Juliana: How does it feel when you are with someone
who you knows how talented you are and they love your
music, and look up to and respect you, but you can tell
that they’re nervous. Is that uncomfortable?
RyMo: I try to diffuse that energy because, you know
its like I said, we are all just people. Everyone is a person,
and has ups and downs, good days and bad days, and I
mean I try not to play into that [star struck energy]. Yeah
sometimes it can be a little awkward when I’m just trying to have a conversation with someone and they’re just
like “Dude, oh my God!” and I’m like just hang out, we’re
just trying to have a conversation. Thanks for being excited, like that’s as cool, but it’s not making me feel better
about myself. Like I appreciate the fact [that i have fans],
because I’d be the same way if I met one of my idols. I’d
probably be all giddy!
RyMo: I definitely collaborate a lot. The primary songwriters of the band are Miles and Kyle, obviously because
it is their band, they are the bandleaders. Typically when
an idea comes up, whether it’s a guitar riff or a bass line,
we try to figure out what direction to go. Are we going
Reggae? Are we going Punk? Are we going Hip-Hop? Are
we going World? Then we just try to refine based on that.
Find a vibe, find a groove, and start building it! Usually
we do drums, bass, and guitar first, then we’ll add keys,
horns, percussion, everything else. So, typically it’s a
pretty collaborative effort. Sometimes there’s one or two
of us in the studio. Sometimes the whole band is in there
working on stuff. The current record has been smaller
groups of us working on things, at a time. Its like baking
a cake; little bits at a time. We have our close friends to
the studio/clubhouse, but it’s not a place you go to party;
it’s more like a place you go to work.
Juliana: But there’s a balance right, you can keep
right? You want to be treated like you’re a real person,
right?
Juliana: From the pictures on Facebook and Instagram it looks like there’s always plenty of nice looking
weed there.
RyMo: Yeah, absolutely, everyone does!
Juliana: Do the rest of the guys in the band feel like
that too?
RyMo: I think so, yeah, I’d say yes. We’re all just normal dudes. We have a cool job, and we love what we do,
there’s no doubt about that, but at the end of the day we
don’t really want to be treated differently.
Juliana: How do you stay down to earth like that?
How do you not let yourself float away?
RyMo: Because it could all go away, and then who are
you?! That’s the thing about music, as soon as you play a
show that music is in the air, and that music is in people’s
minds. So that’s gone really instantaneously, so its kinda
like what else do you have besideWs your reputation? [If]
you have a reputation for being a douche, then no ones
going to respect you. But if you have a reputation for being pretty cool and down to earth, then people are gonna
want to work with you. I can say as a collective we all feel
like that.
Another reason is that we’ve worked so hard. We’ve
been on the road, eaten Top Ramen for weeks on end, driven in a van with a trailer through the night and into the
morning. We’ve paid a lot of road dues, all of us! Having
paid those dues, we also know that we DO deserve where
we are, because we paved that way. A lot of these younger
acts that go from zero to hero overnight, its cool and YouTube is awesome for that, but they haven’t learned the
skills yet that you get from being on the road.
Juliana: What’s your writing style, personally, and as
a band?
July• 2014
RyMo: Yeah there’s always tons of weed. We’re definitely proponents of weed, and we don’t make it a secret.
Half the songs are about smoking and partying and having a good time. We’re not really making a big political
statement about it. We’re just about partying and having
fun and leaving your concerns at the door!
Juliana: Who has Slightly Stoopid toured with before
that’s on the Summer Sessions 2014 lineup?
RyMo: We’ve toured with all the bands before except
NOFX, so we’re really excited to do these shows with
them! We’ve grown up as huge, huge fans of theirs, so it’s
a real honor to have them. I just can’t wait to meet some
of the guys! I’ve seen them play live a bunch and they just
seem so cool. So we’re really looking forward to hanging
out with them.
We’ve toured with the other three bands (Stephen
Marley, Cypress Hill, and G. Love) over the last 5-6 years
so it’s going to be a reunion of sorts!
Juliana: Any plans for collaboration with those groups
on stage this summer?
RyMo: Oh yeah, most definitely! Yes! You just have to
come to the show to find out who and when and what we
will be collaborating on!
To view the complete Summer Sessions 2014 Tour
Schedule and to purchase tickets for the Boston show on
7/31, visit the Slightly Stoopid website at: http://pr.slightlystoopid.com/summersessions2014/
For more information about Gathering of the Vibes,
to purchase tickets, and to view the complete lineup and
schedule, go to: www.govibes.com.
cidermag.com • CIDER
MAG • 17