OC Music Awards 2012: Headshine Realize Their Dreams With Chill, Acoustic “Cali” Rock

Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicks off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists will compete for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim. And, the voting is open now!

“ When we played the new record for the first time to a packed house full of good vibrations, it felt like we were home and Bob was smiling over us.
” RAS about his House Of Blues show with The Wailers “Life is short so I tend to write songs about making the most of it. Our first record Better Things was about soul searching. For a young band like us, paving your own path can be discouraging, but it feels worth it every time we see a new face at one of our shows singing along, or rockin’ one of our shirts,” says RAS from the positive, sunshine-laden acoustic reggae-rock band Headshine from Huntington Beach.

Obviously, Headshine is “making the most” of a good thing. After being nominated for Best Acoustic Band for the OC Music Awards last year, Headshine embarked on a massive tour around the country which culminated with a show with The Wailers, the iconic reggae-rocksteady band formed in the early ’60s by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer.

Last year, we likened Headshine to Ben Harper, Carlos Santana with their “latin grooves” and “seasoned reggae like Bob Marley,” so the pairing of the two bands seems meant to be.

“ It was humbling sharing the stage with a legendary band that we grew up listening to in high school.
” “Last month we opened for The Wailers in our home town at House of Blues Anaheim,” RAS elucidated. “It was humbling sharing the stage with a legendary band that we grew up listening to in high school.”

“We had come so far to get to that point, and when we played the new record for the first time to a packed house full of good vibrations, it felt like we were home and Bob was smiling over us.”

“Coming so far” for RAS and Headshine not only means musically, or as people, but literally. Especially after a grueling, but satisfying year of touring around the country.

RAS explained the trip from his home base on the “West Coast” to the “mountains” to the “Midwest.”

“I’ll never forget finishing a show in Vegas at 2am, getting four hours of sleep, then flooring it to Park City Utah where we had ten minutes to change our shirts, do sound check, then rock a show at 7,000 feet.”

During one tour experience, Headshine almost missed their show, but was spurred on by a radio jock while they were stuck in traffic.

“ We went from being stressed, to laughing, to flooring it...We missed our sound check but somehow managed to unload and set up in five minutes, which was a new record.
” “We had a couple beers after and crashed, then woke up four hours later and drove from Park City to Denver Colorado.”

“We hit some heavy traffic on our way into Denver and I remember looking at Jeff feeling bummed that we made it up the Rocky Mountains, but we’re gonna miss our show,” RAS elaborated.

“After a couple hours the traffic began to clear, and as we tuned into 93.3 FM, the DJ yelled out, ‘Headshine is playing tonight. Don’t miss this…Hurry up and get down here!’”

“We went from being stressed, to laughing, to flooring it,” RAS continued. “We missed our sound check but somehow managed to unload and set up in 5 minutes, which was a new record.”