 This is the heavy metal band Zeus whose lead singer spent six years in a Cuban prison in the early 90s Locked up for having long hair and other rock music related offenses But a decade later Zeus joined up with the government as part of a new state bureaucracy called the agency of rock Did the band sell out or were they making a necessary compromise to bring more cultural and artistic freedom to Cuba? That's the main question posed by the new documentary Los Ultimos Frikis out now on VOD The film which was shot between 2009 and 2019 Charts the rise and fall of Zeus after a period in which Cuba's communist government jailed and tortured musicians artists activists writers and other free-thinking freaks Rock music had become a popular outlet for the angst and aspirations of young Cubans starting in the 1970s By the 80s, however, communist government officials started to crack down on these anti-authoritarian Headbangers whose work they branded a dangerous ideological diversion from the revolution up through the early 90s Many rockers continued to be imprisoned including Dione who is the central character in the film But after the fall of the Soviet Union cut off Cuba's primary source of revenue The country's dictator Fidel Castro faced a near total economic collapse and was forced to accept some cultural and market liberalization In exchange for foreign investment around that time Dione was released from prison and he proceeded to find even greater fame as the lead singer of Zeus But as director Nicholas Brennan chronicles in the documentary Cuba's post-soviet openness to rock came with strings attached the government presented the band with a Faustian bargain Partner with the newly created agency of rock and in exchange Zeus would be able to perform before huge crowds at the only major rock venue in Havana Zeus and I think just rock and roll in general Was seen historically as the music of the enemy You know to be a rock band or even just to listen to rock music in the 70s and 80s and into the 90s Was was considered sort of embracing this this capitalist influence The officials seeing these kids with tight jeans tight ripped jeans and long hair. Oh, what are these freaky's as they know Freaky's was sort of the derogatory term that you know, you get arrested you have your hair cut You know forcefully shave your your great long sort of you know headbanging locks in the 80s Zeus's lead singer Dione had been part of a trend-setting heavy metal group called Venus And that band was actually shut down by the government told they couldn't play together anymore in the late 80s And then a few years after that Dione ended up spending six years in prison on a series of sort of Convoluted classically authoritarian charges and when he came out He joined he rejoined Zeus and and you know the band really sort of took off And you talk about how in the film the government broke up Venus because it represented a what they called an ideological Diversion among young people and the cash rows couldn't afford to let that happen Obviously, but do you think that was more a reaction to the cultural elements from the US becoming popular in Cuba and threatening the regimes sort of Anti-capitalist ideals or was it the fact that rock music sort of generally represents more of an individualistic or Generally anti authoritarian worldview. I think the real freaky scary thing for authoritarian regimes is is individual thought Individuals, you know banding together and playing this loud music After the economic misery of the 90s to attract foreign investment The government aimed to give the outward impression that ordinary Cubans had cultural and artistic freedom The Castro regime reversed course on rock and started giving heavy metal bands like Zeus the freedom to perform openly As long as they stayed within the boundaries of acceptable expression as determined by the government's newly created agency of rock You know, it's one of these sort of ingenious Sort of state bureaucracy things that came up in the mid-2000s to try to organize these freaky and sort of give them a nice place to play but also Keep them within a bubble and the brother organization of The agency of rock is agency of rap. So they sort of they gave a space for the rockers and they gave a space for the hip-hop guys And so what is what does the agency of rock actually do? You know, how does it ensure that rockers align with the political and cultural mission of the state? I think the agency of rock so it's a PR firm a management firm a Kind of a label though. They don't put out their own albums now, but they facilitate with with other Other state label companies in order to like sort of officially make the money You have to have a profession and to be in the agency of rock allows you to say you are a professional rocker When your band is within the agency of rock you are an official state Did you get the sense that they were able to sort of honestly share their feelings about this kind of stuff with you or Where did you feel yourself? You know sort of bumping up against the boundaries of what they could talk about in terms of, you know, not Exposing themselves to harassment or possible imprisonment as it explains that a hot sell explains the guitarist explains in the film is It was a forbidden truth. There's things that we just can't say I think showing that line was important to make sure it was clear to the broader audience that like This was a film made in a real push in Poland There's a few other times we see the bands for pushback like on it Don't you know cut here, which is I think very much the reality of of trying to you know Walk the tightrope of being a being an artist in Cuba and the second half of the film is sort of framed by this the national tour That the band does it's a wild journey that you take us through They just have a series of disasters not to give away too much But basically it seems like local officials in some cases are making it either too dangerous or logistically impossible for them to perform You know, what was the government trolling them the whole time? What was going on there once they travel through the rest of the country? You sort of just realized like Man, what if what have we done? What is this company? You know, what is what is what is this compromise actually added up to? And I think that's you know, there's a particularly dark moment for Dione where he says, you know This is they've made a fool of me And I think we've done everything they wanted to do from day one and they just want to snuff us out You know so like, you know, bring everyone in the bubble and then crush the bubble to go back to what we talked about earlier You know, whether it's the the life of the artist in Cuba the band in Cuba, it's you know anyone facing these type of You know a giant stone wall in front of you where you're like what what have I done? You know, you say well, I'm gonna head but my way through this stone wall And the ultimate twist is that they are able to sort of start operating again at the past of the state, right? The way the film ends is a bit of a spoiler is that Dione is named the head of the agency of rock and I think That coming after Such a period of his own frustration. I sort of saw it as like oh interesting So now Dione, you know, they can't really complain anymore You know, this is the culmination of the trajectory you chose for yourself As the film progresses in the members of Zeus age rock music starts to get supplanted by reggaeton as the music of youth and rebellion That same sure wave of like pushing against you know doing something different is all reggaeton and you saw him in Sort of mid the mid teens to 2010s The government banned reggaeton from the radius. They said no more great on It's too sexy. It's too filthy. It's too problematic And so you're you know, it's similar that fear of that change fear something different This year a group of Cuban reggaeton musicians released the song patria y vida Which means homeland in life a plan Fidel Castro's famous phrase patria o muerte or homeland or death It became a viral sensation and the anthem of recent mass protests in Cuba. I think what's interesting in reggaeton you see Where as rock and roll was everyone was broke everyone was just crap and just like to show up for a mosh pit reggaeton I think you see a sort of an idolizing a sort of opportunity of money and cash and the sort of excitement of of mobility and like reggaeton as a form of mobility and upward, you know, that's sort of like Quite a fairly capitalist idea the idea of of changing your position in life Being a being a big theme of that of reggaeton in Cuba. Hmm. And anyway, that's quite different from rock and roll Just yeah, I The title of film in Los Utamos freaks translates to the last freaks But what I like to say is that What's it's missing a question mark at the end and that was really I think the choice of the title was like Are these the last freaks? Are they the last freaks like in you know How are politically inconvenient artists or dissenters or you know, just other people who don't fit the regime's mold for the citizenry? You know, how are they facing punishment or restrictions on their their liberties today in Cuba particularly in the aftermath of the protests? You saw independent filmmakers getting cracked cracked down on you saw independent fine artists, you know painters and people creating dissonant art getting cracked down on living in a Country with a really oppressive state You also try to find your own life in a way that doesn't acknowledge the state, you know, like It's just there, but you still have to exist as individuals within the state I think ultimately the tremendous frustration and tremendous difficulties pushing and trying to make your own space for yourself But I think ultimately the band would be quite proud of their own individual efforts