Dirty Red Hearts is an American rock band formed in Pittsford, Vermont in September 2019. The band consists of Steven Wilson and Payton Thurston both singing, writing, and performing all parts. The duo was formed after their previous band, Mr. P and the Green Wave, disbanded in August 2019.

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Despite Mr. P and the Green Wave disbanding in 2019, Steven was not about to give up on them. He knew that lineup of six would be unable to continue getting together, but he wanted to continue working with as many of the band members as he could. In September 2019, he called up his former bandmates Payton and Grant Thurston and invited them over for a jam session. After they were done playing for a little while, they all sat down to chat, and Steven proposed the idea of the three of them forming a band. Although it was more of a joke song, the three of them wrote and performed Kinda Like It about six months earlier, and they all enjoyed that experience. Payton was all for the idea of forming a new band, and Grant was a little more reluctant but signed on anyway. When searching for a name, nothing good was coming to mind so they went to a random band name generator website. They put in some nouns and colors and scrolled through dozens of results and stopped when they saw "Teenage Dirty Red Hearts". They dropped the first word and they were sold. 

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On the very same day the band formed, they began writing their first song entitled Dirty Red Hearts that they would have as the opener on their eponymous debut album someday because Steven wanted people to see "Dirty Red Hearts - Dirty Red Hearts - Dirty Red Hearts" on the display when they played it in their cars. Soon after, Steven and Payton wrote and recorded a song entitled Almost Home and released it on their YouTube page. Grant left the band due to a lack of interest in music, but Steven and Payton continued writing together and on October 20th, 2019 (as a tribute to what would have been Tom Petty's 69th birthday), they released When It All Came Crashing Down and Advil. On December 14th, they released their last single from the debut album entitled River, which was an old Mr. P and the Green Wave song that Payton had written. 

They currently have enough material for a few albums, but have not had the chance to get them in the studio. 

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On March 13th, 2020, the band performed at a local bar in Brandon, Vermont just one day before everything started to shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They cancelled the remaining shows they had scheduled and followed orders to stay home and not gather. During the pandemic, Steven focused on marketing and merchandising and the duo continued to collaborate and write songs, but they both starting losing inspiration as a result of not being able to work together in person. In August of 2020, they had two shows back-to-back at the local park in Rutland, Vermont  so they met up outside to rehearse days before and it was the first time they had seen each other in nearly five months. About one month later, Payton, who had become disenchanted with performing live shows, decided to take a break from the band. They ended things on mutual terms, and Steven began planning to take the band in a new direction but wanted to wait until the pandemic was over. On his own, Steven performed two outdoor performances and released a limited run of singles on vinyl, but struggled to write new material. On January 10th, 2021, the band announced that Payton was returning and they would continue working together again remotely until they could get back in the studio together.