This week, Dios Malos bassist J.P. Caballero has been shining the statuettes that will be awarded at tonight's Daytime Emmy Awards. The other day, he met Bob Barker, which is more than you or I can say for our weeks. He's a runner for the production and the sort of unhinged, laughing stock material that he's collecting like a vacuum cleaner (the anecdotal encounter with Mr. Price Is Right doesn't count) is going to get the band through every long driving day of its Midwestern and East Coast tour with The Fiery Furnaces, you can be sure of it.
On with the meaningfulness of it all. Have you ever heard of hangover remedies? Some kids use waffle houses and everything on their syrupy menus. Some get less fancypants about it and just sleep those nasty reminders that they drank like ravenous beer beasts the night before and some counteract the consequence all together by either soaking the liquor up with breads and such or thinning out the poisons with a gallon of water before falling asleep.
A better, cleaner remedy comes from Dios Malos, a band from the home city of the Beach Boys that will never make you sweat (they're lazy themselves, why would they want you perspiring?), but will absolutely provide the beach-tested psychedelia that makes a person slump in their cushioned seats and issue a memo to the rest of the parts of the body not fully paying attention that it's in no hurry to do anything other than experiment with vegetation and absorb what's happening around them. The way that they convey themselves in song is similar to putting on a happy face, though there's a sense that it's mostly genuine in its demonstration. While taking the garden variety relationship lumps, guitarist and singer Joel Morales never seems in need of placating. A good thing can pass like any other thing can.
In Brian Wilson's autobiography, Wouldn't It Be Nice, he talks about the recording sessions for the song "God Only Knows" and the trepidation he felt about the opening line of the song, "I may not always love you…" He thought it was too negative of a way to start a love song. Tony Asher, he co-writer told him, "Brian, that's real life. People who are in love may not always stay in love with one another." This very simple idea (coincidentally provided by Brian Wilson) permeates the bulk of Dios Malos' work to date, where life is appreciated for all its tumbling and all its tossing. Greater is the way it's dealt with than the action that predicated it. The love has faded so find some new feathers. Life is hard, so go find yourself some sun - take the day off of work and just enjoy the goodness of things. This could also involve waffles - "You never had it so easy/Butterworth." Things are good.