy original, “Hell and Back,” performed publicly for the first time. The audience — mesmerized by a pulsating rhythm, aggressive but carefully layered instrumentals, and the intimate lyricism of the opening verse (“Hey, are you listening?  Do you hear my voice when I’m talking to you?  Hey, when we’re kissing, do you feel anything inside?”) — quickly matched the band’s own passion and energy, unleashing a crescendo of clapping, jumping, and head-banging that didn’t subside until long after the final note was played.

The members of Head Wide Open are humble about their victory, complimentary toward the other great bands who competed (including Groundwire, the runner-up), and grateful for the opportunity to share their musical talent and creativity with crowds that have grown larger with each performance. They’re especially proud of the fact that the Battle of the Bands event — organized by Irvine’s Youth Action Team and designed as a benefit concert for the American Cancer Society — raised about $10,000 for cancer research, treatment, and care. “There’s nothing better than doing what we love for a great cause,” said Dhanidina.
 
With their victory, Head Wide Open landed a 25-minute slot (6:00 to 6:25 pm) on May 3 at Great Park Live, opening for the bands that will be performing later that night. Asked what they’re planning for the big stage, Liang said: “We like to mix things up so that no two performances are the same, but we’ll probably follow the game-plan that worked so well at Battle of the Bands: familiar rock classics and a few of our original songs that everyone seems to enjoy.”  To purchase tickets to the May 3rd performance at Great Park Live, click here.
 
Asked where the band hopes to be in a few years, Paxton said: “We’d love to put out a couple of albums and maybe even headline a tour. We dream big, and we’re working hard to make those dreams come true.”
 
Follow Head Wide Open on Instagram: @headwideopenband