Miguel Casillas (Xiuhtecuhtli)
My love for music started when I was 6 years old and i saw Kiss on tv, it blew my mind. Face paint, spitting fire, explosions and the sound.
I started recording songs on tape from live radio and making my own mix tapes. Anything Rock or Rap. As middle school was coming to an end I was into a variety of artist/genres like Tupac, Steve Ray Vaughn, AC/DC, Soundgarden. Then my friend showed me 2 bands that introduced me to metal, and my obsession for the coming years. The all mighty Pantera and Sepultura.
This lead into high school where I was intrigued mostly by the sounds of the guitars. Then in 99 a band from Iowa came out that pushed me to start noodling on my sister's mini Tijuana acoustic (if you been to the Mexican border, you know which ones). Slipknot! I used a quarter as a pick and began just going up and down the fret board. My parents saw my interest in guitar. My Step Dad told me "ill get you a guitar if you learn a part of a song from the radio". So I did, that song was the Blues Brothers theme !
At 15 I received my first guitar, a Crate Electra (which I still own). I'm getting into many new and veteran bands, like Metallica, Slayer, Fear Factory. Korn, RATM, etc etc etc.
The same year I get my first guitar a group of friends call me and say come join our band. I tell them I just started, there response was we all just started. So began my first and long time band BASURA. We ran on and off until 2016. We shared the stage with the biggest local bands and some big names in the business. I was also in a band called Bridge 53, a kind of restructuring of BASURA. After BASURA I joined a hard Rock band called Devils Your Shadow, which is still active making music, looking for a different style from heavy metal.
But when DYS stopped playing live shows, I needed to scratch the itch and find a live project.
Then, as I scrolled on facebook, I see a band that I played a few shows with and I really liked. I always thought "Damn! How beastly would those jams sound with 2 guitars!" (I have only seen them as a 3 piece). So out of pure randomness I message the band and say "are you guys looking for a guitarist? I think you guys would sound huge with another." And my journey with the mighty TAZUMAL began........
