Bricheros: These Peruvian Punk Rockers Are Making Their Way in Denver

There’s a trio of “Bad Hombres” making badass music on the Denver punk scene. Bricheros, a Peruvian punk trio rocking clubs from Denver to Lima since 2017, will join the Prozacs for a three-night run down I-25 with shows at HQ on Thursday, May 16; Surfside in Fort Collins on Friday, May 17; and What’s Left Records in Colorado Springs on Saturday, May 18.

Most music fans don't know that punk rock can arguably trace its roots to 1964 Peru with the band Los Saicos, or “The Psychos,” a decade before the London and New York scenes. Punk writer and historian Legs McNeil says that if you look at the history of music and Los Saicos, “you have to say they invented punk rock.” While Los Saicos burned fast and faded quickly, the legacy of Peruvian punk rock is alive and moshing in Denver with the local band Bricheros.

Bricheros lead singer and guitarist Papi Chulo knows the Peru-punk connection well. “Even though Los Saicos weren’t still popular” in his youth, he says that band has experienced renewed interest, and “I sure remember my dad telling us about them. I even think they used to live in the same neighborhood. My dad was a music lover, and without him, I don’t think any of us would’ve picked up an instrument.”

Fortunately, he did pick up a guitar at age fourteen, following the lead of his older brother and Bricheros drummer Riko Suave. The roots of the band go back to Peru in the mid-1990s, when Suave met bassist Pinche Mono and they joined a pioneer punk band called Futuro Incierto. The three friends played in various punk bands, but never together as a trio.

The ’90s Peruvian punk scene had similar origins as U.K. and American punk in the ’70s and ’80s: “The country was falling apart,” Chulo says. There was an underground music movement that was political, he adds, but “Peru at that time was not a safe place,” and politics and rebellion was not their focus. “Our music was just writing about the lives of young people,” singing about “relationships and girls and just life,” he says.
Bricheros formed many years later, in 2017, when Chulo, Suave and Mono reunited in Denver, having emigrated from Peru in the early 2000s, and decided it was time to play together. Influenced by Green Day, Offspring, Nirvana and Screeching Weasel, with a style obviously rooted in the Ramones, Bricheros’ sound showcases the fast-driving three-chord downstroke of early punk, and many songs clock in at two minutes or less. Songs reflect the two sides of punk lyrics with a mixture of commentary on everyday life and sharp social criticism.

The pop-punk trio doesn’t take itself too seriously, as seen by the members' stage names and the band's name itself, which is a bit of self-deprecating humor. A “brichero” is Peruvian slang for a person, particularly in the Andes, who tries to form relationships with tourists to secure a visa. “We were all living in America,” Chulo laughs, “dating and later married to American women, and we thought ‘Hey, we’re all a bunch of bricheros.’” That tongue-in-cheek sarcasm is also reflected in the title of the band’s LP.

Bricheros released its first full-length album, Making Our Way to the USA, in 2018. The single “Bad Hombres” is a sharp, satirical romp with a badass beat and lyrics mocking “tired dogmas, half-baked plans, hailed by right-wing nuts.” The fast, fun, edgy song with lyrics calling out “a moronic trust-fund wuss” is a scathing rebuke of former president Donald Trump’s crass offensive comment during the 2016 presidential debates. Bricheros has also put out Live at Hensley, recorded at a legendary Lima bar in 2019, and the EP Sloshed in early 2024.

Punk-rock fan David Woodman, a Denver resident who grew up around punk scenes in the U.K., D.C. and California, says, “It's amazing what a relentless and tight sound these three guys generate.” Woodman saw the band's set at HQ in March opening for the Queers, and was immediately grabbed by the energy, noting, “Their live set blows right past you…in a good way.”

It’s not surprising that Bricheros’ sound is so tight, knowing the bandmembers have been playing together in various formations since they were teenagers. Bricheros has the added benefit of having a sound engineer in the band. Papi Chulo has another life in the music business as founder and owner of the music studio Green Door Recordings, and he once worked as an assistant engineer at the iconic Blasting Room studio in Fort Collins.

Through that work, Chulo is “pretty well connected with a lot of the bands coming through Denver.” He's happy to be in Denver, which he notes is “a thriving scene with tons of bands.” The music-industry relationships include a connection with longtime punks like Joe Queer and the Queers. “Yeah, Joe is a great dude,” Chulo says, “and we’ve known those guys a long time.” Another connection is the Prozacs, who will join Bricheros, the Bonstones and Flight Kamikaze for a quick Colorado run later this month.

Bricheros plans to return to the studio in late 2024 for another album, and the band will continue to play Denver shows when opportunities arise. As far as Bricheros’ place in the Denver scene goes, Chulo says, “I wouldn’t say we have a specific crowd…but I’ve seen some people singing along to our songs at shows.”

They can count Woodman in that group. "'Gary' deserves to be a certified pop-punk hit,” he says, “but that doesn't mean that the deeper social commentary of 'Bad Hombres' or 'Shopping Time' won't also make you move your feet. I can't wait to see what they produce next.”

Bricheros, Thursday, May 16, HQ, 60 South Broadway.Tickets are $10.