It’s all about the energy you carry and transmit. And, like the most atavistic and primitive music, it connects inside. I Diablo know that energy transforms. And it propels. They also know the potential that musical magic carries. Marcos Herrero (vocals, guitars, keyboards, zurna and saxophone) was playing in the “typical Spanish rock band” when he discovered in a YouTube video Tommy Emmanuel playing the guitar in the “fingerpicking” style, “which consists of playing the bass with the thumb and the melody with the rest of the fingers and the harmony”, he explains to us in a video call.
And of course, when you get used to playing in low-minimum formats, in a kind of one-man band, and you realize that you don’t need anyone, “because you play bass and you don’t even have drums but you also play drums with your hand, because you say to yourself “go ahead” and you dare everything. From there, he decided to try his hand at the largest street art festival in the world, the Edinburgh Fringe, and achieved alchemy. This is the origin of Yo Diablo, who after several musicians, including seven drummers, found Víctor Vila as his ideal drummer (percussion and congas) and permanent member of the duo.
Catharsis exists. You can see it in Yo Diablo’s three albums, the latest being ‘III’ (self-released, 2024), which expands the sonic palette, between bluegrass, flamenco fingerpicking, psychedelic rockabilly, deep blues and surf rock. A formidable mix or unique “melting pot”. They tour live at international festivals in Germany, Wales, the Netherlands and the United States. You can check the extent of their synergies next Saturday, September 7, in the Sala Villanos of the He Reunido a la Banda festival, alongside Guadalupe Plata, Señoras y Bedeles and Guillermann.
In his songs there is a look at the roots, at the flamenco atmosphere, although Marcos recognizes that these are brushstrokes, “because flamenco imposes itself and I don’t want to get into that mess.” But they also like castanets and Ethiopian jazz. It’s a thing without prejudice. “For me it was very easy to play these flamenco melodies, but getting into flamenco is another story.” The fusion is based on this crossing of languages. Something that is embodied in Yo Diablo, where the musical sets the tempo. The letters come later.
In fact, “it’s not that we give much importance to the lyrics, it’s like something more aesthetic, that accompanies us,” Marcos confesses. Their second album, “Häxan” (self-published, 2023), is an instrumental album forged during the pandemic to be played in theaters and halls with the audience seated; and which was inspired by the iconic 1922 Swedish-Danish silent horror mockumentary of the same name. Because Yo Diablo likes to explore “the dark side of existence, of being human.” In this investigation, the music explores, investigates and develops.
Then, based on the game and the search for those synergies between Marcos and Víctor, the project grew by also playing in national festivals such as BIME, Low Festival, Monkey Week or Fuzzville. “Playing in difficult places or in places where everything is spectacular (the team, the conditions). Because you have to be prepared for anything,” they add. That’s what makes a band grow, being able to be prepared to face the most uncomfortable and favorable conditions. It’s the fighting blood of the underground. And Yo Diablo, they dive into the wild side. His is direct.
Marcos transmits us the essence of his proposal in this diverse concoction, in this combination of genres that want to boil in your ears. Yo Diablo or when in music, less is more.
