Photo by: FRANCIS DELACROIX
The band members of Måneskin, Damiano, Victoria, Thomas, and Ethan were very young when they began performing as street musicians in Rome. Their sheer energy blew audiences away, erasing gender stereotypes, mixing influences and styles to achieve an original, truly unique fusion that has brought them over 18 platinum and 5 gold discs.
After winning the 71st Sanremo Song Festival, Måneskin will represent Italy at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, performing in the final, scheduled for 22 May in Rotterdam.
On stage at the Ahoy Arena the band will unleash their compelling energy and perform live to an audience for the first time after the long break imposed by recent restrictions, with an estimated 3,500 people scheduled to attend both the show and rehearsals.
This participation at Eurovision is not only further recognition of the band’s growth, but after more than a year of closure it is also a great opportunity that will give them the chance to perform live – the medium that suits them best – and perform for an international audience.
The band will take part with Zitti e Buoni, the song that won the Sanremo Festival, and no doubt will give free rein to their intense energy for the benefit of viewers even though it will be filtered by TV screens for those watching from home. The performance will give Måneskin a chance to send out a strong, memorable message of freedom.
Composed by the band, Zitti e Buoni has garnered a double platinum certification and over 45,000,000 streams with its raw, distorted sound. Eurovision is about to experience the biting rock that underpins Måneskin’s music philosophy. A meaty song conceived for the kind of stage performance that drove the band through Italy and Europe in the first long tour of over 70 sell-out concerts.
Read everything you need to know about the band and their winnig song in the interview that follows.
Photos by: GABRIELE GIUSSANI
Hello Måneskin and welcome to SounDarts.gr! What’s your story as a band? Where did you meet and how did you start playing?
We’ve known each other for seven years now but we didn’t start the band immediately. Victoria and Thomas were in other groups and then brought together the current line-up in 2015, in Rome. Damiano came along later and we “found” Ethan thanks to a Facebook ad. We got straight to work in the rehearsal room, but the real starting point was when we busked in Via del Corso, in Rome. We were street musicians and that was a very important starting block that taught us how to win over an audience, and we tried to be 100% ourselves. A base and an experience that was crucial when we later took to the stages of concerts and festivals in Italy and Europe.
Going back in time, you released your debut album in 2018, entitled “Il ballo della vita”. What is the main idea behind it and how did it end up in its final form?
Il ballo della vita was our first recording project. We wanted it to be something that brought our most instinctive side to the surface: a celebration of music, youth and freedom. To do all this, we chose to embody this message of beauty and attitude in Marlena, a metaphorical character who was our inspirational muse.
If we focus on the period you were in London, what do you recall most vividly? What opportunities can this city give to an Italian band like you?
For a time we lived in London to work on our music. It was a very seminal, important experience for us: every night we went to two or three young rock band shows. We picked emerging bands and we were amazed at how much audience participation counted in these concerts. There’s huge vitality and interest around music, as well as big rock culture, even among young people, something we lack in Italy to some extent, and which we would love to export. We had the opportunity to perform live in London and the city was a huge inspiration for our new album.
Recently you released your second studio album, entitled “Teatro d’ira – Vol. I” that is something like a “catharsis” for you. What is your point of view about its content?
“Teatro d’ira – Vol. I” is the first volume of a new, larger project, which we will continue to develop throughout the year and will describe the new life experiences we have. It’s raw, played hard and fast, recorded live, and pays homage to the analogue mood of Seventies bootleg, without losing sight of our own style. We’re not expressing anger against a target. We’re expressing the creative energy that rebels against oppressive stereotypes. It’s a catharsis that brings rebirth and a positive change through art. With this album we want to carry on sending our message of freedom, shrugging off unnecessary superstructures and filters, and our need to be authentic. We want it to be an invitation to discard labels and live life to the full by being yourself, without fear of judgment or of being seen as different by others.
Speaking of current affairs, the song “Zitti e Buoni” gave you the “golden ticket” for your participation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest that will be held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, after your victory in The Sanremo Festival. Please, tell us a few things about the song.
“Zitti e Buoni” is a track that speaks mainly about redemption and our desire to make a difference to the world with our music. The song is all our own work, with its raw, distorted sound. A rock approach underpinning our attitude. We want it to challenge prejudice.
How did you feel about your victory in The Sanremo Festival?
We were really proud to be part of the Sanremo Festival with our own rock sound. We wanted to be ourselves and play our music, with all the commitment, passion and experience we’ve accumulated in recent years. We couldn’t have been more surprised by our first place: it was unreal and we see it as the sign of important change.
And finally, what do you expect from the Eurovision Song Contest 2021?
Eurovision will be an opportunity for us to measure up to an international audience unlike our usual fans. We’re happy and proud to be able to take part in an event involving many artists from different scenarios and we look forward to being able to represent Italy with our music. We expect this to be a unique event and we aim to unleash all our energy, as we always do.
You are a band intertwined with energy. So, how important is it for you to play live till now?
Playing live for us is everything. The unique feeling created with the audience is vital for us. That’s our dimension. We started as street musicians in direct contact with people. After that we were able to perform on the stages of clubs in Italy and Europe for a long sell-out tour for the previous album.
How did it help you with your next steps?
This was a fundamental experience and it resounds in our second album “Teatro d’ira”. It can be seen in each of us, as we have improved in terms of sound, a process that came about spontaneously and very naturally. We’ve understood lots of things about our sound. Each of us worked on their own instrument and from that growth we achieved a result that represents us fully.
Finally, Måneskin would you like to let us know what your future, professional plans are?
Then we have a tour kicking off in December and we’re over the moon because we’ll be presenting “Teatro d’ira – Vol. I” live for the first time, on the stages of leading Italian venues. And most importantly, we’ll be doing it after such a challenging year, when we saw the world of entertainment and all the workers who are part of it grind to a halt. It’s important for art to get moving again and we really hope to be able to play safely now.
