Dia Psalma was out on their big farewell tour, and the day before this we had seen them in Helsingborg, but sadly missed the two support bands they had brought along. This night nothing was to be lost, and first out was the quartet known as Trash Amigos.

”We are Trash Amigos, and we’re here to destroy everything rock n’ roll!”
- Pedro Pico (vocals/bass)

It all began with a room full of people, devoid of light, and Ennio Morricone inspired (maybe it was actually his?) music gliding out of the speakers to set the mood.
Then four sombrero and poncho clad characters took the stage; Pedro Pico on vocals and bass (also somewhat tan-painted in the face), Pedro el Guero and Pedro Tacon on guitars (one of these guys wore a distinctly Mexican looking corpse-paint) and last but certainly not least Pedro Serdito (who wore a distinctly Mexican corpse-paint looking mask throughout the show) on drums. For those of you who have done your home-work, you will know that behind the mask hides one Stefan ’Stipen’ Carlsson, more commonly recognised as the drummer of Dia Psalma, the main act of the night. Well, why not? With the main band stopping I guess it was about time to find new pastures.
Of the others I can’t much more than that behind the name Pedro Pico hides the equally cryptic name Mr. Dim and Pedro el Guero bears the somewhat more likely name of Erik Wallin. An interesting fact is that these two and Stipen have already been in a band together, the now defunct Harms Way, and that Stipen’s and Wallin’s ties goes all the way back to the old Swedish death metal band Merciless. The true identity of Pedro Tacon is still shrouded in mystery however...

That was all about what was on the stage though, but what about the rest of the room?
Well, as I’ve already hinted at there were quite a few people who had turned up at KB already, something which is becoming increasingly uncommon I am sad to say. More and more, guests only show up for the main event, but this night was different – here also the support bands got to share the love and comfort that I reckon a big audience brings to the show. At least for the people on stage.
The room wasn’t without love for this gringo thrash (as a friend coined the genre) band either; the action wasn’t running on top speed during the songs, as the band mostly got some serious nodding going, but between song there were quite loud shouts, whistling and applause, and why is that?
Well, for one thing señor Pico was doing a good job fronting the band and spoke a lot between songs; starting out with Spanish but then taking to heart that not a lot of us understood him, he then shifted to English. Requests were shouted that he speak in English, and even though he for some time stuck to the explanation that I didn’t speak it, he eventually did cross over and proved to us that he was in fact not a Mexican drug-lord, but just a simple Swede with a little too much shoe polish in his face. Still, it was quite entertaining, and Pico also got us clapping along to the song Last Sky.

My guess is that the reason for the unusually good turn-out of people so early in the evening was due to the fact that Stipen being part of the band had slipped out previous to the gig, and a lot of Dia Psalma fans were curious about what his future endeavours would sound like.
Even though the style and genre had completely shifted, I would have to say that there was no cause for concern however; what Trash Amigos presented us to may have been basic to the bone and simple, but you know what? At the same time it turned out to be really catchy and fun to take part in! Even if they never reach the top of their chosen style, it is still without a doubt worth spending some time and money on, and I’ll look forward to running into this ensemble again further down the dusty desert road.

Setlist:

Mind Castration
Nightmare
Last Sky
Non Omnis Moriar
New Evil
Hatefuel
Plata O Plomo