"Squad was born in the midst of the boiling of the Santiago thrash metal scene in September 1987, thanks to the friendship between Christián Castro (Chris Squad) and Rodrigo 'Pera' Cuadra. There are several sources that indicate that the idea of forming a crossover band between these characters arose at the house of Marco Cusatto (Rust, Warpath, The Fallacy), when someone among the group of friends suggested to Chris that he put together a band. Enthusiastic, Chris decides to speak with Pera and his brother, Marcelo Castro, leaving the first formation arranged that would place him on guitar and vocals, Pera on drums, and Marcelo 'Peep' Castro on bass. Their debut on the Santiago scene was on January 9th 1988 when they opened for Pentagram at the mythical Manuel Plaza. In that same year Chris Squad will leave the band, he was older than the other members of the group and the need to work overcame him in those minutes. Andrés 'Flack' Sáez replaces him, who, together with the original line-up, will enter the 'E. Budd' studio to record the renowned Gallinazeous Death, which not only innovated for being the first cassette to be printed in color within the Chilean scene, but above all the great innovation was due to introducing the 'proto crossover' in the Santiago scene.
Regarding the lyrics of the songs, it is necessary to highlight two themes that became hymns that increased and outlined the aesthetics and ethics of the scene. On the one hand 'Death to the Hippies' and on the other the song 'Cuma Aggressor', which went on to mythologize one of the conflicts that helped undermine the first wave of thrash metal in Chile. Although hippies, posers, and Cumas [Thugs/"Jocks". --S] were characters that were not welcome on the scene, Squad's song is written in a context that is far from the typical routes of thrashers, such as the Paseo las Palmas, the Manuel Plaza or the Sala Lautaro. One night drunken media were taxi-ing in the streets of Bellavista when a Cuma, without warning and for no apparent reason, beat Pera to a pulp. Related to the writing of the lyrics, Pera will be one of the most renowned lyricists by introducing the novelty through personal experiences soaked in surrealism, gore, and a diversity of influences that did not come from the usual references within the thrash metal scene. Like most of the bands of the first wave of thrash metal in Chile, Squad dissolved at the end of the eighties."
