Amigo the Devil is a folk-rock troubadour whose taste for the macabre has made him a hit among the hard-rock and metal community. This fall he will be part of an eclectic U.S. tour lineup that includes Dropkick Murphys, Clutch, and Hatebreed.
Shortly after his set on the main stage of the Sonic Temple Festival in Ohio, the acoustic rocker also known as Danny Kiranos joined us for a chat about his appeal to the metal crowd, his collaboration with Rage Against the Machine’s Brad Wilk, the aforementioned fall tour, and more.
Amigo won over the Sonic Temple audience with his early set on the main stage, even getting a couple of surprising circle pits going during his acoustic performance. After joking with us about that to start the interview, he talked about how he’s been embraced by the metal community.
“When I started this project, the only people in music I knew were people in hardcore bands, or grind bands, or thrash bands, so when I wanted to play shows, I didn’t really have any resources to reach out to, so I reached out to them. … From there, I think the people at those shows, besides being open-minded, when they saw this acoustic/banjo [performer] at this hardcore show, they were either confused enough to stay and figure it out, or curious enough to give it a chance. And I’m really grateful for that.”
Regarding his collaboration with Brad Wilk — the track “Everyone Gets Left Behind” — which premiered right here at Heavy Consequence, Amigo told us, “That song was kind of the ugly duckling of the record, in terms of it doesn’t sonically match a lot of the other elements. … When we got to the studio, it came to life with Brad on it, and it was just a lot of fun to record. We were looking at each other, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, you’re Brad Wilk!”
Amigo also acknowledged the somewhat oddball fall tour lineup of Dropkick Murphys, Clutch, Hatebreed, and himself, saying, “They’re three very important bands, so when they offered us that tour, my first thought was obviously yes, like absolutely take it. My second thought was, ‘Are we gonna get ripped to shreds? Are they gonna destroy us on this tour?'”
For more of Amigo the Devil’s thoughts on the above topics, as well as the inspiration behind his song “Cocaine and Abel” and his fascination with macabre subject matter, watch our video interview above.
Amigo the Devil’s most recent studio album, Everything Is Fine, is available here, while his live EP, Bridge City Sessions, can be ordered here. In addition, check out his upcoming tour dates with Dropkick Murphys, Clutch, and Hatebreed.
