Cuco

Cuco

Artist

Omar Banos (born June 26, 1998), better known by his stage name CUCO, is a Mexican-American singer-songwriter from Hawthorne, California.

He was born in Inglewood, CA and raised in Hawthorne, the only child of immigrant parents from Mexico. His stage name was the Spanish pronunciation of cuckoo, which was how his mum used to call him when he was a kid.

He started playing guitar at 8 and writing songs at 11, but he didn’t actually start recording until he was 15. Between 2014 and 2015, he adopted the moniker Heavy Trip and used to write psychedelic music. Then he started writing poppier stuff and decided to change his name to CUCO.

His music can be described as “bedroom pop” or “alternative-dream pop”, with synths, 808s and «washed out analog sounds». His main musical influences are Tame Impala, Tyler, The Creator and Ariel Pink, but also 60s psychedelic rock (Love, The Lemon Pipers, The Velvet Underground and The Doors), Chet Baker, Jedi Mind Tricks, old Chicano Rap, and Yes.

Cuco has also a streetwear clothing line called Fantasy’s Easy Living.