Beware of Darkness Blasts the Roxy

Beware of Darkness Kyle Nicolaides

Article by LA Butler

Photos by Kimberly Annette

Before I jump into the  Beware of Darkness review, I want to give you a heads up on female duo who opened for them. Last night, taking the stage directly before  BOD, was teen acoustic duo The Pink Slips. Vocalists Grace McKagan (yep, GnR, Velvet Revolver and now Walking Papers’

The Pink Slips
Grace McKagan & Jamie Brooks

Duff McKagan’s daughter) and Jamie Brooks woke up the room with a brief set that highlighted McKagan’s rich vocals and Brooks’ soulful guitar and lush harmonies. The audience really dug them, unfortunately, even the creepy, old, salivating pervs that rushed to the

stage when the young girls first came out. Gross.

Geezers aside, The Pink Slips are definitely worth checking out. So please do.

Kyle Nicolaides

So now on to the talented beasts of the underworld,  Beware of Darkness. The best way to describe front man Kyle Nicolaides is a demented Peter Pan on crack. This guy back walks, leaps, spins 360-degree turns, booty shakes and fist pumps the air, all while power-singing and hyper-stroking his guitar. Blazing energy is an understatement. The youngish Nicolaides amps up the fun and engages the crowd like a seasoned pro. Fellow bandmates Daniel Curcio (bass) and Tony Cupito (drums) clearly drank from the same tank of energy juice. From the moment they took the stage, it was pure energy—pumping, blasting and sizzling—stringing at an intense, full throttle pace.

Returning to the Roxy stage, from where it all began,  Beware of Darkness jump-started their set with “Ghost Town,” a metal infused, deliciously dark and brooding death anthem about the gut-wrenching search for a reason to live; loss at its rock-n-roll finest. A slow start, stylized melody up front, the opening tone of despair quickly escalated into a frenzied scream. Nicolaides led the way with his body-writhing vocals and devil-licious riffs. Drummer Cupito banged the skins into submission. Bassist Curcio began the tune with a laid-back, almost disinterested vibe, and then wowed the crowd with a mid-song finger-picking run. The audience was hooked. Darkness added a surprise touch with a false end to the song, one that definitely fooled the audience, then followed it up the with the real ending that included a jump-jump, guitar-humping stage romp from Nicolaides and scream of sticks and skins by drummer Cupito.

What a finish!

Tony Cupito

Next up, a punk-playful ‘love’ song’ with more ode to Jack the Ripper than romance,  BOD’s “Sweet Girl.” With lyrics like…

“I wish I was a surgeon,

so I could rip your heart right open.

And I could find the spot, which broke me,

and I would tear it out.”

…and guitar chords flavored like an early Beatles or Stones tune, “Sweet Girl” was the perfect mix of devilish fun and deep-down dungeon-of-the-mind thoughts. This reviewer loved this twisted gem, and so did the crowd. At least the ones awake enough to listen. There was an odd mix of people as the night went on. For the most part, those closest to the stage looked and reacted like numb zombies. It was the folks three-quarters-of-the-way back, and those in the reserve seats and standing at the bar that really got into BOD’s jams, nodding their heads, feeling it and otherwise looking alive. More than once front man Nicolaides raised his arms and shouted out to the walking dead in front of him to “rise up LA,” to mostly no avail. I felt bad that a bunch of too-stoned or too-tired people had planted their butts up front. Thankfully, the majority of

Daniel Curcio

the audience that was connecting with these guys made their voices heard.  Otherwise, the sleepyheads taking up space around the stage would have sucked the energy out of all of us, including the band.

The juicy vocals, beats and lyrics of  “Morning Tea” (“I think my mother died today”) and the knock-down, phenomenal bass work throughout the night by guitarist Curcio were some of my best-of-the-set moments, but the ferocious performance feast of the night was definitely BOD’s closer “Howl.”

“Lay down, heaven can wait

You think you’re right, I think you can change.

Draw some blood, I’m not going hungry tonight

Won’t it be fun, to howl in the night?

Howl—so that the angels can hear you”

Nicolaides made this boot-stomping, death-metal, modern-Ozzy art piece an elixir of vampirish delight. The band gave this wrap-it-up-for-the-night song a 1000-percent effort. From guitars to vocals, to the hell-blaze of drums, “Howl” growled down to the gates of Lucifer’s living den and back. The crowd was locked in, feeling more like they’d landed at one kick-ass jam session than at a rock venue. Musically, everything hit the touch points on this one; pacing, lyrics, instrument improv, the works. And Nicolaides, Mister Demented Peter Pan himself, was the screaming, humping, guitar-pounding master storyteller leading us on this vocal hell ride. It was a fantastic ending to a great BOD night.

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