CSUMB draws two big acts in Dirty Heads and Ben Kenney to close out Earth Week concert schedule.

“I need some Valium, Zanex, Percocet, Darvocet, Vicodin, Caladapin, sleeping pills and NyQuil.” So goes the opening rap to The Dirty Heads’ “Insomnia.” The Huntington Beach-based hip hop/reggae/rock outfit co-headlines with Ben Kenny at the biggest concert in a seven-day Earth Week stretch of performances, lectures and community-service work celebrating the environment this Saturday at the Black Box Cabaret.

“Insomnia” then details the hopelessness and desperation of an insomniac while employing a bassline that resembles a ticking clock and a squawking rooster-like horn sample.

The hip-hop number, which is one of the best tracks on the group’s 2007 EP Sails to the Wind, is based on an unpleasant four months in vocalist/guitarist Dustin Bushnell’s life. From a golf course in Southern California, Bushnell recalls a period when he was sleeping for just a couple hours once every week. Stressed out in part because of rapid changes for his band, the musician spent his nights taking pills, drinking wine, playing video games and penning the previously mentioned song.

“Insomnia” is not the only song on Sails to the Wind that deals with sleepless nights. “Morning Light,” which begins with License to Ill-era Beastie Boys-style rapping over a big beat, describes staying up all evening and participating in a sequence of alcohol and marijuana use.

Jared Watson, who co-writes the band’s songs with Bushnell and sings in Dirty Heads, says the nods to 40 ounces of malt liquor and spliffs threaded through the group’s Sublime-inspired mix of music are the two songwriters describing their real-life experiences.

“You should come out with us for a week,” Watson dares. “We are not posing in any of those songs.”

The Dirty Heads’ party-friendly music has garnered the group – which includes Bushnell, Watson, percussionist Jon Olazabal and DJ Rocky Rock – an impressive fan base in Southern California. Even though the act has only been around for four years in its present incarnation, the Dirty Heads have made impressive inroads into the music industry. For one, the guys already have been signed and wiggled out of a record deal with major label Warner Brothers. Bushnell says the band decided to split with Warner Brothers after two years to try things on their own.

The Dirty Heads put out the seven-song Sails to the Wind by themselves last year. One impressive aspect of the release is a couple of the musicians that contribute to a handful of songs. John Freese, a drummer who has played with A Perfect Circle and Sting, plays on a trio of tracks. But what is even more interesting is that the late, great Billy Preston, the famed pianist who played with the Beatles, played on the pop rock reggae song “Stand Tall,” the acoustic hip hop number “Driftin’ ” and the mellow acoustic rock tune “Chelsea.” The Dirty Heads contacted Preston through a mutual contact and flew out to the famed musician’s Phoenix-based studio for a day of recording before the legend died in 2006.

The band, which plans to put out their first full-length CD this summer, spent last August touring with reggae rock trailblazers 311 and the Jewish reggae crooner Matisyahu. “For me, that was a dream come true,” Watson says of the tour. “311 has been one of my favorite bands forever.”

The other up-and-coming music act on the bill for the culminating concert of CSUMB’s Earth Week is Ben Kenney. While Kenney’s name might not be immediately recognizable, his work with other artists will be familiar to most contemporary music fans.

In 2001, Kenney joined the popular hip-hop band The Roots as their guitarist. He even played on the group’s superb 2002 CD Phrenology. Then, in 2003, Kenney jumped ship and joined the hugely successful alt rock group Incubus as their bassist. He played on their 2003 CD A Crow Left of the Murder, which reached the number-two spot on the Billboard charts, and the band’s 2006 Light Grenades, a release that debuted at number one on the U.S. charts.

“I have been really fortunate to be in two bands that I think are great,” Kenney told the Weekly by phone from Los Angeles last week, as he was preparing to embark on a mini tour of South America with Incubus.

Despite his other big musical commitments, Kenney somehow has found the time to record and release three solo albums. On the CDs, which include this year’s Distance and Comfort, Kenney plays every instrument and sings.

Distance and Comfort features the anxious, radio-ready rock of “Eulogy” and the polished, hard-riffing “Not Today” with its long, unfurling guitar solo. It also includes unexpected deviations from the alt rock formula on the watery funk of “Get It to Go” to the low-key psychedelic experiment “Some Days are Better Than Others,” which mixes soft, barely audible vocals and fluid electric guitar.

Kenney, who will play the Black Box Cabaret with a backing band, says he has no problem devoting his time to other musical pursuits besides Incubus. “I don’t like to stop working,” he says, “ ’cause I don’t have much else going on.”

Ben Kenney and the Dirty Heads play 9pm Saturday, April 26, at CSUMB’s Black Box Cabaret, corner of 3rd and 4th streets, Seaside. Free/students; $20/non-students. 582-3597.