From Boulder Backyards to National Tours: Feast on The Dirty Turkeys
This untamed Boulder bred-band channels their primal energy at every show, no matter the size of the stage. From jumping off PA systems in Alaska to crowd-surfing mosh pits back home in Colorado, chaos and freedom fuel The Dirty Turkeys’ groundbreaking sound. The self-taught four-piece, Ty Tullar (drummer), Sam Baker (bass), and brothers Justin (guitar) and Bradley Hanson (vocalist), radiate a true soul connection that only strengthens each time they perform.
Their Turkey Tour 2025 marks a month-long sprint of ‘acid cow punk’, a term coined by the band back in 2022. Merging western twang, acid rock, and surf punk, The Dirty Turkeys carved their own unique sound, putting Boulder, Colorado on the map. From late-night basement jam sessions to national tours, the band represents the bestial funk and audacious experimentation that defines the local music scene. Their debut album Cowboy Caravan delivers unhinged songs like “Red Dog” and “Undercover Billionaire” both reflecting their unpredictable and versatile style. Now, their upcoming sophomore album Soul Suga promises to be a culmination of minds and lived chaos. With singles dropping in the months leading up to the release, Soul Suga captures the band's nontraditional approach to creation.
I sat down with The Dirty Turkey’s to talk authenticity, ambition, and how they turned Boulder chaos into a national movement. Stay connected with their upcoming releases as they prepare to drop their sophomore album ‘Soul Suga’ https://thedirtyturkeys.com/
What inspired your band name The Dirty Turkeys?
“I was a freshman in college, my roommate knew that I wanted to be in the music scene and we were trying to come up with a name. He went to a little kids soccer game, they were like eight years old and their team name was The Dirty Turkeys. He came back later that night and said ‘If you ever start a band you need to call it The Dirty Turkeys’. It wasn’t until couple years later that we actually had a full solidified band and that’s just always kind of been the name. It’s never really been argued, it’s kind of been a non-negotiable. We never sat down and thought of any other names, we sort of accepted that that’s going to be the name. It’s always been The Dirty Turkeys.”
What do you think separates you from other bands in the local scene right now?
“I would say our non-traditional approach to music creation and approach to learning new instruments. We’re all self taught, so our early songs were super experimental and avant garde. People seemed to appreciate that and the fact that our sets are ninety-five percent of the time all originals, so we just kept rolling with that. I think also our obscure ways of performing, like the untamed energy we bring to live shows. When we played in Alaska, one of the sound guys came up to me and he was like ‘Yo, can you tell your singer to stop jumping off the equipment?’, and I was like ‘Yeah, yeah, I’ll tell him’, and then I turned around and Brad was on top of the PA system that was like twenty feet tall. Brad’s always jumping off of stuff, headbanging, and just doing crazy stuff on stage.”
What song is the most exciting to perform live, what inspired it?”
“Right now we could all agree that our favorite song right now is called ‘Preacher’s Son’. It’s cool because it evolved from each of our own ideas and versions of how it should sound over this past year and a half. One line was written by Russ (Brad) a long time ago, and then another one came about while we were dancing in a basement with cowboy boots on. I’m not even sure how exactly it happened, but those two instances just sort of melted into each other and the song came together. I’d say it’s a culmination of all of our minds and life experiences. It ended up being sort of a Western/Blues song and it'll be on our upcoming album. It’s a great representation of the direction our music is going now.”
“Do you have a song that you are the most proud of?”
“Yeah, it’s called ‘Soul Suga’ and we’re dropping it on October 31st for Halloween. It’s actually the name of our upcoming sophomore album too. It’s kind of the same deal as ‘Preacher’s Son’ in the sense of it being a culmination of all of our ideas over time. It came from a jam session that we weren’t taking too seriously, and now it’s one of our most fast-paced, headbangy songs. It came to us during this past tour we finished up in August and we’re excited to get it out to the public.”
You guys just finished up your first tour, what would you say your most memorable shows have been so far?
“Probably Alaska during our last tour for a culmination of reasons. It was on our best friend Hunter’s birthday and we got to play the festival together since he has his own band as well, plus it was the end of the tour and all four of us, plus Hunter, got to fly on a plane together and go to Alaska. I’ve never been there before and it was such a sweet venue. The green room was on this lake that overlooked the Alaskan mountains and we played on this big bison farm. That was actually the show where I looked over at Brad and he was twenty feet up in the air on the PA system. That was just a really electric show, there were like five hundred people and everyone seemed really stoked about our set. Alaskans love hard rock music, it’s definitely an untapped market and we wanna head back there soon. Another memorable show was playing at the Electric Honey Music Festival. We’ve been grateful to play there the past three years and it’s always super cool because it’s in the middle of the desert. They have fire shooting out of cannons, everyone’s super loose, there’s no cell-phone service, and the crowd just gets lost in the music. Honestly, any outdoor space is usually our favorite, we just love playing and being surrounded by nature. Even when we played shows down in California at beach bars, it’s awesome to be able to jump into the ocean after. Or when we play in Telluride we’ll all jump in the river before or after the show. We all grew up in nature, so we find a lot of peace and solace in that sort of environment. The vibes are already there, we just get to add a little more on top of it.”
What do you want people to feel when they listen to your music?
“We want people to feel free for the entirety of our set. Free to express themselves, free to talk to strangers, free to dance however they want to dance. That’s what our goal was when we started playing music, so we’re very happy with how our sound invokes that. We want the crowd to be able to channel their inner animalistic and feral energy. I think people can sense our own authenticity, whether they are listening through Spotify or at a live show, they can see how carefree we are with our music. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve played shows where there’s like four people in the audience, but even with those shows, we don’t turn anything down. It’s still hectic because it’s not something we can really control, it’s just how we play. If no one in the crowd is having a good time, we’re definitely still having a damn good time on stage. I think that comes from being self taught because no one ever really told us how to play music, we just figured it out ourselves. It’s not rehearsed, it’s real, and that authentic feeling is something I hope people can relate to when listening to our music. We bring a really unique sound that can’t be categorized into a specific genre, and we like to keep it that way. We want our audience to feel the same way about themselves.”
