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I think our biggest strength is the live show. Our CD sells fine. We sell about 100,000 of each record, and that's fine. If 100,000 people bought the record, three other guys burned it, so that's like 300,000 people listening to it. As long as the music gets out there, the shows get bigger and bigger. -Miles Doughty |
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Photo by Soda
Without a care for radio play or screen time on MTV, McDonald drove his partner's point home, saying, "[What's helped us the most has been our] relentless hard work and traveling and not going to college, just skipping it and heading onto the road since we were 16 and just playing gigs ever since then. The fans, I mean, we've made a lot of friends over the years at shows, and a lot of those friends come back year after year after year."
 Slightly Stoopid |
"I think we have some of the most awesome fans there are," Doughty adds. "They're always adamant about pushing Slightly Stoopid to everybody, which is cool, because it's like having a voice behind the music."
For a record industry that seems to be in a death spiral, many artists and industry insiders have great cause for concern about how file sharing will affect their livelihood, but Slightly Stoopid isn't worried.
"I think our biggest strength is the live show," Doughty says. "Our CD sells fine. We sell about 100,000 of each record, and that's fine. If 100,000 people bought the record, three other guys burned it, so that's like 300,000 people listening to it. As long as the music gets out there, the shows get bigger and bigger."
When asked how he feels about a concert attendee who downloaded the album without paying for it, he says, "I don't feel ripped off because he's at the show, and he's telling his friends, 'Yo, check out this band.' It's a digital world and people are going to download it anyways. You can't get upset because now you have a new fan and he's going to buy one more ticket to the show. That's just one more crazy motherfucker at the gig."
As for the role Slightly Stoopid plays in a changing industry, it seems as though the group itself barely feels the changes.
 Slightly Stoopid |
"Honestly, I think we're outside of what the industry is dealing with. We've been independent for so long, that everything is working for us," Doughty notes. "We're not on a label that has to cut back because we've always been independent. We've never had a crazy overstock of shit we don't need. It's all about putting out music the way we've been doing it, and I don't see us changing our ways, because that's what Slightly Stoopid is all about."
"I don't deal with [the] politics [of the industry]. I deal with music," says McDonald. "My manager deals with booking shows, and I deal with music. If there's a complication that I don't agree with we work it out."
There's no question the stakes are gradually rising for Slightly Stoopid. Their name is getting recognized more and more on the national level, their ability to draw a crowd is intensifying and, even in a time when gas is pricey and "service charges" are keeping many fans at home, their current level of success is amazing. For McDonald, the fact that two of reggae's most influential musicians are playing with them this summer has helped verify their growing status. "I haven't met Sly & Robbie, and I'm looking forward to it. They pretty much invented how reggae is done, so it's a little weird," he says. "It's going to be crazy to go out with them. It will definitely be a humbling experience. I don't like that we're headlining. I'd rather go on before them."
So what can a stranger to the Slightly Stoopid experience expect at their shows?
"It's a little bit of Southern California love with some booty shaking music and some madness," offers Doughty. "A lot of people might get detoured by the name and aren't sure what to expect, but once you give it a listen, there's going to be something on there you're down to listen to. I want to be remembered as the band that put a smile on your face, and always creates good music and likes to have a good time."
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