Except you arrived at this story hellbent on perusing some disturbing, albeit entertaining, journalistic jibber-jabber about bingo halls, BMX, and serial killers, you don’t know jack shit about Amigo the Devil. And up till a few month in the past, I’ll admit, I didn’t both. In fact, to a number of the brattier, angrier music snobs on the market conveniently hiding behind their laptops—these whose defining moments in life embody verbally crucifying a teenage woman in a Metallica shirt for not with the ability to identify three songs—this shameful ineptitude of the sonic darkness that’s been spewing from Danny Kiranos (the identify Amigo’s mom gave him when he shot out of the womb) for the previous decade is unforgivable. And hell, perhaps they’re proper. Maybe I must be tarred and feathered on the street, undergo castration, or on the very least be stripped of my publishing privileges from right here to eternity. Nicely, suck it, fanboy. All of us arrive in our personal time.
Within the weeks main as much as this highly-anticipated interview, I dove in extensively to Amigo the Satan’s catalog of consternation—beginning with Every little thing is Wonderful (2018) and on by means of his newest providing, Born In opposition to (2021)—doing my damndest to treatment the unintentional ignorance I’d been wallowing in all this time. Hey man, what can I say? I’ve had higher issues to do than sustain on the good American drool. Given the often-sad state of music right now, my expectation of listening to something once more that will blow my thoughts was someplace between ignoble and the ultimate observe that will have me out on the ledge of my second-story workplace window, able to stomach flop to my demise. However Amigo the Satan, that sly banjo-playing bastard, didn’t present up at this level of my shoddy existence to ship me on a deep dive to the netherworld. Though half anticipating some hipster hack crooner from the crushed horse of a post-MTV unplugged era, there wasn’t a shred of that to be discovered wherever on his recordings. No sir, this Amigo fella was a disturbed, solemn, sarcastic son of a bitch. And I preferred it!
My crash course in his model of what’s being hailed by music critics throughout the globe as darkish people, I’m proud to say, came about within the comforts of my yard, aptly seasoned with a metric ass-ton of beer and edibles, all whereas aggressively smoking one in every of nature’s weaker, slower beasts on the grill because the solar slumped into the horizon. Ah, ain’t it poetic? Now, to Amigo’s legion of rabid followers—and consider me, he’s acquired a extra loyal, devoted fanbase than the Darkish Lord himself—my drunken, stoned familiarization strategies could seem a bit too leisurely for a correct overview. However that’s exactly how this outdated music aficionado goes-a-hearkening as of late: In real-time. Out right here, components deemed by some because the Armpit of America, we take pleasure in good tunes once we’re all buzzed up, reveling within the quandaries of life, and swatting at goddamned mosquitoes.
Though a number of the much less cultured of the societal downtrodden could be fast to label Amigo the Satan as a part of the redneck, twang style, we have to be cautious with these accusations. It’s not that minimize and dry. Why, this isn’t the fake Rhinestone fuddy-duddy of the brand new faculty singing about God and nation for the pink, white and blue, shit-kicking conservatives of a Trump-humping 2024. Don’t you dare examine him to that rotten scene or another for that matter. Amigo the Satan, at the least so far as an ethos, is an apparition of the outdated wild west, circa black and white, and all of the lawless debauchery of the dusty path – a time when prostitutes at all times had a bloody nostril, moonshine stole the eyes of misplaced males and cutthroat violence plagued the streets like an alley cat in warmth.
It was once I heard the songs “Small Stone,” “Homicide on the Bingo Corridor,” and “Shadow,” that my affinity for this younger man’s mission took a critical flip, a blasting impact that despatched me crawling again to the start of his catalog to absorb one other spherical. Maybe I used to be a bit stoned by this time within the night—okay, I positively was—however these grim tunes spurred a sequence of emotional tremors. I felt like I used to be trapped in some dismal hall of the H.H. Holmes homicide home with completely no method of escaping, and my swan music was being ushered in by an organ-grinding monkey in shiny pink lipstick gripping a bloody razor. Holy freaking shit, Nick Cave and Roy Orbison should have given life to a love baby once I wasn’t wanting and Mike Patton, the Almighty Savior, was the godfather. However that couldn’t be, may it? The illegitimate spawn of such masters, for causes we’d like not get into proper now, would have absolutely been born with a extreme case of rickets. I imply, there’s no method in hell for that a lot expertise to suit right into a take a look at tube with out producing a ghastly beginning defect or two. And perhaps that’s what makes Amigo the Satan so rattling distinctive—he’s an illusionary oddity wrapped in an honest human being—and he’s rickets free, so far as I can inform. I do know this to be true as a result of I had the pleasure of speaking extensively with the person through Zoom whereas he was parked at a Shell station in Little Rock, Arkansas. So what in case you’ve seen him driving round city with the taxidermied head of a deer within the passenger seat. Who cares in case you can’t perceive his inquisitive nature for homicide or propensity for taking the occasional shot of Hypnotic when the sadistic spirit strikes him? Who amongst us, am I proper? I inform you this; we’ve solely witnessed a handful of real gut-belting troubadours with the vary to cowl all of the bases prior to now twenty years and, mark my phrases, this dude is one in every of them.
Excessive Occasions: The place are you proper now, a fucking Sunoco?
Amigo the Satan: Yeah, I’m mid-drive proper now. I began driving round 4:30 this morning, and I acquired about six hours to go. I gather lots of bizarre shit, so I’m principally driving round accumulating. I acquired an entire haul right now.
HT: Is all that to your private assortment?
ATD: Yeah, yeah. Each every now and then, I’ll commerce for one thing. However right now was fairly good. (Turns the cellphone so I can see what he’s acquired within the backseat) I acquired a peacock, a bit bear, and a Victorian skeleton.
HT: Good, man. Nicely, I admire you taking outing to speak to me.
ATD: Yeah, thanks to your time. I admire this.
HT: My pleasure. Nicely, very first thing’s first, let’s discuss bingo halls.
ATD: Candy!
HT: I went to at least one on the American Legion again within the day, and it was insane. Judging from the music Homicide in a Bingo Corridor, you’ve additionally seen your fair proportion of them. What’s the fascination?
ATD: I like enjoying bingo, and truthfully, I want I went extra usually now. My first core reminiscence of the bingo corridor expertise was within the first band I used to be ever in. I used to be like 15, I feel. I grew up in Miami, so I used to be nonetheless residing in Miami. I used to be 15, perhaps 16, and we have been doing a bit mini tour of Florida. And that is clearly way back. All of us had these faux IDs that we have been utilizing on tour. The bass participant, my buddy Kyle, rolls in with this literal photocopy of his brother’s ID. They checked out it, and so they simply form of seemed again at him and have been like, “No.” And he goes: “Please?” I bear in mind sitting there pondering, “Kyle, you’re going to get us into a lot bother.” And he or she was like, “Okay, high quality.” And so, we go in. We performed a bunch of rounds. We acquired the thick packets and all that, and I used to be hooked. Hooked, hooked, hooked! So, on that tour, I simply went to each bingo cease I may discover, and that’s the place one in every of my obsessions started.
HT: Bingo halls are fairly intense. They’re surprisingly low-key till somebody beats the room, then look out.
ATD: Oh, it’s brutality.
HT: Nicely, you knew there was no method you might interview with Excessive Occasions with out getting requested about weed. By regulation, I’ve to ask you many private questions on your experiences. Because you agreed to speak to me, I’m assuming that you simply’re an advocate or consumer. I promise, we gained’t inform mother.
ATD: I’m an advocate and consumer. Common consumer, however extremely light-weight. It’s actually humorous. It kicks my ass probably the most of something ever.
HT: Actually?
ATD: Oh yeah, and I don’t know why. I’ve by no means been in a position to construct up an precise tolerance to it. For me, it’s nice. However lots of what my pals smoke as of late simply places me on my ass immediately. It’s nonetheless pleasing. I’ve at all times cherished it. I’ve at all times cherished the tradition round it. I’ve at all times cherished what it does for folks. And I’ve by no means been in a position to immerse myself as wholly and fully as I’d like to as a result of I’m a light-weight. I’m weak.
HT: No, man, not weak. There’s no have to be a hero. Weed is tremendous robust now. I’ve had some situations the place I used to be like, holy shit, I don’t know if I’m going to come back out of this, so don’t really feel unhealthy. How did you get turned on to the plant? Any humorous tales about your first time?
ATD: I used to be like 10 or 11. The primary few instances weren’t very memorable as a result of it was identical to what was taking place with my older pals. And so, I simply acquired form of pulled into it and all that. A lot of the good tales are from early excursions. Once more, that very same first band I had. They have been nonetheless comparatively lawless. It felt, in comparison with now, it felt like lawless days by way of simply getting away with issues and partying and by no means actually stepping into bother. There’s no YouTube and cameras in every single place and all that. It was simply lots of debauchery, ending up in homes that I shouldn’t have, attempting to get weed. And truthfully, I’m glad that lots of people don’t must undergo that shit anymore.
HT: I perceive you undergo from despair. Many individuals argue that hashish helps ease the worst of their signs. But, some declare that being stoned makes them too introspective and really exasperates their situation by highlighting their insecurities. Which aspect finest describes your expertise?
ATD: I wouldn’t say I’m distinctive on this, however I really feel like most individuals round me and most of the people rising up have the identical expertise of that absolute inside rage, that turmoil. The hormone explosion and never understanding something about life.
HT: Ah, sure, testosterone on steroids.
ATD: Completely. I bear in mind with the ability to simply take issues evenly, and it at all times introduced me right down to a spot the place I used to be in a position to rationalize extra successfully than absolutely the outburst of throwing issues, for instance. And that’s one factor I cherished about smoking once I was younger. Humorous sufficient, I at all times joke about how a lot I miss shitty weed. I do know I’m going to get hell for this. I do know everybody’s going to tear on me. However I bear in mind being on tour in Texas, and I gave this dude like $10 or one thing, and he gave me this large bag of like canine shit. Simply horrible, horrible. I don’t even know what it was. It was like mud. Bricks of mud. And we have been like, sick! We have been in a position to simply smoke blunts all evening. We most likely weren’t smoking weed in any respect. It was most likely cow shit or one thing. However it was nice (laughs).
HT: Positive, you didn’t get too fucked up, and the evening remained social with out incident.
ATD: Precisely. And I miss that. I miss with the ability to smoke extensively versus simply two or three hits and dying.
HT: Yeah, again within the day, my buddies and I’d get 1 / 4 bag and smoke all of it evening lengthy with out ever gripping our chests or fearing for our lives. You bought excessive, however not like folks do right now. So, what about edibles? I like an excellent edibles story. I’m assuming they’re kicking your ass too?
ATD: Oh my… so one in every of my favourite edibles tales. I’ve too many. I’m so silly. I don’t study, ever. I’m dumb as hell (laughs). However someone in Vegas, a buddy of a buddy, had given me a cookie. That evening I had pushed proper exterior of Zion Nationwide [Park] in Utah, and I used to be going to hike Angels Touchdown within the morning. We deliberate on climbing at round 7 am or every time the park opened up. We acquired to the lodge, and I used to be like, what, I’m going to crush this cookie, fall asleep, and get up all fucking refreshed. I’ve issues sleeping anyway in order that shit helps me so much. I ate the cookie and was like, “You understand what? I’m going to get snacks. I would like snacks actual fast.” So, I went to the 7-Eleven down the road. And as I’m within the 7-Eleven, I really feel like my blood is simply going vrrroooosh-vrrrooooshh. I bear in mind going, “Okay, I’m fucked up. Cool.” Abruptly, I used to be like, oh my God, this was not weed in any respect. These are fucking mushrooms.
HT: Holy shit.
ATD: Earlier than it kicked in too exhausting, I bear in mind leaping within the automobile and racing again to the lodge. I acquired as much as the room and simply blurted out [in a slow drone]: “It’s not weed. It’s mushrooms.” (laughs). Within the room, [my girlfriend] Alicia was like, “Oh, relax, you simply acquired too excessive.” I used to be like, “no, no, no.” Abruptly, it hit her, too, and he or she was like, “Fuck…fuck…fuck!” I do love mushrooms. I simply don’t prefer it unexpectedly.
HT: Proper, you don’t wish to get hit within the face with an impromptu journey.
ATD: Precisely. So, we each curled into mattress, and we’re like, it’ll be high quality. I bear in mind attempting to textual content folks. That was the primary semblance of me not having management of something. I used to be attempting to textual content, however the letters saved getting additional away in my cellphone. So, I couldn’t learn what I used to be typing anymore. That’s once I knew we have been in it. I put my cellphone down. Alicia goes to make use of the restroom, and I’m mendacity in mattress. I can really feel my heartbeat. I really feel like I’m having a fucking coronary heart assault, which is my worry anyway, with my consuming habits and different shit. I really feel my heartbeat shaking the mattress, rattling the mattress. Fucking hours go by. And I used to be like, oh my god, Alicia died. Alicia is within the toilet, and he or she died. How the fuck am I going to resolve this? So, I’m in mattress, and I’m freaking out. So, I used to be like, simply do it, simply do it. So, I known as out: “Hey, babe.” Instantly, she was like, “Yeah?” And I used to be like, “Are you okay?” And he or she was like, “Yeah, I’m high quality. Why?” I used to be like, “You’ve been in there so fucking lengthy.” She was like, “It’s actually been 30 seconds.” I had the whole world collapsed on me for what felt like hours, attempting to determine how the hell I used to be going to elucidate that she was useless within the toilet.
HT: You virtually acquired your Sid Vicious second.
ATD: Yeah, that was simply a kind of moments the place the journey spiraled up to now south, and in a single on the spot, one little response made all the things loosen up once more.
HT: Yeah, however did you study something?
ATD: No! Completely not. However I assume my level is that’s how lots of the robust edibles make me really feel now.
HT: I’ve had some scary experiences with edibles, so I can empathize. I had a buddy who did dabs for the primary time, and he needed to bear crawl on his arms and knees again to the cabin. He couldn’t perform in any respect. The subsequent day, I stated one thing to him about being too excessive for his personal good, and he stated, I wouldn’t name that top (laughs). Have you ever ever finished dabs and had them fuck you up like that?
ATD: I’m going to go forward and say anyone who does dabs recurrently is a superhuman. Each time I get suckered into it—and I say suckered evenly as a result of it’s at all times my selection. It was at a present in Tulsa, and one in every of my actually good buddy’s little brothers was there, and he was like, “Hey man, wish to smoke?” I used to be like, “Fuck yeah, let’s do that.” I used to be pondering we’d return and rip a bit bowl and be very civil about issues. However once we go to his automobile, he pulls out the entire dab rig out of the backseat. So, I’m sitting there going, “Oh god, goddamnit.” Now, I nonetheless have to return to the present.
HT: Wait, you needed to carry out?
ATD: I nonetheless needed to play.
HT: My God, dude.
ATD: So, I used to be like, you bought this, Danny. You’re good, you’re good. I’m psyching myself up. I used to be like, I’m simply going to take a child rip and use the excuse that I acquired to play. No matter. So, he does his complete factor: OOOOOSSSSSPPPPTTTT (large hit from dab rig) and simply the most important rip of all time. It’s within the e book of world information someplace. Needs to be. And I used to be like, alright, right here we go. He arms it to me, and I used to be oospt (smallest hit ever), the tiniest, little hit, barely any suction. And he was like, “That’s all?” I used to be like, “Yeah, I’m good. I’ve acquired to play. Extra later.” I acquired out of the automobile pondering that I acquired away with it. That is sick. Fuck no. I may barely fucking stroll. The second I get into the venue, all I bear in mind is crawling beneath the merch desk and asking the particular person doing merch, “Hey, are you able to inform?” She was like, “Sure, the entire fucking room can. They simply noticed you try this. They simply noticed you crawl beneath the desk. Nothing about that was slick.” My grand plan was to faux it was a magic present. So I got here out from beneath the desk and went, “Tada!” I bear in mind everyone me, and I used to be like, they understand how fucking destroyed I’m.
HT: They did. Promise.
ATD: Jesus.
HT: So, how did you carry out that evening?
ATD: Horribly! I’ve carried out higher with the abdomen flu than I did that evening. I’ve carried out higher puking right into a rubbish can on stage than I did that evening. (laughs) Like I stated, I’m a light-weight. I nonetheless find it irresistible.
HT: Nicely, I might need gotten you into sufficient bother already, so I assume we should always discuss music.
ATD: Okay.
HT: So, going again to if you have been a child. What bands did you hearken to throughout that point that acquired you to go, fuck, that’s it, I’ve to play music?
ATD: Rising up in Miami was bizarre as a result of I didn’t have the identical entry as folks on the West coast or folks in New England did to lots of music that will form me later. So, I relied so much on older pals and my cousin, particularly, to information me. I’m speaking 10, 11, 12 years outdated. I feel that’s once I realized, for probably the most half, what I actually loved, and lots of that needed to do with my older cousin, who was the good man in my household in my eyes at the moment. And so, each time I’d go go to, he’d be like, “Yo, test this out.” After which he’d play like Testomony or one thing. I’d be like, I clearly love this since you prefer it. So, he form of acquired me into that thrash-esque world, just like the Slayers, the primary names for then. As soon as I began determining that I may experience my bike to file retailers and choose up the zines and choose up fucking tape catalogs, after which I began ordering bizarre cassettes and peculiar CDs and all this shit. And that form of spiraled into weirder and weirder influences. That was principally for heavy music, which led me to grindcore and all of the noise stuff and the bizarre black steel stuff. The opposite half of my influences, oddly sufficient, got here from BMX movies.
HT: Wait, no shit?
ATD: Yeah, BMX movies and magazines. I came upon about Tom Waits by means of… I actually want I may bear in mind the identify of the journal, however that they had a overview, and it sounded so fascinating that I went out to attempt to discover it. And I discovered it at… I’m attempting so exhausting to recollect this as a result of they’re simply good recollections. Uncle Sam’s in Miami Seaside had it, and I picked it up, and it was bizarre. And I cherished it. Identical with like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, I discovered that by means of a BMX journal.
HT: I bear in mind these BMX magazines. Did you experience?
ATD: Yeah, that’s what I assumed I used to be going to do for the remainder of my life.
HT: Dude, that’s all we did once we have been youngsters, experience grime bikes and leap shit.
ATD: (laughs) Oh, yeah!
HT: We’d wreck, by no means sporting helmets or any of that.
ATD: Hell no! I like that it was actually simply youngsters going, are you able to leap from that to that? And also you’d be like, clearly I can, and then you definitely’d simply eat shit (laughs).
HT: You needed to do it, too, as a result of they’d be like, you fucking pussy. You’d by no means reside it down.
ATD: Now you’ve these 10-year-olds on fucking YouTube doing like entrance flips and shit off of staircases.
HT: Insane, proper? I watch that stuff like, how within the fuck, man? I by no means did that.
ATD: Oh no, no. I feel that’s why I by no means really did something as a result of I didn’t wish to get harm (laughs).
HT: Not like that, man!
ATD: Yeah, like, not that stage. I acquired harm so much. I rode for an extended ass time, and I ended once I broke each of my knees attempting to leap over a automobile.
HT: Rattling, that will cease you. How outdated have been you if you did that?
ATD: Nineteen.
HT: How outdated are you now?
ATD: Thirty-four? Thirty-five? Thirty-six?
HT: These fucking dabs will get you, brother.
ATD: I’m blaming that fucking Tulsa present for many of my issues.
HT: Severely, Danny, in dab years, you’re solely eleven.
ATD: (Laughs)
Writer’s Be aware: At this level, Danny spots the John Wayne Gacy “Pogo The Clown” plate I’ve on my desk.
ATD: Is…is {that a} Pogo dish within the again?
HT: Yeah. A reader made it for me.
ATD: Holy shit.
HT: So, it’s not like something legit, however somebody did make it for me, so I assumed it was a cool ornament for my workplace.
ATD: That’s badass.
HT: I do know you’re a giant fan of serial killers.
ATD: Yeah, yeah, I’m. I like true crime. It’s simply too bizarre, too bizarre to not.
Writer’s Be aware: Danny and I geeked out for a couple of minutes concerning the HBO sequence True Detective and the 1995 David Fincher movie Seven earlier than resuming the interview. If you happen to haven’t seen both of those productions, you’re lacking out.
HT: So, like, and I’m sorry to maintain switching gears on you. If you happen to have been anticipating knowledgeable interview, you have been sadly mistaken.
ATD: (Laughs) You possibly can strive the skilled interview factor; I’m nonetheless going to be leaping from factor to factor.
HT: Proper on. I admire that. So, I learn someplace that you simply tried movie faculty, which parlayed into culinary faculty and brewing. How did that path deliver you to change into Amigo the Satan?
ATD: My youngest ardour was BMX. I used to be going to be a BMX professional for the remainder of my life. After which I began becoming a member of bands, actually shitty bands at school, began studying to play devices, and music was cool. And once I realized that music was much more rewarding by way of social. Particularly at the moment, BMX youngsters have been getting ripped on so much.
HT: Positive, we have been the hoodlums of society.
ATD: (Laughs) So I used to be [like] okay, I can experience BMX and be in bands. Excellent life. I ended enjoying music for the culinary faculty dream as a result of I used to be like, music is for bozos. This shit goes to go nowhere. I used to be nonetheless using BMX. I went to culinary faculty, after which the accident occurred. Large one. And at that time, I used to be like, I acquired to get an actual profession. I’ve to. My grandpa was disenchanted in me, and that meant so much to me. And… [Danny pauses]. Oh, I simply watched a automobile explode within the Walmart car parking zone.
HT: Holy shit, what?
ATD: Are you able to see this? (Danny turns his cellphone towards the car parking zone so I can witness the carnage). Oh yeah, you’re becoming a member of me on this.
Writer’s Be aware: Danny and I watched this car burn in a Walmart car parking zone whereas droves of callous clients walked by. We’re assuming the proprietor was nonetheless inside the shop procuring when their automobile went up in flames. Man, that actually sucks. Hope they splurged for full protection! Fortunately the Little Rock Hearth Division lastly confirmed up with a hose. Watch out on the market, youngsters.
HT: I used to be testing a few of your reside reveals on YouTube the opposite day and what I seen was that whereas the theme of the night could be demise and destruction, everyone seems to be tremendous completely happy and having a fucking blast, singing alongside and having the most effective time. And so are you, seemingly. My query is, is that this the funeral all of us want we may have? How does Danny flip demise into a celebration?
ATD: While you discover someone who’s into the identical bizarre factor that you simply’re into, there may be an on the spot spark. Let’s take it to the enjoyable excessive, like very area of interest kinks. As quickly as you discover someone that’s form of in the identical neighborhood of the identical form of bizarre as you, it’s thrilling. Since you’re like, “Holy fuck, I’m not alone… or I’m much less alone.” So, on the reveals, all of us get to sing about these actually silly, darkish issues collectively on this small area of interest of people that aren’t that afraid of interested by demise or what’s indicative of demise. I feel the very first thing that occurs if you hear a whole room full of individuals singing the identical morbid line is pleasure. In the identical method, in case you see somebody sporting a t-shirt down the road of a tiny band that nobody else is aware of [Danny points]. You’re not instantly speaking concerning the band. You don’t stroll as much as them and ask about their favourite album. And I feel that’s what I hope is the explanation the reveals are enjoyable as a result of it’s a room full of individuals going: I can’t consider we’re all pondering the identical shitty factor.
You possibly can catch Amigo The Satan on tour this summer season with Homicide By Demise. He’ll be on the Louder Than Life competition in Louisville, Kentucky Friday, September 23, 2022. Warning: I’ll be there too with a dab rig. And if I see Danny earlier than you do, you higher rattling effectively know that I’ve tried to get him Tulsa excessive. By his personal admission, Danny doesn’t study, so it must be comparatively straightforward. Simply search for him beneath the merch desk. And if he’s not there, purchase a shirt anyway.
Yeehaw!