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Interview by Ryde (
photos by clarkie)
Every once in a great while a band shows up on the
music scene that has the raw emotion, ability and talent, to grab
from different styles and pull it all in and make it their own.
Anyone can play music but real artists can feel it.
The first time I ever saw or heard
of Slightly Stoopid was about 3 years ago in Santa Cruz. For whatever
reasons, there were alot of cancellations that night; but when we
walked in the club, Slightly Stoopid had just started their set.
It wasn't long before a few gurlies jumped on stage, shed their
tops and started dancing. I was expecting to hear a straight hard
punk set but it didn't take long to find out that there was more
going on with these guys. The music bounced around from hard core
to reggae, ska, hip-hop, dub...all Stoopid's style of punk.
Last December Miles and Kyle released a limited edition
CD titled, "Acoustic Roots,"
recorded live at a So Cal radio station. They didn't have a new
drummer yet, so decided to jam an acoustic set. After hearing Acoustic
Roots it really hit me how damn good they really are.
Vans Warped Tour
hooked us up at Boreal outside of Truckee,
CA. After about 5 hours of hi-energy punk Slightly Stoopid took
the stage. They opened up their set with a reggae song. I thought
to myself," damn, what a gutsy call." The tempo quickly
changed to punk with originals like "Fuck the Police,"
an electric version of "If This World Were Mine", and
others off of their first two cds. The music was a ride from hard
pounding punk riffs by Miles on lead, Kyle on his tight fender bass,
and Danny on drums, to melodic dub-style with Kyle's heavy mesmerizing
bass lines.
As in Warped Tour tradition, it was only
a half-hour set, even though the crowd was calling for more. But
Slightly Stoopid left their mark with the audience.
Clarkie made her way back from the
frontlines to backstage alive but kind of wet due to crowd-hosing
after shooting pics in the tight strip of land between the stage,
bouncers, and moshpit. We got to sit and chill with Miles,
Kyle, and Danny
and ask them a few questions before they loaded their vans.
RS: Thanks for taking time out
before you guys get on the road again. We know that youŒve been
really busy.
SS: Yeah we've had a rough couple of days. We're not doing the tour
in a bus. We're doing the tour in a van because we were doing our
own stuff before we joined the tour; started out playing in places
like Sacramento, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, New Mexico, and Arizona.
RS: So then where does it all
end for you?
SS: It'll end in Denver. Then we're going back home and do some
recording. We'll be working with The Scientist in the studio. But
we're also doing another tour this summer with Buju Banton. We'll
be doing about 25 shows in about 4 weeks and two weeks on our own
coming home.
RS: Where did the dub influence
come from in your music?
SS: (Miles) I listen to a lot of reggae, ever since I was a kid.
We used to be just a straight punk band when we were about 16 or
17. That's all we played. Every now and then we'd throw in a few
ska songs. Actually Brad [Bradley Nowell from
Sublime] taught us how to play reggae. A lot of bands that
try don't actually understand the whole strum of the reggae guitar.
So Brad kind of showed us how to do it and from there we just listened
to lots of reggae, like Bob Marley, Barrington Levy, Half-Pint,
Israel Vibration, and stuff like that. It has a lot of influence
on you, and as you get older you start to think I just can't go
out there and do a straight hard punk set.
RS: How long have you known each
other?
SS: (Kyle) Since we were about 2. (Miles) Yeah, Kyle and I have
always known each other. Danny our drummer is the new comer.
RS: You guys have a great mix
of music.
SS: I think that's what helps us. We're so diverse, we play so many
different styles of music. Like we broke up the monotony today.
Like it's been punk rock all day long and we opened up with a reggae
song.
RS: (laughing) Yeah we saw a
lot of blank faces at first; kind of a hush over the crowd.
SS: Yeah, people were probably thinking "oh my god"!
RS: Do any of you skate?
SS: (Kyle) I'm sponsored by Sector-9 Skateboards. They kick
us down with the fattest skateboards. They give us everything we
need to shred it up. I get flex decks, fiberglass decks and other
stuff.
RS: Where are all of you from?
SS: (Kyle) We're from Ocean Beach/San Diego. (Danny) I just moved
out here from Phoenix.
RS: How long have you been playing
together?
SS: Kyle and I have been in the band for about 6 or 7 years, ever
since we've been about 16 or 17 years old. Danny just joined us.
He's been in the band since a couple of weeks before we started
the tour. 
RS: How many CDs do you have
out now?
SS: We have 3. Our first album was in 1996, self-titled "Slightly
Stoopid.'' It's out of print and I just heard that a copy of it
went for like $270 on E-Bay. We're thinking about re-recording it
cuz all those songs are great songs, and we were just kids when
we did them. If we did it now it would be so much better. Then we
did "Longest Barrel Ride" in 1998.
RS: How about the 3rd one?
It was recorded live, right?
SS: Yeah, we happened to put out an interesting live album around
last December (2000) called "Acoustic Roots." We were
invited to play a 40-minute set for a radio show on Rock 105.3.
We were still looking for a drummer at the time so Kyle and I decided
we'd bring our acoustic guitars down to the studio and we jammed
an acoustic set. We were really pleased with the end result so we
released it in a limited edition. It was also a really good thing
for us to do at the time. It helped to keep a lot of stuff in perspective.
(Danny) These guys did a really great job on it. It's the reason
why I'm playing with them.
RS: (to Danny/drums) How did
you hook up with Kyle and Miles?
SS: I heard about them from a mutual friend in San Diego that played
me their cds. I came out here last year and jammed with them, but
we just started playing together before the Warped Tour.
RS: We wouldn't have known. You
guys sound pretty tight... I mean with all the different styles
of music and changes in some of the songs.
SS: (Danny) Glad you thought so. I'm critical about myself when
I perform and don't like to make mistakes. These guys are an amazing
band. They're very poetic and melodic and that's what I like about
them. They know how to carry a melody and change up in a song. 
RS: Do any of you play other
instruments?
SS: Kyle plays guitar besides bass guitar, keyboards, and drums
sometimes. He also got his own little Mad Scientist studio going
on at home. Danny plays timpans, steel drums and a lot of other
percussion. He's the schooled one.
RS: How did you get your name?
SS: (Miles) Hmmm, I was a 16 year old kid. So when you're 16 it's
like "Stoopid" little
kids.
RS: Do your parents ever come
and see you play?
SS: Oh yeah all the time. (Miles) Yeah my dad is like total born
again christian and he says like "that's God's choice, son,"
that we play music. He comes down to the bar to watch us play, but
he doesn't drink.
RS: Does he think you're going
to hell? (laughing)
SS: (Miles) Haha, no he doesn't think that. He'd like me not to
smoke weed or drink, but....what are ya gonna do?
RS: Well, that's a parent for
ya!
SS: Exactly! I don't do drugs. I don't consider weed or beer as
drugs, and I won't fuck up my life smoking weed. I just like drinking,
and smoking weed...is all we need, and playing music.
RS: You ever chill with RAS or
Opie [from Long Beach Dub Allstars]?
SS: Not really anymore. We used to when we were younger but we're
all doing our own thing now.
RS: When we asked them [LBDA's]
about the naked chicks on stage, RAS thought for a second and said
"it ain't us, it's those guys from Stoopid" that called
them up. Haha. You got the rep.
SS: We don't invite them up. They just do it.
 RS:
Where did you meet Bradley?
SS: (Miles) I met Brad when I was 16 playing at a bar. He
came over to the pad and we started jammin acoustic. On our first
album there's a song on the end (secret song) with Brad playing
bass and tambourine. We were doing that shit in my living room.
My Mom has got hours and hours of footage. He did one of our songs
"Ain't a Prophet" that came out on a bootleg called "Bums
Lie" or something like that. Brad died right after that. We're
going to re-record it on our new album.
RS: Will you be adding any additional
people to the band in the future?
SS: Right now with three guys on stage our attack is good so we
want to keep it that way for awhile. Eventually maybe we'd like
to get a keyboard player and someone on turntables.
RS: We know you want to go have
dinner and some beers already. Anything else you want people to
know about you before we wrap up?
SS: We're from Ocean Beach/San Diego, and we're with Silverback
Management And if you want any band information it's at Skunk Records,
stoopid@skunk.com.
Oh yeah...Thanks to Matt at Silverback
Management for being so accommodating to Real Skate. We were
able to connect with you guys at Warped with hardly any roadblocks.
Peace out. Ryde
For more info on Slightly Stoopid pleaase
visit their website at:
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