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Unity Tour Rap ’n’ Roll When worlds collide
By John Benson
Over the past decade, 311’s Unity Tours have paired the alternative rap ’n’ roll act with some unique partners.
From Matisyahu and Snoop Dogg to The Offspring, Ziggy Marley, The Wailers and The Roots, the summertime jaunt has proved to be anything but predictable. That continues this year as 311 – known for modern rock hits “Down,” “All Mixed Up,” “Amber,” “Come Original,” “Beautiful Disaster” – has pegged reggae-inspired, psychedelic rock-sounding Slightly Stoopid as its touring mate. The pairing makes sense because there’s apparently a six degrees of Slightly Stoopid thing happening here considering this veteran act has opened for the likes of Snoop Dogg, Stephen Marley, Damian Marley and The Roots.
Now 311 is supporting its latest album “Universal Pulse,” while Slightly Stoopid releases its new effort “Top of the World” next week. Earlier this summer both bands – 311’s Nick Hexum and Slightly Stoopid’s Miles Doughty – participated in a telephone conference call about the 2012 Unity Tour, which comes to Northeast Ohio for a show Sunday at Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica. Here’s a look at some of the highlights from that conversation.
Q: What brought the two bands together for the 2012 Unity Tour?
Nick Hexum: The Unity Tour has been all about bringing people together through music. We’ve always sought to find bands that embrace that philosophy of sort of the bonding power of music. Since we’ve been doing it over 10 years now, or right around 10 years, sometimes we hit the mark perfectly and sometimes the bands that we have are a little further from what we’re looking for. Slightly Stoopid is exactly the vibe that we’re hoping to have. We’ve done a few shows with them in the past. I think the blend of the two bands’ music is going to be a perfect fit.
Q: Both bands have ties to the ’90s. What’s it like being a nostalgia band for some audiences?
Miles Doughty: It’s kind of funny just how everything comes back. Almost 20 years later, the same thing kind of pulls through. Everyone wants to go back to it — it was a dope era, anyway. But you do see even now, all the ’80s, people are bringing all this hyper color back, and it almost makes you want to start watching those break dancing movies where they get everything popping. But as far as the music goes, I think that particular era was just kind of a Southern California vibe as far as the music scene went. You know, it was like from Sublime, 311, Stoopid. All that just kind of made people want to relax down at the beach and not have a care in the world. And I think that it relates in today’s music; they want to pull it back in.
Q: Considering Slightly Stoopid pulls from so many different sounds and influences, does this ever impede the creative process?
Doughty: It just comes out like that. Now we have seven guys in the band and everybody has a different style of music that they really enjoy listening to. You can tell in the music what they bring, like even in the reggae songs. Some things are a little bit different with our keyboard player or our horns. Maybe not necessarily playing just like standard stuff. And for us, honestly, that keeps it fresh in the music. I think even in like the live show, it’s something for everybody. You know what I mean? Maybe not everybody likes reggae or maybe not everybody likes the blues music or the punk rock or hip hop, but we play a little bit of everything. We’re pretty much blessed to be doing what we’re doing.
Q: The Unity Tour has become a summertime staple tour. What were the expectations for the band when it started out?
Hexum: It’s turned into an event. I remember last year when we had Sublime with Rome. Rome was telling us, “I would come as a teenage to every year’s Unity Tour no matter what to see who was on it.” That’s a really cool thing. I’m really glad that we branded it that way and it’s just an honor to be able to keep doing that for so long. Like I said before, Slightly Stoopid’s a perfect match. We’ve been talking to them a couple of times about getting it together and I’m really glad it’s happening this year. It’s going to be a fun summer.