It's time for a Monday Music post again, and this time I can put it straight into my collection. It's easy to check out, and it's growing to a really nice size of what I hope is interesting music of all types.
Today I want to talk about very early form of punk rock. But if you're thinking about some obscure 70's garage rock from the US or UK, you're completely wrong! The group I want to talk about are from the early 1960's of Lima, Peru and became known as:
Los Saicos
Listening to the first 25 seconds of their most famous song Demolición, I couldn't help being reminded of surfer rock in the style of Dick Dale... until the vocals kicked in. At that moment it became perfectly clear: this is punk of the purest dirt. The sound is raw, angry, and as unpolished as it goes. At the same time it conveyed an incredible amount of energy, passion, and a strong dedication to taking life by the horns. The topic of the lyrics, demolition, only underlines the direction their music is taking. But can we actually call this music punk?
A Very Typical Story
Just like so many other rock groups of the time, and really ever since, the story of Los Saicos is one of many. A couple of teens band up, enjoy music, and decide to play something together. They discover the joy of their expression, and look for other friends / musicians to complete a band. In this case the founding members were guitarist Erwin Flores and drummer Francisco "Pancho" Guevara, inviting Rolando "El Chino" Carpio to be their lead guitarist, since he was the only one who could play an instrument properly. The fourth band member César "Papi" Castrillón became their bassist. Even though he didn't know how to play at all, it didn't matter in light of the skill level of the founding members. Their original name was Los Sádicos, but they dropped the 'd' so not to create the impression that they were in fact sadists. The result sounded a lot like "Psychos", which found a great appeal among band members and fans alike.
Freedom Instead of Fine Sounds
When it came to singing, the situation was similar. Erwin and César took turns to give their sound a bit of variety, but holding a note was none of their forte. Not that it mattered too much, since the entire point of playing, as all members realized, was simply to have fun. They screamed their hearts out... and the fans loved it. So they screamed louder, and the fans loved it even more. They didn't even bother trying to cover American pop songs, as it was common among other artists back then. Instead they wrote almost all of their own pieces. And this is how a new sound was born, something that a decade later would be tried by other English speaking groups, and ultimately receive the punk rock moniker.
Surprisingly Well Received
After playing local shows, Los Saicos were "discovered" after their first major gig at the Tauro Cinema in Lima. Over the next year they released a number of singles, got considerable airplay on Peruvian radio stations, and were even invited into a TV show. However, their fame didn't last very long. In 1966 interest in Los Saicos started to wane, and (as true punks) the members decided that they didn't care about being famous. Instead of breaking up, they simply stopped recording, and eventually playing all together (...until some nostalgic revival shows four decades later).
But Are Los Saicos In Fact Punk?
Strictly speaking, ... You can't discuss punk strictly speaking! After all the idea behind punk is breaking down barriers and lines of division. So putting groups and styles in certain categories would be as far from punk as you can get. But the fact that they played their songs like they wanted, learning music literally as they played, and thereby discovering a style that would become associated with their same raw, energy filled attitude, I believe speaks for itself.
They Couldn't Have Been The First
Does the fact that at the same time The Beatles were conquering the world with cheesy "Love Me Do" tunes sound ironic? Sure, but I don't believe it's as fascinating as it might seem. There must have been punk bands all around the world, long before even the word was coined. Some kids in Italy in the 50's, who got their hands on some instruments to try their own idea of Rock'n Roll? Why not? Or a group of teens in the Australian outback, maybe as far back as World War II, playing loud angry music in some garage somewhere, screaming out all their passion at the bitterness of existence? I wouldn't doubt it. I'm sure even The Beatles, back in their Hamburg days, played something that must resemble punk rock in some way. Are there any recordings from that era? I don't even know. Though I would love to hear it if there are.
I was inspired to this post by a conversation about punk rock with an old friend of mine, as well as a new one, who is also a great connoisseur of music and culture, among other things. (So I hope he likes this post...) At that time I had heard about some proto-punk band from Peru in the sixties, but I just couldn't remember their name! So I looked into it, and found this amazing video by Shaun Track with a really great analysis of Los Saicos. (It's in Spanish!) There is also an interesting documentary with English subs, taking a look at the story of this early punk phenomenon.