Dirty Heads

Reggae rock group the Dirty Heads assembled in Huntington Beach, California in 2006 and released their debut album two years later. Initially the brainchild of Jared "Dirty J" Watson and vocalist/guitarist Dustin "Duddy B" Bushnell, who had met at a high school party in Orange County in 2003 and bonded over their love of reggae and ska, the first incarnation of the band came to light that year in the form of an acoustic trio with percussionist Jon Olazabal. After bassist David Foral joined in 2006, the newly formed unit enlisted the production know-how of Rob Cavallo and headed into the studio to record their first album for Warner Bros. However, creative differences forced them to cut ties with the label and they hooked up with producers Steve Fox and Stan Frazier (drummer from Sugar Ray), who set about completing the debut. With its relaxed, island-powered charm setting the tone for their rest of their career, Any Port in a Storm arrived in 2008, with a deluxe edition in 2010 containing the "Lay Me Down" track with Rome Ramirez of Sublime with Rome. The song became one of the band's most successful singles, rising to number one on the Alternative chart where it stuck around for more than 10 weeks. Their second studio album, Cabin by the Sea, landed in 2012, yielding a single in "Spread Too Thin" and featuring the likes of Del the Funky Homosapien ("Smoke Rings") and Rome Ramirez ("Mongo Push"). An acoustic version of the LP's title track charted on the Billboard 200 the following year, and the band also released 11-track acoustic album, Home – Phantoms of Summer, in 2013. They headed off in a poppier direction for their fourth album and the risk paid off; 2014's Sound of Change debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200. The first single, "All I Need," from their fifth, self-titled album of 2016 was released to mark the annual marijuana celebration 4/20. Sixth studio album, Swim Team, dropped in 2017 and for their seventh full-length offering, they took a trip to Nashville to record the album live in the same room to tape in Studio A in the old RCA building where Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley recorded much of their oeuvre. In 2021, they collected some of the best moments on their career on greatest hits compilation The Best of Dirty Heads, which featured new collaborations with Travis Barker of Blink-182, and Aimee Allen of The Interrupters. Channelling their trademark positive energy into a new single, "Life's Been Good" emerged in 2022.

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