Their use of fast tempos, screamed vocals and aggressive riffing has led some publication to retrospectively credit them as pioneering punk rock.

[2] [3] In a short amount of time during the 1960s, they became one of the most successful groups in their own country, fashioning a unique surf-influenced garage sound, that would anticipate certain aspects of the later punk rock movement of the 70s.

The band was formed in the middle class Lince district of Lima in 1964 by guitarist and vocalist, Erwin Flores and drummer, Francisco Guevara, who were just out of high school.

[6] They asked Roland "El Chino" Carpio, previously of the group Los Steivos to join them on lead guitar and also invited César "Papi" Castrillón, whom they taught to play bass.

[10] They were detained several times by the police, mostly for speeding but also for taking a sledgehammer, axe and fake TNT to the railway station for a record cover photo shoot.

He then moved to the Washington, DC area where he got a degree in Physics and worked for a number of years with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), sometimes moonlighting as a salsa singer for a Latin cover band in Maryland and Virginia.

Guitar player Rolando Carpio, who died in early 2005, had made a point of not telling his children about his musical past until they discovered the fact by themselves.

The compilation was pressed on a 10" vinyl record that was distributed worldwide, reaching a new audience that was soon fascinated by the punk pioneers efforts in 1965 Peru.

Erwin Flores made a public reappearance in Peru after 40 years, singing "Demolición" at a small concert with the garage band Manganzoides as a guest, in May 2006.

In 2010 Los Saicos played on their first international concert ever at Spain, since the ABC newspaper called them 'the first punk band in the world'.

As in North America, the success of The Beatles unleashed a wave of bands in Peru, which resulted in what some have called the "Golden Age" of Peruvian Rock.