Formed in Lince district of Lima

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. 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. The band attempted to find a lead singer, and they auditioned several, but none proved satisfactory. So, they decided to have Erwin Flores and “Papi” Castrillón swap on lead vocals, with Flores singing the more rocking numbers in his rough, guttural voice and Castrillón handling the more melodic songs. Initially the name of their band was “Los Sádicos” (The Sadists), however, perhaps to avoid being banned for suggesting sadism, they dropped the letter “d” from the name, resulting in “Los Saicos.” They liked the way the new name suggested not only the popular battery-powered Seiko watch, but also the title of the famous Alfred Hitchcock thriller, Psycho .