Heavy-hitters from the peace-and-love generation

“Come on, now, that guy’s a legend.” Slightly Stoopid’s Kyle McDonald, checking in by phone from his home in Ocean Beach, is talking about the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, who appears on the new Slightly Stoopid DVD with a cast of heavy-hitters from the peace-and-love generation. “All those guys...they paved the way. They’re like pioneers.” As for the star-studded studio sessions that resulted in the new project, McDonald says, “I couldn’t have dreamed this shit up.”

In April, the San Diego–based band released Slightly Stoopid & Friends: Live at Roberto’s TRI Studios, a CD/DVD set recorded at TRI Studios in San Rafael with guest artists Weir, Ivan and Ian Neville, Don Carlos, Karl Denson, and more. The DVD also contains an interview segment moderated by Weir and comedian/activist Tommy Chong.

McDonald explains that the idea for the Weir collaboration came about after Slightly Stoopid did some work with the elder musician. It mushroomed from there into the big group hug that the band finally ended up producing at TRI, a video-streaming venue and recording facility created by Weir.

“It was surreal,” McDonald says, “all those kinds of heads in one room.” He says a portion of the proceeds from Live at Roberto’s will benefit two charitable organizations: Save the Children and the World Food Programme.

McDonald and Miles Doughty started what would eventually become Slightly Stoopid in the early 1990s while still at Point Loma High School. First a skatepunk band, Slightly Stoopid would ultimately mellow into what has been called a weedy mix of reggae, hip-hop, and funk. Sublime’s Bradley Nowell signed them to his Skunk Records label after Daughty’s mom invited the late singer back to the family’s home following a Sublime show at Dream Street (now Mother’s Saloon) in Ocean Beach in 1993. Skunk would eventually release the first two Slightly Stoopid CDs, Slightly $toopid and The Longest Barrel Ride. The band began headlining arena tours in 2008.

As for the Tommy Chong hook-up, McDonald says he was “badass. It was fun to talk to him...he’s funny. He cracks me up.”

Slightly Stoopid will be at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Chula Vista on July 20 as part of their Kickin’ Up Dust tour.