It’s always nerve-wracking to get on stage.

Dustin Bushnell and crew played a hometown show this summer in Costa Mesa, Calif., to more than 10,000 people.

“It was crazy,” he says during a recent interview. “We are usually full of emotion for the first 10 minutes and then after that it’s smooth sailing. This time around, we had to be at our best for the entire show. We had family and friends watching.”

Bushnell is a member of the reggae outfit The Dirty Heads. The band formed in Huntington Beach, Calif., and has since released two albums. The current lineup includes Jared Watson, John Olazabal, Matt Ochoa, David Foral, Shawn Hagood.

Bushnell says the band started when he and Watson would record in his garage while still in high school back in the mid-1990s.

Though the band’s last album, “Cabin by the Sea,” released in 2012, still feels fresh, the band is gearing up to release a new album, “Phantoms of Summer,” on Oct.

29.

“It took us four years to release the last album,” he says. “This time we wanted to do an acoustic album, so we put together 10 tracks and made it work. The album flew by so fast because we didn’t have to record any drums for it. It’s amazing how that all worked out. We’re already looking forward to recording another full length.”

Bushnell says the band will be on tour for the next month that will take them to the United Kingdom. He says being on tour offers the band members the freedom to see new places and meet new people. Plus, they always take a piece of California culture with them.

“We always have our skateboards with us,” he says. “That’s the piece of home that we all bring with us. Once we get set up, we head on out.”