los saicos

We hit up the Black Lips show last night at the Loft, and those guys tore it up (more on the show later today). We spoke briefly with gangsta-grilled guitarist Ian St. Pe about what he's been listening to lately (from Project Pat to Diplo), and the conversation quickly turned to early '60s teenage Peruvian surf-garage punks Los Saicos. The Saicos happen to be one of Ian's favorite bands, as well as one of the Lips' biggest influences. Not unlike the Monks, these kids essentially existed independently of anything else that was around at the time. Although they were fairly big hits in their native Peru (they had their own national TV program during 1965), they never released a proper LP and mysteriously disbanded after only a couple years in 1966. Here are a couple of their early singles:

mp3:
Los Saicos Demolicion
Los Saicos Salvaje

Read more about Los Saicos here, and check out their official myspace.