FEATURE: Spotlight: Måneskin — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Måneskin

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I am not late to the party…

but I thought, as Måneskin have just announced news of an album, I would feature them in Spotlight now. This incredible and fascinating force are an Italian Rock band formed in Rome in 2016. They comprise of vocalist Damiano David, bassist Victoria De Angelis, guitarist Thomas Raggi, and drummer Ethan Torchio. The band rose to prominence after finishing second in the eleventh season of the Italian talent show, X Factor, in 2017. Måneskin won the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 for Italy. They are an incredible band who put the controversy, excitement, and thrill back in a Rock scene that has seriously been lacking it for years! Before coming to interviews they have been involved with this year, DORK reported news of an upcoming Måneskin album last week:

“The official release date has been revealed – January 20th, 2023 – but no other information has been made available yet.

The Italian rockers recently debuted a new track, ‘Kool Kids’, at their Mexico City concert. This newest tease at new material follows the official release of their current single, ‘THE LONELIEST’, earlier this month.

The surprise announcement was made via Spotify’s social media accounts earlier this afternoon, with the band quickly confirming the news themselves. They have supplied the artwork for the release, which shows all four members of the band being leaped over by a character in a blue skirt

No other information has been provided.

Måneskin continue to tour the US & Canada throughout the remainder of October and November”.

It is hard to know where to begin with Måneskin! They are such an interesting and compelling band when it comes to the music and interviews. Stylish and raw at the same time, they have the Italian characteristics of passion and panache! Rather than being specific to various age groups and taste brackets, there is this widespread and easy charm and power to their music that will hook in people from across the generations and nations. I think that 2023 is going to be a huge year for them! With celebrity fans including Angelina Jolie, they are primed for massive things! Because they introduce us to the band, I want to start off with an interview with Vogue from earlier in the year. Måneskin were talking about the success of their song, Supermodel, and their rising success:

“Even if you’re not familiar with the musical sensation that is Måneskin, there’s a better than good chance you know that Angelina Jolie and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt were among the 70,000 fans who gathered to see the band play at the Circus Maximus in their hometown of Rome a few weeks ago because TikTok and the tabloids had a field day reporting it.

If introductions are in order, Måneskin (pronounced “moan-eh-skin”) is an Italian rock band with a Danish moniker (meaning “moonshine”). It was formed in 2016 by bassist Victoria De Angelis (who is half Danish, which explains the band name), guitarist Thomas Raggi, lead singer Damiano David, and drummer Ethan Torchio.

IN THIS PHOTO: Måneskin: (from left) Ethan Torchio, Victoria De Angelis, Damiano David, and Thomas Raggi, in New York, July 2022/PHOTO CREDIT: Fabio Germinario/Courtesy of Arista Recordings

The foursome participated in a local talent contest and busked in Rome prior to competing on Italy’s X-Factor in 2017, where they placed second. Three years later they won the San Remo Festival and then the Eurovision Song Contest with an explosive and glam performance—complete with laced aubergine leather, platform boots, bare chests, and heavy eyeliner—that brought the house down. It was May 2021, the world was coming off a year in lockdown, and the band’s sense of fun was infectious. Not long after, they received an invitation to open for the Rolling Stones in L.A.

They’re back in America this week for a SiriusXM Small Stage performance, and it’s fortunate that all of Måneskin’s members have reached the legal drinking age because they have a lot to cin cin. Their hit single “Supermodel,” produced by Swedish hitmaker Max Martin, is currently number one on alt-radio and is on track to becoming the song of the summer. On top of that, it was just announced that the band is up for two MTV Video Music Awards (best new artist and best alternative). All that and a Gucci wardrobe via Alessandro Michele himself.

Theirs is not a gritty rag-to-riches story, though it follows roughly that of the apocryphal American dream that so many Italians left to pursue in the States. “We’re living a dream, that’s for sure,” conceded frontman David on a Gucci-clad visit to Vogue, “but in a different way. We don’t feel like we’ve been discovered. We dug every inch of this hole we’re in. We worked a lot to get here, so of course we are happy, but on the other side, pardon if I’m a bit cocky, but we feel like it’s well deserved.”

Deserved, yes (the band’s devotion to its craft is revealed in their 2018 documentary)—but also seemingly out of left field. An Italian glam punk-rock band? Who would have thunk it? Italy is known for many things—fashion, artistry, food, and fabrics, among them—but youth culture not so much. And at least outside of Italy, it’s not at all known for rock and roll. Måneskin surprises at every turn, defying expectations again and again. Whether it’s your taste or not, David’s bluesy voice cannot be denied, nor can the band’s sheer joy in what they’re doing. In a short time they have manifested their rock-star dreams, transitioning from playing a role to owning it.

At first sight, what most marks Måneskin as Italian is their Guccification. But in almost every other way, they have flipped the script. So much that is exported from Italy is given the stereotypical and nostalgic dolce vita spin—it’s all Roman Holiday, Sophia, Gina, and Michelangelo’s David. Måneskin’s viewpoint is more global, particularly anchored in a guitar-heavy 1970s sound in the style of British and American rockers. David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, Slade, and the New York Dolls come to mind.

Though Måneskin channels the sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll vibe developed in the dive bars and gritty environs of New York’s Lower East Side, the four have a more evolved attitude toward health and self-preservation. Artificial stimulants don’t seem to be part of the equation, despite a tempest in a teapot at Eurovision. (A photo of David leaning over a table led to allegations of cocaine use. He denied the claim, and a voluntary drug test confirmed that.) Unlike the anti-heroine of their summer hit, the band members, who have been constantly on the road and in the spotlight, are in need of a vacation, not rehab.

The song, by the way, is not about a specific person but a composite of poseurs the band met during their time in Los Angeles. “A lot of people think that the song is actually about a supermodel, but it’s not,” David stresses. “The supermodels in the ’90s…are supercool, supersmart, super focused. They were living this weird, crazy lifestyle, but it was authentic and natural [to them]. The song is about people faking to be supermodels. We saw a lot of people who had no money, no skills, no nothing, pretending to have money, skills, and networks, and that was super funny for us. They were actually pretending to be supermodels.” While we were on the topic, I asked each member to identify their real-life favorite ’90s super. De Angelis, Raggi, and Torchio are all team Kate Moss; David’s pick is Carla Bruni.

Fame is now part and parcel of the lives of all the Måneskins, and maintaining a personal life is challenging, says David. There’s also the matter of sustaining the person and the persona; fashion and heavy eyeliner are important parts of the latter. This foursome is a ’70s-style fever dream, with a preference for tattoo-revealing open shirts and flared pants. They don’t shy away from some BDSM in their wardrobes or lyrics, either—listen to “I Wanna Be Your Slave” from the band’s second album and the remake featuring the Me Decade icon Iggy Pop for proof.

In some ways, fashion and society today are very close to the ’70s, a decade defined in part by fights for social justice, feminism, and sexual liberation. “There were a lot of artists then in the rock or punk scenes who were trying to break the norms through their music. In style and aesthetics they were very revolutionary, also for society, not just for fashion,” notes De Angelis. “Unfortunately you still have to fight for many of the same topics from that time. They’re still actual now, and you still have to stand up and speak up for them.”

Gen Z’ers all, the band wants to communicate a message of freedom. They also want to share their passion for classic rock with their fans. As David said in a 2017 interview, “Our band is a translation of music from the past into modernity.” Consider the version of Elvis Presley’s 1968 hit “If I Can Dream” they did for the Baz Luhrmann Elvis movie. Måneskin’s cover of the Four Tops’ 1967 song “Beggin’” has more than a billion listens on Spotify.

Covers remain an important part of their performances, even as the band writes and performs original work. It’s an approach that syncs with their mission of bridging old and new and, in the context of their upbringing, seems to have a particularly Roman slant. Everywhere in the capital city, antiquity is in dialogue with the present. At the same time, nostalgia has never been more of a force in popular culture, both before the pandemic and today. De Angelis suggests that their loud, raucous form of play was the post-lockdown antidote many needed. On top of that, their glitter and glam speak to the escapist party mood many designers are now exploring.

Though Måneskin promotes a message of acceptance and works a genderfluid aesthetic, their world contains some basic binaries: new-old, Italian-English, public-private. Which leads me back to that person-persona divide. For David, the two coexist: “I think it gets back to the [idea that] two different things can live at the same moment and be equally real in the same way. I feel like I’m completely a different person onstage and offstage, but I don’t feel like I am faking anything in either situation. It’s just a part of me that comes out. When I’m offstage I’m very introverted, and onstage I’m crazy. It’s just two parts of me that are equally true and real. It’s just the context that changes”.

In May, NME shored up a lot of Internet space to dig deep into the music and lives of Måneskin. The band stated how there is not really anyone like them keeping Rock and Roll’s flame alive. That said, as they make apparent, you cannot kill the genre either. I have selected a few sections from the fascinating interview:

“Eurovision might seem a strange turn for most rockers, but mass appeal and pure entertainment lay at the heart of this band’s DNA. They formed in Rome in 2016 “to have fun and fill up our afternoons,” David explains. Soon they were busking; playing any school hall, dingy bar or street corner that would allow them. “It got pretty serious in a very short amount of time,” says De Angelis. “Even though we were very young and it was like a dream, we were always aiming for something bigger.”

Their first major move was to enter the Italian version of TV’s X Factor in 2017, finishing second. Why X Factor? “Basically, we were sick of carrying instruments and amplifiers on our fucking shoulders,” replies David, candidly. “We saw an opportunity and we just jumped on the train.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Fabio Germinario for NME

Defending the move, De Angelis argues that the show in her home country doesn’t have the same reputation for trite pier-side entertainment as it might here in the UK. “Here it’s cool,” she argues. “It’s the only X Factor that allows real bands to play, or at least it was the first. It gives you the opportunity to show off something real. We did whatever we wanted to do.”

The four-piece have gained a reputation for their larger-than-life performances (one setting the tone with David pole-dancing) and they still regularly air their longstanding covers of The Killers and Franz Ferdinand at Måneskin shows today – to the giddy delight of some and aggressive derision of others. David pragmatically describes the show as “full immersion training from professionals” in getting “five years of experience condensed into three months”, while Torchio says they used it as “a trampolene” to fame. The tactic worked. “Just three months earlier we were playing on the streets,” recalls De Angelis, “then we had a sold-out tour.”

“Having breakfast at Chris Martin and Dakota Jones’ house – that was pretty ‘What the fuck!?’” – Victoria De Angelis

Still, it seems attitudes towards talent shows have shifted anyway. Harry Styles started out as a product of X Factor with One Direction, and now he’s headlining Coachella and just released one of the most warmly received albums of the year.

“Our generation doesn’t feel the urge to label everything,” says David. “They just want to enjoy your music, enjoy your journey and follow you in whatever you do. Harry Styles is the perfect example. He had the biggest fanbase with a boyband, and now is one of the most respected and worshipped artists in the world. He deserves it because he has been able to make that happen for himself. It’s literally what an artist should do: be true to yourself.”

When Eurovision came, the Måneskin train was already chugging ahead with gusto in Italy, where they’d shifted over one million records with their two Number One albums 2018’s ‘Il ballo della vita’ and ‘Teatro d’ira: Vol. I’ from last year. ‘Zitti E Buoni’ had already clocked 45million streams before the competition.

Now they’re following in the footsteps of ABBA and Celine Dion as one of the most successful ‘Vision off-shoots of all-time. Their cover of The Four Seasons’ ‘Beggin’ alone recently achieved one billion streams on Spotify. “That’s fucking crazy,” laughs David. “That’s fucking ‘Despacito’ or fucking ‘Levitating’! It’s a fucking hit!”

It’s also an audience in their millions discovering the band afresh, probably unaware of their X Factor and Eurovision past. Godfather of punk Iggy Pop recorded vocals for a new version of the sleazy sex-rock smash single ‘I Wanna Be Your Slave’ a month after its initial release last year, and you can’t imagine him sat at home screaming “DOUZE POITS!” at the TV.

“When he recorded that, I was like, ‘Fuck – he’s singing my lyrics with my melody, my structure, and it’s fucking Iggy Pop’,” says David. “He trusted me, and that was the best moment ever.

Raggi agrees: “It was just crazy because he’s a fucking legend. He was so humble and kind. He was really into this shit.”

Another icon who’s “really into this shit” is Mick Jagger; the septuagenarian rocker anointed Måneskin with his seal of approval when they supported The Rolling Stones last year. Jagger recently upset some rock purists when his big lips declared that the new breed of rockers such as Doncaster tearaway Yungblud and dayglo rap-punk Machine Gun Kelly made him feel like “there is still a bit of life in rock‘n’roll”.

Yet this is “a very old-fashioned way to see it,” reasons David: “Nobody is ‘keeping rock’n’roll alive’. It’s just impossible to kill. In my head what we’re doing is very different to what MGK is doing, which is very far from what Yungblud is doing, which is very far from what Willow Smith is doing, but a lot of artists are bringing back that kind of sound and energy: distorted guitars and real drums, to fucking play with a band with real analogue sounds, stage-diving – all the rock’n’roll shit. Music is just developing. Everything is colliding and mixing in a good way”.

To finish, ironically, I want to take things back to the start. Of this year that is! In February, Kerrang! profiled and chatted with Måneskin. After their Eurovision victory in 2021, the band were ready to own and destroy 2022 with their unique and incredible music. It has grown bigger and bigger from them since this interview predicted great things:

“Okay, well here’s what’s going on. Currently, Måneskin attract 38 million monthly plays on Spotify, a number that places them in the Top 40 of the most streamed artists in the world. For anyone looking for context, in the same period lowly upstarts Metallica had just under 18 million plays. Obscure have-a-go-heroes such as David Bowie (15.5 million), The Rolling Stones (21 million) and The Beatles (25 million) are all dining on the Italians’ dust. Their label says the last artist they saw rise like this was Katy Perry.

“Seeing our numbers grow so much in such a short space of time is crazy,” admits Victoria. “Especially when you consider the kind of music we play, considering that some of the songs are in Italian. The numbers are crazy and we’re very grateful for that.”

Måneskin – whose line-up is completed by drummer Ethan Torchio and guitarist Thomas Raggi – spend so much time expressing gratitude that it can sometimes feel as if our interview is with a troupe of children’s television presenters. Nice young people one and all, the group formed as teenagers in Rome in 2015; by the time they won Eurovision they’d already issued two albums (Zitti e buoni is the opening track on their second LP, Teatro d’ira: Vol. I, released in March).

PHOTO CREDIT: Aidan Zamiri

Eurovision wasn’t even the first TV competition the quartet had entered; playing cover versions of songs by The Killers and Franz Ferdinand, in 2017 they finished second in the Italian edition of The X Factor. Burnished by this success, the quartet’s first European tour was seen by more than 140,000 people.

Even so, it was the night in Rotterdam that truly lit the touchpaper. On a chilly Saturday morning via Zoom, Måneskin talk (happily) about having been given almost no time to see the sights in what is their first visit to New York. Who knows, they say, maybe later they’ll have a chance to take a stroll around Central Park. A few nights earlier, the group appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon; four nights hence, they’ll be guests on The Ellen Show out in Los Angeles. After headlining concerts at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, and The Roxy in LA, on November 6 the Italians stepped onto the stage at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas as special guests of The Rolling Stones.

For a group whose average age is just 21, the change in circumstances is surely startling. As well as much else, it can be as startling for a band to get more than they expect as it is to receive less.

“Of course we’re aware of that,” nods Damiano. “We’re aware that it’s tough and that you have to be mentally prepared and mentally strong, and not everybody is capable of living this kind of life. But I would say that we are [capable] because we’ve prepared ourselves for five years. We’ve been friends since we were really young. We know each other very well. We know the best parts of us. We’re able to help each other every time something feels like it’s too heavy or too stressful or something. I feel like you have to be able to understand your limits and set boundaries when you need to rest and disappear for a little bit and focus on your personal life”.

If you have not followed Måneskin, then you really do need to. A band who are far from a novelty or what one would associate with a former Eurovision act, they are the real deal. Combining aspects of Glam fashion and excess with Rock swagger and attitude with songs that are definitely among the most essential and finest around, they will be legends of the future! Go and connect with…