Long Beach Dub Allstars frontman Opie Ortiz has released his first ever solo album Sound Sensation Vol. 1 under his Opie & Family moniker across digital music platforms today. Opie & Family's new record was co-written by Ortiz and The Aggrolites frontman Jesse Wagner, who also produced the work with additional engineering and mixing by Chris Brennan (Arise Roots, The Aggrolites). The album is a sonic journey into a vortex of easy-going roots reggae and feel-good vibrations.

"This album was born out of my desire to do a solo venture and use some ideas that I had been collecting over the years," commented Ortiz on the catalyst for his first-ever solo record. "We recorded the first three songs at Jesse’s house in Corona, CA, which is ironic as that is where I was born. Everything took a lot longer on this record because of the pandemic restrictions, but writing for this album came quickly and everything just sort of flowed out during the writing sessions."

Ortiz continues, "I decided to release this under the moniker of Opie & Family, because Jesse has always been family to me, and my youngest daughter Roxy is also featured on the record. I would run ideas and compositions by her and had her sing on a lot of the songs opposite of me on ‘Making Decisions'. Having my family to bounce ideas off of was a huge inspiration, especially my youngest son, Oliver, who is also all over this album."

Sound Sensations Vol. 1 is Ortiz's solo debut after becoming a legendary figurehead within the West Coast reggae-rock scene. Ortiz was a founding member of Long Beach Dub Allstars alongside former original Sublime members Eric Wilson and Bud, as well as Ras 1, Ras MG and Miguel from Skunk Records. The group picked up the torch and helped usher in the next generation of rock-reggae. Last year, Long Beach Dub Allstars returned with a new self-titled album that debuted at #1 on the Billboard Reggae Album Chart.