Interview: Dirty Heads

Dustin “Duddy B” Bushnell learned a TikTok lesson awhile back when the Dirty Heads’ 2017 song “Vacation” became a viral sensation.

The guitarist/co-lead vocalist for the California reggae-influenced alt rock band thought nothing of it when he learned that a TikTok influencer had revived their #VacationTransition” that got the song its first exposure on the social media platform in 2019.

“I have a teenage daughter,” Bushnell said in a recent interview. “She was telling me, ‘Dad, your band is trending on TikTok.’ My response was 'So what?' A week later, my response was ‘That’s a really big deal.’”

How big of a deal?
 
Since #VacationTransistion went viral on TikTok, it has amassed more than 375 million streams and over 6 billion consumption plays across all social media, numbers pumped up by remixes from producers and an acoustic version of the track.

Not surprisingly, the “Vacation” explosion has impacted the Dirty Heads live performances.

“The energy at our shows has kind of always been the same,” Bushnell said. “We’ve still got that vibe. But I’ve definitely noticed groups of 13-year-old girls at the shows, that’s definitely from the TikTok thing, which is great.”

In fact, getting the TikTokers into the amphitheaters fits right into the veteran band’s biggest long-term goal.

“We really want to get in front of new audiences,” Bushnell said. “We want to get out with some different bands, as direct support, bands that you wouldn’t associate with us. We feel like if people get to hear us, they’re going to like it.”

The Dirty Heads figure to see quite a few fans this year as the band has begun adding to its schedule for spring and beyond.
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The show, Bushnell said, will include songs from across the eight albums the band has released since punk rocker Bushnell and his friend, rapper Jared “Dirty J” Watson got together in 2003 to collaborate on a project that, like many other groups at the time, would spin together rock, rap and reggae.

“Jared and I started the band 20 years ago, but even before that we were all really into reggae,” Bushnell said. “We’d go to stores and find records by Dennis Brown, Jimmy Cliff, Bunny Wailer. We loved the old reggae. When we started writing songs, it wasn’t like we tried to do it that way, it’s just how it came out.

“But one thing we’ve always told ourselves is ‘if we’re going to do reggae, we’re never going to do the fake Jamaican accent.”

The Dirty Heads’ live show will undoubtedly feature “Vacation” along with songs like “Lay Me Down,” “My Sweet Summer,” “That’s All I Need” and “Celebrate” – “You’ve got to play the hits,” Bushnell said.

But it will also let the band showcase songs from the group’s current companion albums, “Midnight Control” and “Midnight Control - Night Two” – the former of which features the Grammy-nominated Common Kings and Dirty Heads covering Joe Walsh’s 1978 hit “Life’s Been Good to Me.”

“I thought it would be fun to do a cover song, but do a cool classic song that nobody would think of us doing,” Bushnell said. “I've always been a fan of that song. I think the melody is cool and I love the lyrics. I took it to the guys and they were ‘that’s the one.'”

Dirty Heads infuse Walsh’s funny number about his rock star life with a reggae tinge and laid back So-Cal vibe, a perfect recipe for a summer hit, which it has been.

It’s likely to be a highlight of the show, which, Bushnell said, will be the best the band can deliver that night as they continue the two-decade musical journey.

“We toured for eight, nine years, in a van, driving around playing bars,” he said. “We always had this feeling this is going to work out. We still have that. We’re still having fun...After every show, we get together, on the bus or in the green room, and talk about what we can do to make the next one better. We still really care about the albums and the shows. We’re still concerned about quality. Maybe, if we lose that quality, we’ll take a break. But not now.”