If you’ve checked out any DD69 music, you’ll know that I loves me some ska, rock, and funk music. So it’s not a surprise that I wanted to go check out Slightly Stoopid at the House of Blues.

They were originally scheduled to be here back in March, but had to cancel. I kept an eye out for their return and got a couple tickets for me and hellpellet. Truthfully, she’s more of a fan of their music than I am, but I dug it enough to go to the show.

The opener was a cat named Zach Deputy, who I was not familiar with. He came out by himself and sat down behind a conglomeration of microphones, pedals, and other gear. And he proceeded to just blow my mind.

He was clearly having a great time doing his set, which involved looping and building tunes one bit at a time (a la Keller Williams). Instead of the KW repertoire of hippie music, though, Zach built some tunes with serious grooves, and others that were just plain fun. I loved his vocal style, which seemed to cover an amazing range and which he delivered in styles ranging from bluesy, gospel rasps to high, sweet falsetto. His guitar prowess was amazing as well. Here’s a clip of him performing “Into the Morning“:

I have to say that after seeing and hearing Zach do his thing, Slightly Stoopid was a little bit of a letdown.

Maybe it’s because I wasn’t all blazed up (it seemed like everyone else, including the band, was getting hiiiiigh), but after a few tunes everything started to sound the same. There was one exception – an old-school punk song that they threw in – but it was the only real change-up. After a while the constant, unchanging piano/organ rhythm just got to be too much for my non-stoned brain.

I did dig the fact that Miles Doughty and Kyle McDonald switched off on bass / guitar and lead vocals, and I loved the horn section. The band sounded solid, and the sound at HOB was great. I just would’ve dug a little bit of a change in the sound or the rhythm to break things up a little more. Or maybe I should’ve just inhaled with more gusto.

As always, though, it was great to see live music and to get turned on to a brand new artist that I’m really enjoying.