Maneskin have every intention of getting back in the studio together, but for now, they’re relishing the chance to experiment individually.
The Italian rockers – who won the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest – have been busy with their respective solo careers, and the band’s guitarist Thomas Raggi insists it’s been good for him and his bandmates to have the “space to experiment” so they can come back with fresh ideas for the I Wanna Be Your Slave band.
He told NME: “The idea is just to experiment in different worlds, which I think is important for a band. I can imagine when we come back in the studio that we’ll bring lots of different elements because everyone’s been on a different journey. That’s a cool thing, and I think it’ll help a lot with the creative process of the band. I think there’s something good in everyone having [space to] experiment.”
Asked if they’ve started anything new as a group yet, he replied: “Not yet, but we have some cool stuff that we can try when we come back to the studio.”
Thomas was speaking to promote his debut solo album, Masquerade, which came out on December 5.
Produced by Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, it features a rollcall of rock stars from Morello to Beck, Jet’s Nic Cester, Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, The Prodigy’s Maxim, Hama Okamoto of Okamoto’s, Kasabian’s Serge Pizzorno, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, and more.
Thomas stepped up to the mic on a few tracks for the first time and, with some vocal coaching, discovered he’s a better singer than he thought.
Asked if he fancies being a frontman, he said: “I think the guitar is the main part [of the record] because every song started from a riff, so it’s my record in that way. Also I sang for the first time and there are two songs with my voice so I think it’s cool that I explored that. Everything started with an instrumental on the guitar, and then I’d think of a drumbeat, and the voice was the last step. So I’d try to sing some melodies and after that I took some classes and realised that maybe my voice wasn’t too bad!”
Maneskin’s frontman, Damiano David, released his debut solo album, Funny Little Fears, in May.
Bassist Victoria De Aneglis also kicked off her solo career with the single Get Up B****! Shake Ya A**! , featuring Brazilian superstar Anitta.
