Zeta is a vampire. He says so himself, he feeds off the youngsters with whom he surrounds himself. It shows in the way he dresses, in his cap, in his tight T-Shirt and in the grandiloquent mannerism that he chooses to accompany his words. The 50 years of age that he accounts for have treated him well, he does not look them. He walks confidently, he smiles widely and looks at people in the face as children do. He arrives almost an hour late, with an entourage and a model girlfriend that has not left high school too long ago. What gives his age away is the voice of someone that has lived. Zeta Bosio is today a recognised DJ and has won awards worldwide and he moves in alternative currents but the truth is that his self resides in almost the 20 years in music that he shares with his accomplices, Gustavo Cerati and Charly Alberti as the makers of the phenomenon of the Latin music that is Soda Stereo. That voice, that experience that falters with innocence, welcomes us kindly and willing to answer.

You seem to be looking for something new at a musical level. Is that so?

Yes, it is something different to what I have already tried which is to go out with a rock band or stick myself in a rehearsal room to prepare some material to then go out and promote it, let’s just say that it was not my idea at all to face these types of projects because following the same road that I had followed in the past with Soda did not make sense. That’s why I started the production company and to work on the periphery of music, relating with artists until I would find my motivation. The same way as music, punk, changed my life at one point, I found motivation in the new generation, the vanguardist attitude of this new set of artists that are doing dance music, that are doing… I don’t know, call it what you will, but they are making a music that has a lot, a lot, to do with the attitude of the rock that I knew. I mean, similar to the punk of the ‘70s, not the punk of today that comes prefabricated, that is: We put one brick on top of another brick and the wall gets made. The punk music that I speak about was more visceral, nobody knew what could happen, that’s why I think the electronica parties of these days are very much like that type of situation and people, who are very important, the audience, have changed their way of expressing themselves a little and you see it there clearly, they are giving their all.

With almost 30 years since the foundation of Soda Stereo you must have played to the most diverse audiences. What are your impressions about playing with a band and doing your own DJ projects?

They are two completely different things, if we speak of Soda Stereo, one goes to a Soda Stereo show with and audience that wants to give you their all and they really want to be there which is unmatchable, it is a pleasure going out and playing with a band with so much anxiety, that the people themselves make you feel it when you are in the dressing room. With DJing there are times when you have to row, for the people sometimes, some go with the idea of seeing whether you will play a Soda Stereo song, if you are going to be playing the bass, you find yourself in a party and it has to be good, and sometimes it has been hard for me and the concept is not entirely clear as if it was a Soda Stereo show, which is crystal clear. I like it very much, this is my reality now, I don’t have Soda Stereo today, so if I want to be on stage I have to find something that motivates me to go on and waste or invest hours, I say waste because one would dedicate so much time to it and sometimes you ask yourself, is it right? Would they notice this subtlety? But if you do it with passion and you are up for it, it doesn’t matter.

Is it different to play for an Argentinean audience, a Latin one or the Europeans? Why?

Yes, every group that I get is different, as much as the situations are totally different; here in London I don’t know, it is the first time that I play here. The other day in Barcelona, I made a couple of new fans there, in the moment, on the beach, an English guy that wanted to buy one of the tracks, I said to him “It’s not mine, you need to contact the publisher (sic). I cannot sell it to you.” In Europe people are more informed, here you can risk it a little more, you can go a little bit further with the sound and the audio and over there (in Latin America) many times and in many places people go more to the commercial stuff, the reggaeton is very strong, and you have to go and play and, for the people to have fun, you have to play tracks with many vocal lines, with a hook, with choruses, as if they were songs. But it forces you to be a bit more commercial. To the contrary, here, and I sampled this in Spain, I believe that you can be more alternative, you can be more explosive.

You, together with Soda Stereo have symbolised the idea of the mega band in Latin America and you have had international recognition. Who do you think could fill a similar space these days in music?

I don’t have any idea how it was that we ended up in that place in history, I only know that we wanted to make music and have fun and entertain people and have a good time and that we liked it that it got to be more every time. We liked travelling and interacting with people and we had a great time when we visited Mexico, when we went to Chile, went to Peru, that was part of our adventure. But it was never our target and I don’t understand fully how things occur or how could they happen once more. Yes, the situation is more difficult, the music is in a completely different moment, nowadays the bands have regained their freedom and in a way, they are no longer property of the record companies, now the musicians have the possibility of offering their music directly. Even though there are places that would charge them 50% of the profits and sometimes the musicians think this is excessive. The other day a DJ friend of mine asked me, is it ok that they charge you as much? And I told him that historically the big retail stores have charged a percentage, it is something ancestral. What happens is that before you had to pay the rent of the place, staff, and the records. These days, having the Internet you do not need more than software so it is a bit weird that they have kept the same fees that are not favourable to the artist. This is a situation that has made the music go back to how it was in the beginning when the music belonged to the musician, so if you wanted to have music in your house you would have to call a pianist to come and play, you have to call an accordionist to play and everyone would dance, but the music came with him, you see, nobody knew. Later the records came, the purchase, I keep it, I sell it, I know more, I have less, all of that provoked that a whole industry would form and the musicians remain on the side, when the big corporations came they would directly not see anything, the decisions were all made for them. Nowadays, musicians do what they want, they make music at home and they sell it, and whoever wants to buy it buys it, and that is what I believe has given freedom to the music of today because even though everything is more atomised and harder to reach, you are more the owner of your history, of your decisions.

A little bit about the same and taking advantage of your knowledge as a DJ and producer, what would you recommend us to listen to?

Today? With this I would play Charlie Parker (he says pointing at the cadence of a persistent drizzle over the Thames), because here in London there is such a climate. Or trip-hop, here that is so nice, with such a lovely history, I believe that there is such good rock here, there is very good electronica, I believe that electronica is in a way taking the space of rebelliousness, and the cheekiness that rock music used to have, that’s found today in electronica, rock music is more standardised, closer to the industry, the old industry and it has remained set in those ways. However, it is renewing itself, there are bands. Above all, I believe greatly in the new generations, in the kids that bring the information, who have listened to all of that material, who knows what mixture because nowadays you can listen to records from the ‘60s and ‘70s. We were more orderly, there are kids today that have heard of Siouxie and the Banshees and there are kids that haven’t, that do not know that it existed. Then, that mixture is giving something very interesting for the future and we do not know in which direction it is going to be propelled, which is the best thing, the surprise, which is something that is lacking a bit in this century’s artist.

Do you believe that mixing the roles of music aficionado and producer affect in any way your perception of it?

Obviously. I am a rare character, I mean, I have learnt to speak many languages, of tongues, and also many languages in the sense that I have worked on both sides of the counter. I have worked as an executive at Sony and I had to learn how to decide, I was part of that, then I open my own record company and I started with my own projects and as a producer. But having a production company is achieving dreams, it is a machine. Yes, it changes my perception a lot; I have to be aware of both aspects. When I edit a record, I learnt with time, that at the beginning I would only edit the records that I liked and we would not even sell 10 copies a month, in reality Marcelo, my business partner, would tell me “Look, we are cooked, another one like this and we have to shut down the record company”. I had to start to understand that you have to make records in one way, and another way, to try to sustain the projects that you generate: That is a production company. If it falls through, you no longer have your production company. I love having a dream machine and motivated people working for me and generating ideas and realising them all the time.

What can you tell us about your experience as a TV presenter in the Rock Road series? What did you find in the festivals that you visited that surprised you?

I get surprised a lot with how much people enjoy celebrating music in a collective way, as a social event, when music is our link, when the music that we more or less like put as together in one place, be it a park, or a campsite or whatever, and free us up, it connects us with our primitive being. I see that in Europe, which all in all is just a few kilometres, in New Zealand (I have not been to China or Asia), in each place, it is different. But it is completely different, not only the Latin audiences versus the European ones, but the European audiences amongst themselves, it is not the same being in a festival in Switzerland than in Denmark. The Danes are hidden all year and when the sun comes out they become the craziest crazy people on the earth, you see? They are thinking all year about the mad things that they will do in those three months, they plan it out. Or the English audiences, who have a tradition of rock, it is something else. It is very nice to mix with all those people and somehow see, as an anthropologist I say this, because I am a fan of analysing what happens with people, feeling a bit what is going on with the different audiences and how they express themselves visually, some are more formal, others totally extroverted, and it is collective.

Anecdotes? I don’t know, there are lots, I made friends with a kid from Scotland, during a The Who concert, with and English guy that introduced me to his whole family, there, drinking beer, 15 year old kids, all very drunk, I thought it was funny seeing the whole family there, sharing that moment at the festival.  

Going back to your set of tomorrow… What are the characteristics that individualise your proposal the most?

I have to play happy music, basically groove, happy, that it moves you to dance, I like it very much when people connect, that they free themselves up. Regarding the style, I don’t know, I am more into the indie dance, the electronica, electro, when I become a bit heavier, when the atmosphere allows, I can be quite electro. From electro I like that there is a bass, as a main character, which is my thing, that’s why I believe it fascinates me so much, because it has that rocker attitude. I am a rocker, but not losing the rhythm ever, you have to be up for dancing.

Is there any possibility that Soda Stereo would come to play in London?

Well, it was close, wasn’t it? I think that there was that possibility. Not long ago there was a tempting offer that did not materialise. Maybe the next time, for us I think it would be a very nice experience and it is possible to do since there are so many people in Europe that know us everywhere, surely one travels around countries in Europe and you find them. In Spain, in Italy, in England, with so many Latin immigrants that live here and that reminisce of the possibility of seeing their bands within this context. For everyone this would be a historical thing, I would imagine, it should be good.

Would you like to leave a message for the Latin community that read Que Online?

Keep on resisting, fighting for your dreams, that’s probably what moved you to leave for faraway countries in the quest of realising them. Do not ever give in; I believe that that is why we came to this earth, to accomplish our dreams.