Interview with SOOS by: Juan Izguerra

JI: Hey Soos! Welcome to our mix series and thanks for contributing to the first one of the year! How are you?

Soos: Mi Juan, pleasure is mine! Thank you so much for inviting me. I’m good — finally home and resting up after a few months of playing shows all over the place with my great buddy Snowcaveman. Had a great time but I'm so happy to be back in MX and taking it easy. Been cooking, making music and sleeping, can’t complain tbh.

JI: We first met through our friend Dino (Pleasure Of Love) and to be honest, I was pretty stoked to meet another Mexican in the “music scene” haha. Can you tell me a bit about where you’re from and what influenced you to start DJ’ing?

Soos: Yes! We paisas have to stick together. I’m so grateful he put us in contact. I have a very special place in my heart for my Dino. Sending you love if you get to read this hermanito. I was born and raised here in Mexico City. Currently live here and don't plan on moving anytime soon hehe. Grew up in a home with a lot of music. My parents are not musicians but they've always been enthusiastic with anything that has to do with art, especially my mother. When I was around 10 years old, she played me a lot of those chill-out and lounge CD comps like Buddha Bar, Hotel Costes and Cafe Del Mar on road trips. 10000% jams. Uff. Getting the chills just thinking about those times. Still play out a lot of that music every now and then. I guess that was my first approach to "dance" music per say. I was truly drawn to that kind of adult music, but I didn't really know what to do with it at that age, so I ended picking up rock and all of the hip MTV stuff at first. 

Around that time I was also very interested in the music curation thing. I used to burn CDs with Nu Metal and Pop Punk hits and sold them to my aunts and uncles. It was like running my own comp label. I designed and printed out my own artwork for them, it was cute.

After all of that I got into playing instruments and was in a few bands (punk, funk, metal, the whole music genre identity crisis) – but it was only until I saw Daft Punk live (2007 or 2008?) that I decided to give dance music a go. That show kinda just fucked with how I perceived music in general. In a good way for sure. So right after that, all of my pals that were in bands and I dropped our instruments and started jamming on CDJ 200s and looking for tracks on the internet. Eventually we landed slots to play our high school school parties. After that, I just never stopped collecting music and DJing.

JI: Besides DJ’ing, you are of course- a maker of tunes as you say. Were you a trained musician or how did you step into the world of producing

Soos: Around the same time MTV came into my life, I learned guitar by taking classes and immediately started forming bands and forcing my friends to learn instruments so we could jam together. Never really got into theory or proper musical training, although now I wish I did. I was more into the idea of being able to play and re-create the music that I liked. I've always been impatient with getting the idea I have in my head "on tape" as soon as possible while the inspiration exists. So, after the whole band era and being frustrated with the amount of time it took to record music with other people, I learned how to use basic audio software and made a few albums of experimental stuff by myself. That's when I started the Soos thing. It was contemplative guitar music with an intense amount of reverb. Once I started DJing and getting into dance stuff I learned the 101's of synthesizers, sampling, drum machines and the whole enchilada. I started taking music production more seriously once I started putting out music with my buddy Emiliano as Century, played Boiler Room and started to get more in-shape gigs. Quite an exciting time. Been a studio nerd ever since.

JI: I feel like the DJ/club industry had a bit of a boom in new places when things eased up from the pandemic. I'd see videos of parties such as Sunday Sunday in Mexico City and it made me want to visit myself! Can you tell us how the scene has been the last two years? And do you feel like there’s anything in particular that caused a lot of attraction? 

Soos: Yeah CDMX is having a moment for sure. The last two years have been interesting because the city has drawn a lot of attention from all sorts of tourists and digital nomads. Think it all started because of the lack of restrictions in Mexico during the pandemic which made the city an escape for many. Then and now, for many people that come from first world countries, the affordability of CDMX and the thriving electronic music culture of the city has become something of great interest and many want to take part in it. I'm still not sure where I stand in all of that but I do agree that having Mexico City in the spotlight is somewhat beneficial for us local artists – and that's what I care about the most in this situation. 

I also believe the pandemic created stronger bonds in the local music community. Promoters, artists, club owners, and staff now work in a more symbiotic fashion after COVID. Sunday Sunday has always been my family and temple – and I believe the whole team behind it has been responsible of making sure that our local talent always has a prioritized voice within it. SS and many other Mexican entities have been growing exponentially parallel to the hype for the city – and I think this is something positive as long as it keeps pulling the local community with it.

JI: Any upcoming plans you have this year for 2023?

Soos: So! Now that I'm doing this for a living I've been playing out pretty much every weekend. Goal for 2023 is to play fewer shows and focus on making more music. So yeah, I want to put out some cool Soos shit this year and play new places, new countries, new crowds. Also along with my buddies DJ Raw from Colectivo Miramar and Snowcaveman we'll be releasing a few fun eurodance edits on our Magic Dolphin Club imprint soon. I'm stoked about that.

JI: Can you tell us a bit about this mix?

Soos: So, as you know, it took me a while to record this and sorry for the wait! I usually spend quite some time making sure the selection of tracks I put out on mixes mean something to me and that it doesn't end up just being a one-take jam of the latest tracks on my stick. Recently I've been a bit hardcore with the online music trading game and this mix is a special selection of what I've gotten my hands on in the past few months, inspired by the loose and cozy vibe of Homage. Lots of latinx vibes and the usual weird Soosi psychedelia stuff. Hope you enjoy it and thank you for the invite amigxs. 💌