Amigo the Devil
Amigo the Devil.. where to begin? I was browsing upcoming concerts in my area recently and the name caught my interest. So, I looked him up and hit play. 'Perfect Wife' from his first album titled 'Manimals,' released in 2010, came on first.
This ballad starts with some solid banjo playing, which happens to be one of my favorite instruments, and smooth but intentional sounding vocals. From the title of the song, I was expecting a sweet, possibly sad, folky track. Though, it definitely had a dark sort of feeling right from the start, I was surprised when I heard the line 'She sang along to CCR, I smashed her face into the VCR.' Okay, you've got my undivided attention.
He proceeds to sing 'I choked her until her tongue was hanging, And then I grabbed that thing and pulled it out. Ohhh, what a tasteless wife.' Well, alright. That's a little intense. It then starts to pick up a bit as he continues to describe the gory things he is doing to his perfect wife, including taking her fingers as a souvenir, and writes them off as 'funny things' that love makes you do. While it is pretty bold to address a topic like this in such a lighthearted, almost humorous way, The Devil does not leave this wife defenseless. At the end of the story, she gets her well-deserved revenge as she repeats his own words back to him. 'And if I've hurt you, Please forgive me. Love makes you do funny things.' This is clever, terrible, unique, and somehow oh so pleasing to the ear.
Amigo the Devil moved to LA at the young age of 18 to pursue a career writing Horror Films. While that may not be too surprising given the mood of his work, he also attended culinary school and dabbled in the brewery business. "One day I was bored and drunk and picked up a banjo. 'Perfect Wife' came out immediately," he said when asked how The Devil was born. Well, I am very glad that you were bored and drunk, Amigo.
After playing 'Perfect Wife' 5 or 6 times over, I moved on to his other wonderfully wild songs that are on a similar horrific caliber. 'Hell and You' from his 2015 album is another favorite of mine. He sings of rotting in hell with his lover and loving the shitty things they do together, which is personally how I tend to like my romance - bleak with a side of insane. Another line that grabbed my attention was 'And I'll spill my guts if you follow my lead. 'Cause I need to feel comfortable in my own skin. But I think I like the one that you're living in.' this is from 'The Recluse' which is a violent internal conflict involving the Devil selling his soul to Amigo. Perhaps, this is a very real story about the struggles he has had before? I am not quite sure. But I would love to get inside his very curious and all-out terrifying thoughts.
If you are the type of person who appreciates some good banjo playing and unique, horror story-telling abilities, you will likely be as obsessed with this artist as I am. You can find my favorite Amigo the Devil tracks on my Top Picks page.