Beware of Safety

Lore & Background

Beware of Safety formed in Los Angeles, California, and released their debut EP It Is Curtains in 2007 on The Mylene Sheath. Their first full-length album, dogs, followed in 2009 and garnered attention including a write-up in Wired Magazine's Sunday Soundtracking. In early 2009, Tad Piecka joined the band on bass, expanding the lineup to five members. The band's 2011 album Leaves/Scars was created during a tumultuous period when members contemplated quitting the band. Their 2014 album Lotusville reflects the band's experiences living in Los Angeles. The band's final release, Mabon, appeared in 2015 as both a digital release and later as an LP on dunk!records in 2020.

Reader's Guide

Beware of Safety occupies a niche within the instrumental post-rock and post-metal scenes, distinguished by their sprawling compositions that incorporate elements of math rock. Their album dogs received notable press, including coverage in Wired Magazine, indicating a reach beyond typical underground circles. The band's international releases—on The Mylene Sheath in the USA and Friend of Mine Records in Japan—and tours across the USA and Europe with prominent acts like Caspian and El Ten Eleven helped solidify their presence in the genre. The internal struggles during the creation of Leaves/Scars and the personal inspiration behind Lotusville add depth to their catalog. Though the band has not released new material since 2015, their six official releases remain touchstones for fans of heavy, atmospheric instrumental rock. Member Morgan Hendry's parallel career as an engineer at Jet Propulsion Lab offers an unusual biographical note.

Did You Know?

• Beware of Safety is commonly abbreviated as BoS.
• Member Morgan Hendry is also an engineer at Jet Propulsion Lab.
• The band's album dogs received a write-up in Wired Magazine's Sunday Soundtracking.
• The creation of 2011's Leaves/Scars was a tumultuous time with members contemplating quitting the band.

Musical Identity & Instrumental Craft

Beware of Safety, known by the shorthand BoS, is a five-piece instrumental outfit hailing from Los Angeles, California. Their sound is best described as sprawling instrumental rock that defies easy categorization, with listeners and critics alike placing them somewhere along a spectrum that includes post-metal, post-rock, and even math rock. The group's lineup features three guitarists—Adam Kay, Jeff Zemina, and Steve Molter—alongside bassist Tad Piecka and Morgan Hendry, who handles both drums and keyboards. This configuration of multiple string players layered over a rhythmic foundation gives BoS the density and textural range to build compositions that shift between atmospheric swells and intricate, rhythmically complex passages. Because the band operates entirely without vocals, every emotional arc and narrative turn must be conveyed through tone, dynamics, and interplay between the instruments. The result is a body of work that rewards repeated listening, where the interplay of three guitars creates a wall of sound that can feel simultaneously massive and meticulously constructed.

Discography & Release History

Across roughly a decade of activity, BoS has produced six official releases that trace the band's evolution from early EP to fully realized studio albums. The catalog opens with It Is Curtains (2007), followed by the full-length dogs (2009), both issued through The Mylene Sheath in the United States. The year 2011 proved particularly prolific, yielding both a collaborative split 7-inch with Giants and the album Leaves/Scars, also on The Mylene Sheath. The band extended its international footprint by releasing material through Friend of Mine Records in Japan, giving their music a foothold in the Japanese post-rock scene. Lotusville (2014) marked a new chapter, drawing directly on the members' day-to-day experiences of living in Los Angeles. The most recent entry, Mabon, first appeared as a digital release in 2015 before receiving a physical LP pressing on dunk!records in 2020. Together, these records document a group steadily refining its instrumental vocabulary while maintaining a commitment to the sprawling, multi-layered compositions that define their identity.

Touring & Critical Recognition

BoS has built a reputation on the road as much as in the studio, touring extensively across both the United States and Europe. Their live résumé includes sharing stages with a roster of well-regarded acts in the instrumental and alternative rock world, among them Caspian, El Ten Eleven, If These Trees Could Talk, Té, sleepmakeswaves, Maserati, The American Dollar, and Junius. These pairings place BoS squarely within a community of bands that prioritize texture, dynamics, and extended compositional structures over conventional songwriting formulas. On the press front, the 2009 album dogs attracted a notable amount of attention, including a feature in Wired Magazine's Sunday Soundtracking column, which helped introduce the band's sound to a broader, tech-savvy audience beyond the typical post-rock circuit. The 2011 split 7-inch with Giants further demonstrated the band's willingness to collaborate and cross-pollinate with peers, a gesture that likely contributed to the network of touring partners and shared audiences that sustained them across both continents.

Band Dynamics & Life Beyond the Music

The story of BoS is not just one of musical output but of the human tensions and outside commitments that shape a working band. In early 2009, Tad Piecka joined the group on bass, expanding the lineup from four to five members and adding a new voice to the collective sound. The creative process behind 2011's Leaves/Scars was, by all accounts, a turbulent period during which members seriously contemplated walking away from the project altogether, underscoring how fragile such a commitment can be. Beyond the rehearsal room, the members maintain lives that pull in different directions. Morgan Hendry, who plays drums and keyboards, also works as an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, a role that demands precision and long hours far removed from the improvisatory energy of a post-rock set. Meanwhile, the band's deep roots in Los Angeles—reflected explicitly in the 2014 album Lotusville—suggest that the city's pace, light, and culture seep into their compositions as naturally as the technical interplay of three guitars.