In 1995, two Ocean Beach teenagers ended up jamming with their heroes after one of their moms invited Sublime to the house. Three decades later, they’re headlining their own festival at Petco Park.For Slightly Stoopid, the Field of Dreamz Festival on June 13 isn’t just the latest milestone. It’s a dream come true.
“Being able to team up with the Padres in your own hometown to put on a festival in the ballpark … I don’t even have the right words for it,” band co-founder Miles Doughty told Times of San Diego. “You can’t help but pinch yourself.”
The group — which also includes co-founder Kyle McDonald (guitar, bass, vocals), Ryan Moran (drums), Daniel Delacruz (saxophone), Paul Wolstencroft (keyboards) and Andy Geib (trombone, trumpet) — has played the field once before, and several times on the exterior Gallagher Square stage. But this event, featuring eight additional artists, will be different.
“The lineup is insane, and the ‘Field of Dreamz’ play on baseball is perfect for our hometown,” said Doughty, who also handles guitar, bass and vocals. “It’s going to be the ultimate party.”
The June 13 festival features a stacked lineup of reggae and Cali-rock acts — including their friends Sublime, Stephen Marley, The Elovaters, Pepper, DENM, Z-Trip, Band of Gringos and Boostive. Field of Dreamz represents something deeper than another themed music festival. It’s the latest chapter in Slightly Stoopid’s three-decade run rooted in San Diego.
“It’s such a wild story and journey,” Doughty said, recalling the moment when Sublime frontman Brad Nowell discovered the band and ultimately signed them to his Skunk Records label in 1995.
Their origin story feels almost mythic today. Doughty’s mom invited Nowell and other Sublime members over to their house to hang out. Soon, everyone was jamming. Doughty and McDonald, only 15 or 16 at the time, found the experience surreal.
“We were these little kids who’d grown up listening to Sublime,” Doughty said. “We’re talking cassette tape era, the 40oz. to Freedom days. Someone you’d listen to going out to surf, and the next thing you know, you’re teaming up with them.”
“They really took us under their wing,” he said. “Brad and Miguel [Happoldt, Sublime’s guitarist] brought us up to Long Beach to record in this studio called the Fake Nightclub. It was nothing glamorous — pretty ghetto, kind of a party house for all their friends — but it had this killer reel-to-reel eight-track recorder. You’re taking in so much because you’re big fans of these guys and they’re treating you like their little brothers.”
The most valuable lesson their mentors passed down, though, had less to do with recording and more with how to build an audience through relentless touring.
“They said, ‘Go earn your fan base,’ so we never stopped touring from that moment,” Doughty said. “The grind of van life — when you’re going show to show, sleeping on floors and playing just to make enough money to get to the next town — those are the memories that stick in your head forever.”
That grassroots approach paid off. Over time, Slightly Stoopid cultivated a fiercely loyal, multi-generational audience, which opened the door to new, unforeseen opportunities — like being able to curate their own south-of-the-border music festival.
In 2014, the group launched Closer to the Sun, a destination event at the Hard Rock Riviera Maya in Mexico. Celebrating its eleventh year in January, the festival blends four days of live music with an immersive, fan-focused vacation.
“Breakfast, lunch and dinner, you’re eating with one of your favorite bands,” Doughty said. “Wherever you go on the property, you’re running into artists you love. It’s the most personal music experience you’ll ever have.”
“The lineups have been handpicked every year with all of our friends, and it’s something I hope keeps going forever,” he said. “We do three full sets — this year was 70 songs, no repeaters. It’s the only place you’ll see us dig that deep into the catalog. At least 35 of those songs are things we never play on tour.”
Slightly Stopied this year is releasing a new album, its first in eight years. Those songs will quickly find a home on their Road Trippin Summer Tour, which kicks off in June. Doughty kept most album details under wraps, but he said it’s dropping in July and will feature numerous guest collaborators. Singles released so far have included appearances from G. Love, B-Real from Cypress Hill and Chali 2na from Ozomatli and Jurassic 5.
“We’re glad to finally finish it and get it out there for people,” he said. “It’s going to be a great record, and we can’t wait to start playing it live.”
Unlike many bands that build a following locally before relocating to industry hubs such as Los Angeles or Nashville to make it big, Slightly Stoopid never felt the need to leave San Diego. The Ocean Beach community that shaped the band remains central to its identity.
“For us, home is part of what Slightly Stoopid is,” Doughty said. “We get a lot of our energy from where we came from. I still live in basically the same neighborhood I grew up in. There’s something special about the community, and I don’t think I’ll ever leave. This place fuels us.”
After more than 30 years in the music business, the band now occupies a different role in the local scene, serving as mentors to young San Diego musicians chasing their own dreams, just like Sublime was to them.
“If you’re trying to make music a career, you have to make the choice to believe that nothing can stop you from succeeding,” Doughty said. “The biggest thing is never getting discouraged. It takes so much to get out there and give your all, give a piece of yourself to a crowd every night — whether there’s one person there, a hundred, or five thousand. There are going to be days where you’re like, ‘God, is this really worth it?’ And that’s real; we’ve all had those days. But if you really want it, you just keep pushing.”
Donovan Roche is a longtime music writer and regular contributor to Times of San Diego.
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