The California reggae and rock collective Slightly Stoopid has reached a wonderful place in its journey as a band. On June 30, the band released its eighth full-length studio album ominously titled “Meanwhile…Back at the Lab” to the excitement of the group’s fans.
Drummer Ryan Moran, known more affectionately as “Rymo,” talked about how this album shows how much they have grown as musicians after such a storied career.
“Each song someone makes is a snapshot in time,” he said. “Of course you could look back in hindsight and if we did it now, it could be better, but I don’t look at it like that. It was what it was back then and we just look to move forward with our music.”
Before writing the album, Slightly Stoopid took a moment to look back at the history of the band, paying homage to the late Sublime founder Bradley Nowell through the song “The Prophet.” Singer Miles Doughty collaborated with the late frontman and guitarist on the song back in 1994 when Doughty was just 16 years old. Rymo talked about the response fans have shown for the song now that it is a regular of the live show.
“The crowd is really resonating with it,” he said. “We had played it a handful of times before as an acoustic encore thing, but we had never worked on it as a band till this latest record. Playing that one live is always kind of a crowd favorite. People can sing along and it has a feel good vibe to it.”
This message is the heart of Slightly Stoopid's live performance ideology. The group is challenged with selecting what songs to play live in an attempt to craft a set-list that is as enjoyable for the fans as it is exciting to play for the band. Rymo pointed out that at the end of the day, they just want to craft a show their fans enjoy.
“We’ve been tapping into the older punk tunes,” he said. “All the music is fun to play. It’s nice over the course of shows to mix it up and the same with the albums. It’s a bit of a rollercoaster ride, which is fun for the listener, but any time we play new stuff is nice because it keeps it from getting monotonous.”
The new material maintains the ethos of creative diversity that Slightly Stoopid has crafted over their illustrious career. The album shifts stances with the goal of keeping the listener’s attention throughout the entirety of the album.
From the opener “Dabbington” which shows off the band’s ability to jam to the two-minute punk thrasher aptly named, “Fuck You” featuring Beardo, the band displays the group’s desire to flex all of their influences on this record.
As the band gears up for their performance at Summer’s End Fest at Tempe Beach Park, the band embraces the challenge of presenting new material live while keeping older material in their live show. Rymo capped off the talk by expressing the goal to keep the fans happy and involved in the band’s growth.
“Sometimes, on Facebook we’ll take requests,” he said. “We will get a ton of emails asking for certain songs to be added into the set and we try to play the songs that people want to hear. We’re entertainers.”
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Reach the reporter at dloche@asu.edu or follow @DMLoche on Twitter.
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