DIOS

Dios hail from Hawthorne, CA. That is part of the South Bay. Home to the legendary SST and the birthplace of the Beach Boys & Black Flag. Dios proudly represent their home in the sense that they drum to their own beat. Its hard to put a label on this bands dynamic sound. Heavily influenced by the pop sensibilities of The Beach Boys & The Beatles they also add elements of lo-fi indie rock and spaced out psychedelic music.

This quintet started about a year and a half ago. Recording their record in the basement of their bassist's (J.P. Cabelleros) home, they were able to tweak and craft their songs. All while touring around the west coast with bands such as: Pinback, The New Amsterdams, and Polyphonic Spree as well as playing in Los Angeles any chance they get.

Its safe to say that dios (always lowercase) are a unique band. At times you can swear you've "heard that song before" but by the end of the listen you are spellbound. You realize that dios' gift to borrow and fuse together the melodies and sounds of the past make for a fresh and new present. At the same time they add in their own stoic charm and youthful bliss. Pretty incredible when you consider that 3/5 of dios is not even 21.

Dim Mak Releases:
DM061: dios "Los Arboles", BUY CD

Press

Updated 09/22/04

Pollstar.com
Brand New Dios

"The recently rechristed Dios Malos will head out this fall on a cross-country tour. After a September 24 San Francisco gig, they'll spend the month of October traveling the country before wrapping at the Glass House in Pomona, CA on the 29th.

The jaunt will be the Hawthorne, CA based band's first extended tour under its new name, which was changed from Dios this summer after Ronnie James Dio complained.

Apparently, the former Black Sabbath singer felt the name was too similar to that of his own band, Dio. Rather than put up a fight, the indie rockers acquiesced, although bassist J.P. Cabellaro admitted to Rolling Stone that 'It's pretty retarded.'

'We're up against rainbows and magic,' he added on the band's Web site.

The band formerly known as Dios released its first full-length in March on Star Time. An EP, Arboles, surfaced two months earlier on Dim Mak.

Dios Malos was recently nominated (by none other than Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba) for the 2004 Shortlist Music Prize. The 10 Shortlist finalists will be announced in late September."

http://www.pollstar.com/news/viewnews.pl?NewsID=3572

Updated 07/13/04

Flaunt Issue #54
Dios
words Britt Brown photos Chris Buck
Because dios are from Hawthorne, CA, wear their hair shaggy and their beards scruffy, and play patient, complex folk-pop songs, people often perceive them to be mere mellow, Beach Boys-loving, Golden state slackers. But Joel Morales, dios' lead singer and guitarist, is quick to shatter this utopian conception.
"I wasn't into the whole L.A. sunny California pop bullshit," he says. "Yeah, we live 10 minutes from the beach, but I wasn't fucking surfing junior fucking year or going to the fucking mall. I wasn't doing that fucking shit." As should now be obvious, there is a darkness to the dudes of dios. And rightfully so, for Southern California is a sink-or-swim musical fishtank, one in which these five old friends have, for too long, been treading water.
Joel sighs, then vents. "I mean, shit, I wish L.A. was a little more cohesive and open-minded about its art and culture, but it's not. It's very elitist." Which is a damn shame because dios deserve to be treated like a local treasure. For five years now, in various incarnations (the current quintet is rounded out by drummer Jackie Monzon, Joel's brother, Kevin, on guitar, keyboardist Jimmy Cabez DeVaca, and J.P. Caballero on bass), they've been purveying their tender, intricate, West Coast psychedelia to dirty bars and careless clubs without garnering much more than the occasional mention in a regional weekly. But then, last winter, they cut their quietly majestic Los Arboles EP, were ranked seventh on NME's "Top Fifty Bands to Watch in 2004" list, and what do you know? The press came running. So, naturally, they're a bit cynical.
"I look at it like this," Joel explains. "All the people writing about us don't give a shit about us, and that's fine. They don't have to. Obviously they're being paid to write about us, so they just want to find out whatever, get their little catch phrases, their snippets, and that's all it is." That may be all it, but there's going to be a lot more of it in dios' future, especially once they set off on their nationwide tour with Modesto's finest, Grandaddy, in support of their intimate and sophisticated self-titled, home-recorded, full-length debut.
Yep, home-recorded. Of course, you'd never know just by listening because the drums are so crisp and contained, the echo effects pitched perfectly in the mix, and every swooping flourish-whether it be bird calls, a mellotron, or synthesised strings-glides gracefully into the orchestration with subtle restraint and balance. "Well, I've always liked to record," Joel admits. And it shows.
And really-almost as much as the shared Hawthorne hometown factor-it is this incredibly fastidious studio craftmanship quality which earns dios their bountiful Beach Boys comparisons. The songs range from lazy, loping Neil Young-like ballads to dynamic bedroom mini-symphonies, but they all demonstrate the sort of methodical, meticulous attention to detail, melody, and composition that only truly obsessive aesthetes could provide-or "chimpanzees with attention deficit disorder," interjects Jimmy.
"We've been called that," explains bassist J.P. "Or, he's been called that." Somebody's been called that, at any rate, and odds are it was leveled following a perusal of dios' smartly half-assed webpage, www.wearedios.com, wherein they offer interactive games and lots of laughable, electro-muzak versions of popular 80's his (like "Every Breath You Take," Atari-style). It's an enjoyable place to roam and a good forum for dios' flippancy, which is a key element in their chemistry, for, without it, the inevitable gauntlet of greedy agents, tiring tours, and jackass journalists can erode the enthusiasm of any band, and that's a depressing prospect.
"Wait," Jimmy says suddenly, cocking his head to the side, ears focused on the faint music wafting through the outdoor cafe. "This is Wilson Phillips," he calmly announces.
"Oh yeah!" J.P. chimes in. "We were just listening to this yesterday, weren't we?" Joel nods and smiles at the thought. Then they order hot chocolates and sundaes. Dios may not be California dreaming exactly, but they're doing something special.

Updated 07/13/04


NME
words April Long photo Sebastian Artz
Los Angeles used to suck. Hard. Ever since the hair-metal days of Guns N' Roses and Motley Cue in the late-'80s, the place has struggles to deliver any new rock'n'roll goods. This is despite the fact that the metropolis has a larger population than 42 American states, incorporates a total of 88 cities and is a magnet for creative, liberal, hedonistic people. Welcome then the sunkissed, carefree, Cali contenders dios.
"There are a few decent bands," mutters Joel Morales, Dios' unrepentantly unwashed kingpin. "Bust most LA bands are lame-ass shit. Everybody moves here from someplace else, and nobody's genuine. Everybody's just trying to hustle."
With the exception of Venezuelan American drummer Jackie Monzon, dios (including Joel's little brother Kevin, Jimmy Cabez DeVaca and JP Caballero) are second-generation Mexican Americans, Joel and Kevin's mum was a professional mariachi singer who once appeared "on the Mexican version of the Tonight Show" before moving to California. They all grew up five minutes away from the beach in Hawthorne, a tiny south LA community clustered around dingy strip malls, notable for only two things: the diner scene in Pulp Fiction was filmed there, and The Beach Boys were born there.
Dios, are obsessed with The Beach Boys. They consider 'Smile' the best album ever recorded. They insisted their UK record deal be signed in the same '50s diner where the Wilsons signed theirs. Their forthcoming debut LP features the ice cream cone logo of Foster's Freeze, a Hawthorne burger joint where The Beach Boys wrote 'Fun Fun Fun'.
Today posing for NME's photographer in a bed on Venice Beach, they salute both Brian Wilson's legendary bed sojourn (and the sand he imported into his studio) and John Lennon's honeymoon bed-in for peace with Yoko Ono in 1969.
The influence of both Wilson and Lennon (as well as Neil Young) is tangible in dios' songs. Fragile and exquisitely lovely.

Dios press page

Crashin' In
Los Arboles review
LA lovebirds have the melodies down pat. These kids(not even 20yrs old yet) are destined to be stars. Fans of My Morning Jacket, Beach Boys, The Thrills, Starsailor, The Shins, and Grandaddy take heed. With lyrics like "Bust out the candy, I know a girl named Sandy, I need to know if I'm gay" Dios is destined to become a new voice for a new type of love song. Look forward to their full length coming out on Startime Intl soon.
Lio

Neumu
Los Arboles Review
by Jenny Tatone
...Dios combine an appreciation for breezy '60s Californian pop with a gritty, sometimes sarcastic, tell-it-like-it-is honesty, for a result so engrossing it's like the sunset--you wish it'd last forever...(click link above to see full article)

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