Summer may not be here quite yet, but the music of San Diego-based band Slightly Stoopid may be the perfect antidote for students itching for the beaches and laid-back feel of summer break. The band brings its mix of reggae, punk, ska and hip-hop to The Greek Theater on Wednesday night. Daily Bruin A&E contributor Madeleine Clare Flynn spoke with the band’s drummer, RyMo, about the 4/20 concert at the Greek Theater, the band members’ nicknames and their new, more mature album.
Daily Bruin: You have a laid back, beachy sound. Where does your sound come from?
RyMo: Mainly our lifestyle is our biggest influence. Most of the guys in the band at this point live in San Diego. About half of us were born and raised in California. The band’s music definitely embodies that style of music.
DB: All the guys in the band have nicknames, and you, yourself, go by the nickname RyMo. Were the nicknames a conscious decision?
R: They were naturally occurring. OG is our percussion player. We call him that because his real name is Oguer, so if you want to call him “Ogre” or “Gogurt.” They had all these names, because they couldn’t pronounce his name correctly. It’s obviously not a very common name, so they just call him OG. And then Chris Welter, our trumpet player, he goes by C-Money. He’s had that name forever. And then DeLa, his last name is De La Cruz, so they just started calling him DeLa. The names just sort of evolved, so that’s just what we go by when we’re onstage.
DB: Would you say that’s a reflection of the mentality of the band?
R: Absolutely. We’re all pretty laid-back dudes. We like to poke fun and laugh at each other a lot. Our keyboard player – his name is Paul – we just call him Pauley Walnuts. Everyone just has a goofy name that we know each other by.
DB: You’re playing a show on 4/20 at the Greek, and you also have a lot of songs with titles like “Stoned Saga.” How does weed play a role in your songwriting and performing?
R: The music that we write and perform is the result of who we all are as people. We all grew up surfing, skateboarding, smoking, drinking beers and playing music. It’s just a natural part of our life, so we sing a lot about just that: having fun with your friends, being out and going to the beach, getting sunburned and enjoying the day.
DB: What are you looking forward to about the show at the Greek?
R: I’m really looking forward to watching Barrington Levy and Bad Brains perform. That’s going to be my favorite part. Obviously I’m happy to be playing at the Greek Theater, and we’re really proud to be there for 4/20. But I’m really excited to see those bands play, and we’re pretty honored that they’re opening for us and performing with us on the same bill. It’s huge, so we’re excited for that.
DB: Do you have any interesting stories from the road?
R: We just did a tour with Fishbone. They’re another of our favorite bands. They’re from L.A. as well, and we grew up all into them. That was one of the first cassette tapes I ever owned was a Fishbone EP that came out in, like, 1986. Touring with them is awesome. They’re our bros, and they’re just crazy. They’re wise. They’ve been in the music business for, like, thirty years, and they know everyone. They know all the huge acts and the local underground bands. I think all of us look up to them a lot. We’ve had a lot of crazy times on the road where everyone’s drinking, getting crazy and tackling each other – just having fun and getting stupid.
DB: What is it like writing songs with the other members of the band?
R: All the guys in the band like so many different styles of music that at this point in our career, we’re able to play a lot of different styles. I think, and I’m biased, but I think we play them pretty well. Everyone has listened to so much of those styles that we know how to play them. The writing thing, in a nutshell, either one guy spearheads the whole thing, and everyone adds their own part at their own time, or sometimes we’re all in the same room, charging and going for it.
DB: You haven’t had a new album since 2008. What are you working on now?
R: We’ve been working on a new one for about the last year. We just built our own studio, so we’ve just been taking our time on the new one, and I’m really happy about it. We’re getting pretty close to complete, so we’re looking to release something probably by early fall this year. We decided to take our time when we were doing this album, because over so many of the last few albums we’ve been on the road like crazy, and then we get home, and we try to get an album done really quickly. With this one, we wanted to take our time. It’s been a nice process for us.
DB: What is your new album like?
R: It’s going to be similar, but it’ll be a little different in the way that we’re maturing and growing every day. Albums are sort of like photographs. They’re relevant for that exact instant in time. You snap the fingers, and that’s the picture. You look back on that, and it may or may not be relevant, but at that moment in time, that’s what happened. That’s what albums are like. It tells you where the band is at that moment. I think right now it’s a really good place. Everyone’s pretty grounded and focused.