When The Dirty Heads are on the road, the music they listen to is quite diverse.
“You could hear anything from Lil’ Wayne to dubstep to Queens of the Stone Age to MUTEMATH. It’s very eclectic,” Jared “Dirty J” Watson, one of the band’s’ vocalists, says.
They don’t only listen to multiple genres of music. In just one Dirty Heads’ song some reggae, rock, hip-hop, punk, and even southern vibes may be heard.
“When I’m home, though,” Watson shares, “I barely listen to any music. If I do, it’s classical.”
With everything that The Dirty Heads have coming up in the next few months, it’s safe to say that there won’t be much time for classical music. The band’s sophomore album, Cabin by the Sea, was released on June 19th. With switching to a new label and gaining such popularity since their debut album, Any Port in a Storm, some differences in their sound were inevitable.
“With the first album, we were these eighteen year old kids who thought we knew everything. Over the years you grow and you realize, so this time everything was a lot different,” Watson explains.
Since it had been so long since they recorded, not only had the band matured, but they were more than eager to get to work.
“We got in the studio and we were bangin’ out songs. We started with maybe thirty ideas and had to narrow it down to sixteen,” says Watson.
As far as the sound that Dirty Heads’ fans know and love goes, Cabin by the Sea showcases it perfectly.
“I think we nailed it this time on what we really sound like,” Watson states with pride, “I think we found our sound throughout all the playing live, recording, and the whole Any Port in a Storm cycle.”
The new album has many tracks such as “Burn By Myself” and “Spread Too Thin” that showcase the mellow Dirty Heads music that the band has become known for. “Smoke Rings,” although different from most of the other tracks, still has the pure Dirty Heads sound and is an instant favorite.
“We’ve written out a whole piece of artwork,” says Watson. “We’ve built this cabin by the sea, we’ve built this album from the ground up and it’s kind of this place where you can go in your mind that you can get away from everything. When things are going bad you hit play and we’ll bring you to our cabin by the sea.”
All summer, The Dirty Heads will be touring the US and Canada, making a stop to play Radio 104.5’s July 7th free summer block party.
“Philly shows are bonkers! I have no doubt in my mind that it’s gonna be great,” says Watson. “They say we have a show in Philly and we all immediately get pumped. Not to mention that there’s a couple good skate spots up there.”
The Dirty Heads are waiting with great anticipation to play some new songs this July, so make sure you check out Cabin by the Sea and stop by the Piazza for their upcoming free show.
by Emily Meenan
Photos by Rene Cervantes
