Amigo the Devil, in conversation with FRC writer Stacey Lovett
Barracuda, Austin, TX
November 16, 2019
Photography by Michael Mullenix
Singer/songwriter Danny Kiranos weaves a beautifully complex web of darkness and light as his musical counterpart Amigo the Devil. He has brought his ‘murderfolk’ genre to Austin and beyond, coining not only a new subgenre but a deeper facet into depicting Americana. He discusses bringing his unique perspective and sound to the masses and how it has resulted in due recognition of his talents.
You offer this poetry of dark truths in your music and there’s a very cinematic essence to it where you capture this macabre side of Americana culture – outside of what we traditionally label as it’s sound. The songs harness that necessary presence of these stories, taking on this mission of linking the heart to the often-judged inner workings of the mind and through this, you have created this really special crossover on so many levels. I feel this is a shift being embraced more so on the larger scale of music. What are your views of yourself in this dynamic and what have your recent experiences with touring brought to light about it all & about your particular archetype as an artist?
With the cinematic aspect, I’m almost a little more traumatic than a lot of the other people and I think that comes from a lot of the other music I listened to growing up outside of the more direct influences. For example Godspeed you! Black Emperor which is more an ambient almost neo-classical type sound where everything is based on building and building and building to create atmosphere but at the same rate. My mom listened to a lot of Meatloaf so that was really theatrical and I really loved the intensity of those songs. I loved how it was always so fun to listen to those tapes but it was always too much and so over the top that I was really interested in trying to create a stripped-down version of that same emotion not necessarily saying that I succeeded – I don’t know that – but I would say that that was a goal of mine. And with that, it kind of did automatically set the project apart from just the traditional folk writing, or the Americana, or the general sound of it which I always thought was a negative at first because I was always sad that I couldn’t associate really with all of these bands I love listening to. It was a little more of a struggle convincing people that this was worth giving a chance but after a few of these tours we’ve done with the mixed genre type packages, I’ve realized it was kind of a leg up because people who haven’t heard us are so confused by what it is. They go to expect Hatebreed, Clutch, Dropkick Murphys on this tour and this solo dude comes out with a banjo and they just have to find out what it is. Whether they like it or not is a totally different story, but at least it’s an automatic chance we get because people are so curious. I’m really grateful we’ve been allowed so many different bubbles and genres essentially and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I borrowed so much from so many different places to build this sound – which was purely accidental. It’s not like I set out and said this is what I’m going to sound like, the universe allowed me to come up with this thing. Its been really fun and it’s exciting to not be stuck in a sound because people are way more forgiving of progress or change. If I feel like writing something different it’s not as mind-blowing to somebody who expects the same style of music from other bands they listen to.
Your latest EP that you’re about to tour with – Bridge City Sessions – features four live tracks from Everything is Fine, recorded at that very studio in Portland. That whole project was born out of a very passion-fueled DIY endeavor to give a platform to local artists as well as those traveling through. You’ve been very DIY in your own approach with your music. Tell me about how this recording session came to be and what all it brought out to make this tour happen.
They have a very special thing going in their own workflow. They’ve definitely built and reached the entirety of their dreams and when you walk into the building they’re located in, it’s a beautiful set up. It’s a very creative space with a lot of different [creative aesthetic] aspects of it but its bare bones in terms of they have one purpose which is to capture the best performance they can from someone in the best capacity they can. And personally, having seen all of the other Bridge City Sessions, I feel they’ve achieved that successfully. So when we got the offer to do it, it was a no-brainer on my end because I love what they were doing and I am also a big fan of the most stripped down version of songs possible. If a song can’t be played at its core then it’s just a base for decoration as opposed to a tree itself. It was a quick process – we were in the middle of a tour and I was SO sick I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it. We went in, played the song maybe twice just straight through with a couple microphones and it made me think I want to bring this intimacy into the show. I really want to focus on getting the live aspect of the project to a more grounded, more rooted in the basic element and that’s going to be my big focus for the fall tour – to just kind of allow that intimacy to exist.
You have really big news happening – Austin is officially proclaiming November 16th as Amigo the Devil day! You’re playing a show that night at Barracuda – what else is happening for you that day in celebration?
Up until my arrival in Austin I’ve never felt at home anywhere – I moved around so much growing up, every 6-7 months leave where I was and just show up somewhere else and try that out. I thought that’s how it would be my whole life and I kept coming back to Texas and kept staying for longer and longer stretches of time. I used to camp out in Spicewood for 2-3 weeks at a time and it was the only place I felt really comfortable so when I finally ended up getting established and getting a place there it felt like I finally had a hometown. Like I could finally be someone and be proud of it and call it a hometown. When we got the news of the Amigo the Devil Day it was such a strong affirmation of that and I was just sitting at home with my head in my hands and couldn’t believe it. It was surreal – it still is surreal. It’s exciting to have that kind of love from a place that I love myself. Moving forward I’ll definitely be working on a much larger situation for that date but this year I just wanted to keep it a simple and personal celebration. One where anybody who wants to come hang out at all of my favorite places around town before the show can, and to just get to know people and meet people and have a good time at my favorite spots. I don’t think it has to be anything other than that personal experience because it’s special on its own. It has so much weight for me and my personal life that I’m ecstatic about it. I’m very grateful to Austin for it.
You’re definitely soaking up a lot of amazing things in the present – a new EP [Bridge City Sessions], the supporting tour, Volume 1 being re-released on vinyl, your award – is there anything else planned for the future or are you just going to live in all of this while it’s happening and play out the natural progression of things?
As of now we’re in the middle of this run with Hatebreed, Clutch, and Dropkick Murphy’s and we pretty much jump straight into the headline run with King Dude and Twin Temple and I wish I could say we have a little time off to do something other than touring but we pretty much jump straight into Europe. We do our first European tour at the end of January through early March and then we have one more tour that we haven’t announced yet directly after Europe so realistically we’re on tour until March 29th. So if I don’t die of exhaustion the plan is to get some of the songs I’ve been writing here out on the road out and hopefully get a new record going next year.
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