Dirty Heads Clean Up in Sacramento

Dirty Heads
Ace of Spades, Sacramento
November 12, 2016

All photos by Paul Piazza.

The Dirty Heads have been playing sunny, hip-hop flavored, West Coast reggae-style jams for nearly two decades. Vocalist Jared Watson and guitarist/vocalist Dustin “Duddy B” Bushnell started out as a pair of friends who wrote whacked-out, stream of consciousness, hip-hop influenced stoner beach music. Over time, they have branched out to become a solid five piece touring machine who write excellent melodies with a catchy chorus. They popularity has grown to the point that they’ve become a top-tier headliner on the reggae festival circuit.

They recently rolled into Sacramento’s Ace of Spades, at the end of a tour in support of their latest, self-titled album. The new record, simply called Dirty Heads, has expanded upon their sound reggae-fused hip-hop sound with an array of pop influences and structures, while still retaining their core sound.

The band bounded onto the stage with the type of goofy energy that endears them to their fanbase. They played a set that infused new songs with many of their big hits including “Lay Me Down” and “Spread Too Thin.” Boldly, they closed with a three song encore that included two new tracks “That’s All I Need” and “Oxygen.”

New Beat Fund

Opening the show were New Beat Fund and RDGLDGRN. New Beat Fund, who call their style G-Punk, were a high-energy band who played a fun cover that combined Sublime’s “Caress Me Down” with The Misfits “Last Caress.” RDGLDGRN hail from Virginia and infuse the D.C GO GO sound with punk, hip-hop and world influences.