First years and El Peyote Asesino (1994–1997) El Peyote Asesino was formed at late 1994 by Fernando Santullo and Juan Campodónico. The band's original lineup was Santullo (credited as "L. Mental") and Carlos Casacuberta on vocals, Daniel Benia on bass, Juan Campodónico on guitar, and Roberto Rodino on drums. They debuted on 28 August of that same year at the now-defunct "El perro azul" pub. Already for their second performance, at Big Bang, the band was complete. Pepe Canedo joined on drums, replacing Rodino, and Casacuberta on voice and guitar. That presence would be followed by others such as the La Movida Young Art Meeting and several in the Montevideo underground movement. The person who organized this cycle is also Uruguayan, based in Buenos Aires, Fabián Jara. Jara was in charge of organizing it in the Ricardo Rojas room, belonging to the Argentine university circuit and which has previously hosted Buitres After La Una. "This is the first time this has happened to us, since in Montevideo the spectators watch our shows standing up and many of them pogo and dance", said Casacuberta.
Debut album In December 1995 their first album
El Peyote Asesino was launched (Orfeo). Gabriel Casacuberta (brother of Carlos Casacuberta) and Luis Restuccia were the ones in charge of the production of this album. This album sold over a thousand copies, which made it the highest selling rock album in Uruguay, during the first months of 1996. Meanwhile, the group increased their live performances and started coming out of the
Montevideo underground scene. On January of 1996 the band filmed its first video,
L. Mental, which spread throughout most of the local TV stations.
El Peyote Asesino, the most known track of the album, got a place in the top ten singles of X FM, reaching the first spot in only 18 days.
Terraja During the month of September the band starts recording their second album,
Terraja, in the Can Am Recorders studio, in
Los Angeles,
California. Once they finished recording it, they went on tour with the Mexican bands
Molotov and
Control Machete, playing in many parts of
Mexico.
Terraja was finally edited in August 1998, in different countries such as Mexico,
Argentina,
Uruguay, Puerto Rico and the United States. The band returned to Argentina, one month after the album was edited, to perform along with
Molotov,
Cypress Hill,
Bersuit Vergarabat, and Árbol. Later that month, they played in Uruguay for the last time along with Plátano Macho and Molotov, before they split up for several years.
Reunion and Serial Ten years after their split up, they performed live at the Pilsen Rock festival, playing for 80 thousand people, and shortly after in the Teatro de Verano. In 2016 they once again performed in the Teatro de Verano on the nights of 12 and 13 May. Although Carlos Casacuberta was not able to play due to health problems, guest Matías Rada filled Casacuberta's role while Bruno Tortorella played the keyboard. Since 2016, Rada and Tortorella are stable members of the group. In November 2021, the band released
Serial, their third album. It was composed and recorded between 2019 and 2020 in Montevideo. It contains ten songs, and was recorded by Julio Berta and produced by Juan Campodónico. "This work sums up the artistic maturation of the group very well. It shows in everything, in the music, in the lyrics. I think it is the best of the three albums that Peyote has released", Gustavo Santaolalla, producer of Terraja in 1997, said about Serial. ==References==