“You can never dream [up] this kind of stuff,” said Miles Doughty, reflecting on the two decades of success his band Slightly Stoopid has achieved. In 1994, Doughty and his friends Kyle McDonald and Adam Bausch cofounded the genre-bashing ensemble — which fuses myriad musical styles, including rock, reggae, blues, and punk — while attending high school in Ocean Beach, just north of San Diego. One year later, Sublime’s lead singer, the late Bradley Nowell, heard them play and signed them to his label, Skunk Records. Since then, Stoopid has played sold-out shows all over the world, touring with such venerable groups as the Dave Matthews Band, Snoop Dogg, and G. Love & Special Sauce, to name a few. In 2011, Stoopid joined the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir for a live performance at the legendary singer/guitarist’s TRI Studios.
Ranked one of 2017’s best summer touring bands by Pollstar, Slightly Stoopid is set to have another explosive summer. On the road for its School’s Out for Summer tour, the band is marking 20-plus years of its existence and the release of its ninth studio album, Everyday Life, Everyday People, which drops July 13. Stoopid has a massive roster of gigs taking it all over the country, including a stop in Santa Barbara on Sunday, June 24, at the Bowl. “We’ll probably play four to six tracks from the new record,” said Doughty in a recent interview with the Independent. The following are snippets from our phone conversation.
In 2017, you toured all over the world. Did you have any favorite places, favorite moments? Surfing in Australia was amazing. They have some perfect waves. The people in South America go crazy for music. Touring with the band is just, overall, a lot of fun. I get to hang out with my best friends all over the world.