Those of you that will be attending the Voodoo Music + Arts Experience this weekend will be in for a treat on Sunday, when Slightly Stoopid, Dumpstaphunk and Fishbone take over the Flambeau Stage for a series of back-to-back sets. Their sounds may differ in a lot of respects, but these three artists at least one thing in common: they all like to throw a damn good party.

They’re all friends too. While most acts are content with heading back to the tour bus or the artist lounge after they’ve wrapped up their festival set, these guys plan on sticking around to trade sit ins and deliver other surprises. It won’t be a first for any of them either, as the groups have been collaborating in New Orleans as far back as 2011, when Fishbone, Ivan Neville and Ian Neville joined Slightly Stoopid for their Mardi Gras. And that’s only scratching the surface, as the groups have teamed up on countless occasions outside the New Orleans area, including a special concert at Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir’s TRI Studios that saw Ivan and Ian join forces with the Stoopid guys (as well as Weir, saxophonist/flautist Karl Denson and marijuana icon Tommy Chong).

The fun is slated to begin at 3:30pm with a set from Fishbone. Dumpstaphunk will be up next, and Slightly Stoopid will close out the stage at 7pm. Considering all the history–and the fact that these guys no how to spread some great vibes–it’s fair to say that the Flambeau Stage is the place to be this Sunday. We caught up with Slightly Stoopid guitarist/bassist/vocalist Miles Doughty to talk about the Voodoo showcase, as well the band’s dedicated fanbase, the 21st century music business, playing New Orleans and more.

You released your new album Meanwhile… Back at the Lab earlier this year and then you hit the road for a while in support of it. How has the reception been to the new material?

It’s been great man. We just did 10 weeks with The Dirty Heads. We had this tour called the “Everything Is Awesome Tour”. We just did 40 something shows in the States and it was insane man. The whole summer was just a blast and the crowds were cracking and the vibes were good between the bands and it was just overall a successful tour.

I saw that Karl Denson, the unofficial 8th member of Slightly Stoopid, was on this album. Did he join you guys on the tour as well?

Yeah, for some spot dates, because he’s also playing with The Rolling Stones, so he’s got a pretty busy schedule. He’s been their saxophone player for the last year or so, so it’s been pretty crazy.

Yeah, I saw that there was a song on the album called “Rolling Stone” and I was wondering if there was any connection between that and Karl’s new job.

No. (Laughs) There’s no connection between that and the actual Rolling Stones, but we’re stoked for Karl. It’s pretty insane to check that off the bucket list of “bands to play with.”.

You guys are going to be coming through New Orleans this weekend. Do you have any history with this city?

Yeah,  we’ve been touring there for about 15 years and it’s always an experience. If you live in New Orleans, you know its music scene is just amazing and just the vibes are pretty intense and crazy and awesome… and good food too. We like getting our grind on. Just the whole music scene. We get to link up with our boys, Dumpstaphunk, and a few of the Nevilles. It’s gonna be a good time. Fishbone.

What inspired you guys to team up with Dumpstaphunk and Fishbone for a showcase at Voodoo Fest?

It’s just because we’re all homies. If we ever get a chance to meet up, we always try to push for us to link up on the same stage. That way we can just make music together and have a good time. That’s what making music is about,. creating those relationships. Not just playing for the fans, but also playing with these other bands and musicians and just creating something completely different. So it keeps it fun for all of us. The fact that we’re all good friends and we play together, it just makes it better. That stage is going to be ridiculous that day.    

Can we expect some collaborations between you guys over on that stage?

Oh yeah. There’s definitely going to be collaborations going on between Fishbone, us and Dumpstaphunk.   

Slightly Stoopid has  a pretty dedicated fanbase, with people that like to go from show to show. It’s a little bit like The Grateful Dead and other jam bands. What is it about Slightly Stoopid that inspires such dedication from the fans?

I don’t know. I think it’s just the grassroots feel of the band and the way the band was founded. We kind of took that grassroots mentality to the touring level and we built our scene from the ground up. A lot of those fans have been with us for years. We’ve seen some fans for the last 15 years. “Repeaters,” you know what I mean, where they kind of grow up with you as you tour. I think that it’s also the vibe, the SoCal vibe. People can see who we are. There’s nothing fake about it. What you see is what you get. We’re very real cats. We grew up in a town called Ocean Beach, surfing and skating and hanging and just having a good time. We preach it in our music and I think that people are attracted to it because of that. I don’t know if there’s any sort of recipe or reason or why. A lot of it is just dumb luck and that the music that we’re making is affecting people. We’re blessed to do what we do.      

As a band that’s constantly on the road and that records its albums independently, were you uniquely positioned for success when the music industry took a turn about 10-15 years ago? Did your way of doing things put you in a good position to capitalize on the new music industry model?

Yeah, we kind of had that model from the beginning when we started as a band in ’93-’94. We were taken under the wing of Bradley Nowell and Miguel Happoldt from the Sublime crew. They brought us in and gave us some cool advice when we were kids. Advice about touring, not relying on  “the machine” to get your music out there, and doing what you want to do musically and artistically. So, I think getting that advice young, it kind of set us up perfectly because everybody was freaking out when the slide to the internet came.

When Napster and whatnot started the free streaming of music, you saw all these giant artists that were the ones making millions and millions of dollars freaking out, while it actually opened the door for the smaller artists to be heard. All you heard then were those giant artists. There was no room for the small artist of the world,  the way the music was. There were just these giant bands like Metallica. Everyone who thought of heavy metal, the only band they really thought about was Metallica, on a commercial level, because they were just so big. They’ve been the ones that fought it the most, where, for  smaller bands, that surge of the free streaming and everything let you branch out from being a band that was on the West Coast or a band that was on the East Coast. It helped you get out there touring. That’s kind of how people found out about the band east of Colorado. We weren’t really touring that far and then, when that whole thing where you could get music on the internet happened, it really opened the door for us and we’ve embraced it ever since.

What advice would you give to young bands that are just starting out?

Don’t be scared to just get out there and play. Sometimes you’re not going to play in front of anybody. You just got to get out there and branch out beyond the comfort zone of the circuit of shows that you’re doing and don’t be discouraged. Just get out there and rock your hardest and play the music that you want to play and do the best you can. A lot of times, you know, don’t look for that quick success, get out there and earn it. I think the fans respect it more when you get out there and tour and you give them something that they want to listen to.

What’s next for Slightly Stoopid after this tour wraps up?

We got a small thing we do down in Mexico. In Puerto Morelos, down in Cancun, we do this destination event with some bands and this is the second year we’ve done it. It’s really turning into a special thing, and it sold out this year. It’s just gonna be cool, you know, it’s really like a backyard party for the fans because you’re there with everybody. There’s no separation. It’s like a hangout for a week. We played 3 shows and almost 8 songs last year for the shows so it was really cool. It was something fun and I think it’s different, something to change the musical experience, especially when you’ve been touring as long as we have. It’s something cool and that’s what we like to do, just try to find out different things to do to make the show more fun and also just get back in the studio.