dios malos

It's fitting that dios malos means "bad gods" in Spanish, as the Hawthorne, California, band learned the hard way not to mess with a higher power -- Ronnie James Dio, that is. The VH1 Classic fave slapped a cease-and-desist order against the quintet for its original name, dios, as he felt the moniker too closely resembled that of his non-plural band, Dio. Unsurprisingly, Ronnie James is obviously suffering from delusions of grandeur, since only those with concrete in their ear canals would mix up the two bands. In fact, where the latter focuses on metal excess, dios malos trades in sun-kissed songs perfect because of their simplicity. The group's debut, Dios, is all yawning open spaces and fragile vocal twinning from brothers Joel and Kevin Morales, conjuring early morning wake-and-bake sessions, lazy acoustic guitar jams with Neil Young and long nights driving on solitary highways obsessing over Elliott Smith. Unlike other hippie-flavored bands of their ilk, however, the members of dios malos can hang with the loud crowd and the introspective troubadours -- they've toured with orchestral dorks Beulah, frantic rockers French Kicks and agit-punks Pretty Girls Make Graves.

Doors open at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. Call 314-935-5917 for ticket price and more information.