Special energy between Zoster and the people of Nikšić

"Zoster band, your band" is the motto under which the band from Mostar, which has long since conquered audiences throughout the region, has been performing for some time. This sentence is exactly what the frontman repeats at all concerts, whether independent or festival Mario Knezović and several times, and the audience in Nikšić will certainly hear it on Sunday evening, because Zoster will arrive at Krupac and Lake fest.

By the way, in the thirteen years that Lake Fest has existed, Zoster is one of the bands that has performed at this festival the most times, and tomorrow will be their fourth time. The organizers of the festival, which started last night, claim that Zoster is returning only at the request of the audience.

"It's a special energy between us and the people of Nikšić, and it's been like that since the first day. We managed to establish a special bond the first time we played in Nikšić. A lake fest is a natural thing in our relationship. Nikšić is one of the special cities and we are not guests there, but we feel like we are playing at home", says Knezović in an interview with Vijesti.

Their first performance at Lake Fest about 10 years ago was marked by an early slot, and already tomorrow they will have one reserved for the "main star". However, according to the Zoster frontman, the date is not important to them, it is important that they get the opportunity to socialize with the audience.

"We always do our best and don't stress about the deadline. The appointment is a matter for the organizer, who assesses when it suits him to have someone perform. The term is never something we demand or think makes a difference,” he notes.

Zoster will soon release his fifth studio album, and it was announced with the singles "Kuda idu svi ti ljudi", "Treba mi kesh", "Man wants to be a bird", "A man called a fact" and the last one, which was released recently, "Mozak na pasnjak" . Most of these songs are included in the band's set list, and the audience at Krupac will hear them tomorrow evening.

"We are very satisfied with how all those singles were accepted by the audience. As we start more and more concerts with the last track 'Mozak na pasnjak', we are more coordinated and the audience is already used to it. At concerts, it's always important how you start and how you end it. All this in between is survived, but the beginning and the end are important", notes Mario.

Zoster had a large number of performances, so there are few festivals during this season where the people of Mostar did not play, which means that he has finally taken the place he has long belonged to.

"It is inconvenient for me to talk about it, but the fact that we never called, but went to the organizer's invitation, speaks volumes. It flatters us. Now, what we deserve, I don't know. I believe that we play as much as the audience wants us to," Knezović is honest, and he does not hide that he is glad that the audience also recognized that "Zoster band, your band".

“Our audience is organic. We never had a marketing machine, so that's how we did promotion. We have cultivated this love between us and the audience over the years and that is something that is most valuable in everything we have achieved and is priceless. It is the greatest success when you have people who follow you and know everything we do, without any kind of imposition, they already want it," Knezović proudly points out.

Zoster has been on the scene for decades, and what is "to blame" today is exclusively their songs, because as he already pointed out, their careers are not built on scandals and marketing tricks.

"I don't think we should have, nor did we want to score points with the audience in such a way. It's not a matter of us poor people not being there, and if we were it would be different. Everything is always as it should be. We do it primarily because we think it should, we are grateful to the audience because without them we wouldn't exist nor would we have time to deal with it. The audience gives meaning to everything we do. We never even went for it, but we were always what we are in some of our natural tasks. "As much as there is a need for us, we are here," says the musician.

Frequent trips, performances did not disturb Zoster to finish the fifth studio album

“We're done. We are waiting for the first version of the cover. It's all over, but we didn't want to force anything in this heat. The plan is to release it at the beginning of the school year, there in September. Everything is more or less finished," reveals Mario.

From the first teaser single that was released, all the songs are connected, and it's as if they were revealing the story they wanted to tell little by little.

"It's not a calculation, but the order on the album is important. He is not so exact in that overall story, but he has some dramaturgy, not only in terms of text but also in terms of sound. We released the first, then the third, then the eighth, then the sixth, then the fourth, and it's a mosaic whose overall picture will be closed when these five more songs are released. It is important that all these songs work independently and that the audience does not need to know the context to listen to them. But the context, as you noted, is there. It's readable to me, but I don't know how much it will be to the audience. The remaining songs have elements of everything we heard from the album, so I believe they will bring some refreshment", he is sure.

Previously, the first songs on sides A and B on records and cassettes were the main ones, but Zoster was never guided by that, they always arranged the songs on projects according to feeling. Mario reveals that one of his friends was in charge of the order of songs on the new album.

“I sent him the songs to listen to, and he sent me a sequence that we both liked. Sometimes we do it ourselves, and sometimes they are arranged better by someone who did not participate in their creation. The order is important because we are one of those bands that release albums. This is our fifth album, and these are also some epochs of our lives, because we release albums on average once every four years. The only thing is that I don't know how often we manage to hit that order, but we try to make it so that it remains drinkable in all of it when listening", concludes Knezović.

The song from the movie "Cases of Justice" in the repertoire

The previous album "Srce zavrelo" also brought the track "I know how I look" which was included in the film of the organization The books of knjige - "Slucajevi pravde". It was not included in Zoster's repertoire for a long time, and recently it has been played at concerts, so the audience in Nikšić will also hear it.

"We didn't have time to rehearse it so that it sounds good live, that's why we didn't play it at first. Now, to put it in jargon, we have 'taken it down' and included it in the repertoire. It is our hit that marked the cooperation with Buksovci that we have had for years", confirmed Knezović.