CLOSER TO THE SUN: Slightly Stoopid's latest release
I first saw Slightly Stoopid in 1997 at the Eldo in Crested Butte. I was a freelance ski hack moonlighting as part owner of a ghetto sub shop hidden behind the post office. Micah Abrams, the future editor of Freeze called to say he was rolling through town with a band and wondered if I’d hook ‘em with free grinds. Freeze was in its early years, and had hired me to write a couple of stories for their first issue. Micah’s official title at the time was Slaveboy.
Well, I did him one better. I made up a bunch of flyers with the Freeze logo, our Local Heroes emblem, and the band’s name. I hung them all over town. When the band finished setting up their equipment, I cooked ’em whatever they wanted, then got someone to cover me so I could go watch the show.
The gig was a hit. It was off-season, and yet the place was packed. And these kids—three of them at that time, all about 19 years old—rocked. Their sound was very punk-based, and they put together a show that rivaled in energy anything Guttermouth or Skankin’ Pickle had played in this town. They only had about 20 songs. After they ran the gamut, the crowd was so into it, they just started playing them again. Seth Morrison—not yet the star he is today, but the cover boy for that first Freeze—was perhaps the most visible fan, slam dancing in bright red hair and a Slightly Stoopid t-shirt.
After the show, and after they broke down and I served sandwiches to the hungry crowd that migrated back to L.H. (“Drink early, eat late” was our motto), the band came back to sub shop. I made them more food while they packed bowls, and then mopped up while they ate. They were so stoked, they gave me a t-shirt (which I still have), a CD (which has since been stolen), and put “Local Heroes, CO” in the liner notes of their second album, The Longest Barrel Ride.
The next day, I left on a road trip to Cape Cod. The three-day trip took four, as I spent hours wrenching on my ’83 Subaru in the parking lots of fast food restaurants, and even more time cussing and punching the dash when it still didn’t run right. The only things keeping me sane were my dog and that CD, which I played over and over. The lyrics were a little juvenile, and the sound unpolished. But it was good, and hidden at the end was a secret track that hinted at the band’s potential—a little bit called “Prophet” on which Sublime’s Bradley Nowell plays bass.
Eight years have passed in what seems like a blink. Local Heroes took a header 8 months after that show, but I’ve managed to cross paths with the band a number of times through the years—whenever they played the Butte, of course, but also in Portland, San Fran., Vegas, and their hometown of San Diego. (Last time I saw them, they still called me the local hero). I’m certainly not the only one in the ski world to keep tabs on them, as their music became a staple of MSP and TGR’s movies around the turn of the century.
I’ve watched and listened over the years as the band evolved. The Longest Barrel Ride was much more polished than their eponymous first release. Acoustic Roots was another change of pace, as the band dealt with the break-up with their original drummer by releasing an all-acoustic show they did on a local radio station. I was surprised that the reggae-tinged Everything You Need didn’t achieve greater commercial popularity, but have to admit I cringed a bit as the band tried to brand themselves with matching wife-beater T’s and replaced the pronoun “I” with “me” way more than two white boys from Ocean Beach probably should.
Now their fifth release, Closer to the Sun is out, and as with the four previous releases, it’s my favorite yet. SS continues to exhibit unmatched versatility. Their press release boasts a fusion of blues, rock, reggae, hip-hop, and punk; my ears also hear elements of Jazz and Swing. In short, their sound is complex and unique. They have grown out of the pigeon-hole of being just a Sublime spin-off (Nowell discovered them as high schoolers and signed them to Skunk Records in 1996) to having a distinct sound of their own, as engaging as anything their mentors ever produced.
Slightly Stoopid is currently on a theater tour with Fishbone opening. This August they plan to tour arenas as the opening act for the Dave Matthews Band.
Listen to samples from Closer to the Sun and score free downloads from the band at www.slightlystoopid.com.