I recently had the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with New Yorker turned California lover, Slightly Stoopid’s own, DeLa. With a new album out, Slightly Not Stoned Enough to Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid, the six piece band just finished their Tailgate 2008 tour with friends Pepper and Sly & Robbie. The band doesn’t have much time to rest though, because they hit the road again September 26^th with 20 shows planned through December.

Slightly Stoopid has released eight albums, two of them live. Their eighth album, Slightly Not Stoned Enough to Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid, is 21 tracks of good times and good tunes. The band has given us another laid back, body swaying, joint rolling, bong loading, keg standing album. With jams like “No Cocaine”, “Fruits”, and “Shoobie”, the new album is more than worth picking up.

DeLa contributes quality saxophone sound with a hint of jazz to the band’s punk-reggae style. He’s been playing the saxophone since he was a young boy in the third grade. “What prompted me to play the saxophone was this recording that I heard called The Heart and Soul of Rock and Roll and I was like, I wanna do that!” DeLa went on to play and conquer the saxophone. He graduated from college with a degree in jazz performance, and then sunk his teeth into a musician’s life in New York.

After joining Slightly Stoopid DeLa believes that they’ve grown stronger and grown together in many musical aspects. The band’s most recent tour has showed fans that the band, if possible, has become better live. DeLa can accredit that to their relationship on stage, “As a band everybody is more cohesive – the band has absolutely stepped it up.” Known for being a harsh critic, DeLa is surprisingly speechless when asked if he thought there was anything negative about the band’s performance.

Photo by Sean Herrero

The road has plans to take the So-Cal based boys to Canada in October and then to Hollywood on December 6^th for a special show at the Palladium. One of the perks of the job and probably one of the biggest coos is to play historic venues all over the world, such as the Palladium. DeLa agrees, “All the bands that I’ve always listened to have played at all of those places (The Greek Theatre and Red Rocks). It feels like,  just an honor to be there, to feel the vibes on those stages.”

Photo by Tom Lusciatti

As someone who has seen Slightly Stoopid live many times, take it from me, December 6^th is not a show you want to miss! The deliverance is always on point and the performance is always prodigious. Slightly Stoopid is always a good show and any beach loving, Southern Californian, pot smoking, jazz, reggae or punk loving human being can enjoy it, whether you know the band or not. Their music can be heard on their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/stoopid and their new album can be purchased on their band website www.slightlystoopid.com. See you all at the Palladium!