Slightly Stoopid just announced that tickets are now on sale for their national tour, which will culminate in the band’s native Southern California for two spectacular holiday shows in Los Angeles and Santa Cruz. Tickets for the special holiday shows - one at Hollywood’s prestigious The Wiltern Theatre and the other at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz - will go on sale Wednesday, Oct. 17 for the band’s fan club members and will be available Saturday, Oct. 20 at all ticket outlets.

Want to find out more about this eclectic group? Read on.

Hailing from Southern California and drawing inspiration from listening to big-time artists from a myriad of genres such as Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, Dr. Dre and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Slightly Stoopid has made its mark on the indie music industry by producing five full-length studio and two live albums with songs that fuse acoustic rock and blues with reggae, hip-hop and punk.

The group, which was signed to punk rock band Sublime?s label, Skunk Records, recently released its fifth album ?Chronchitis? in Aug. 2007 and are now on tour with bands like Ozomatli, G. Love and Special Sauce and participating in some of the biggest tours such as Summer Haze and San Diego’s Street Scene. In an interview with Realskate.com during the 2001 Vans Warped Tour, bass players and singers Kyle McDonald and Miles Doughty talked about where the band is headed.

“I listen to a lot of reggae, ever since I was a kid,” Doughty said. “We used to be just a straight punk band when we were about 16 or 17. That’s all we played. Every now and then we?d throw in a few ska songs. Actually Brad [Bradley Nowell from Sublime] taught us how to play reggae. A lot of bands that try don?t actually understand the whole strum of the reggae, like Bob Marley, Barrington Levy, Half-Pint, Israel Vibration and stuff like that. It has a lot of influence on you and as you get older you start to think I just can?t go out there and do a straight hard punk set.”

Doughty jokes that the group, consisting of six musicians who play everything from congas to the trumpet and saxophone, have all known each other “since we were about 2.” Growing up in Ocean Beach, a suburb of San Diego, the group of young men - all in their early 20s - have been playing together since they were about 16 or 17 years old, Doughty said.

Recording its first self titled album in 1996, Slightly Stoopid broke into the indie music scene running and now the group has embarked on a tour with major musical artists.

“I think that?s what helps us,” Doughty said of the group’s range of musical genres. “We’re so diverse, we play so many different styles of music. Like we broke up the monotony today. Like it’s been punk rock all day long and we opened up with a reggae song.”

Learn more about the tour and the band at www.slightlystoopid.com.