In 1982, three guys from Concepción, Álvaro Henríquez, Roberto "Titae" Lindl, and "Pancho" Molina started a band called "Los Dick Stones", whose set list was based on songs by Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, and Gene Vincent. They quickly became very popular in universities, bars, and clubs around the southern city of Concepción. Given their ambition, to achieve success in the Chilean mainstream, they decided to move to the capital city of Santiago and changed their name to "Los Tres". In 1988, Ángel Parra joined the band, and even though "Los Tres" is Spanish for "the three", they decided to keep the name.