After the solo album, Thomas Raggi talks about the future of Måneskin
“Masquerade” is the title of the album that marked the solo debut by the guitarist of Måneskin, Thomas Raggi (read our review here). The six-string player of the Roman band has therefore followed the example of his other companionslike frontman Damiano David and bassist Victoria De Angelis, to carry out their own projects. Just weeks after releasing his first album without Måneskin, Thomas Raggi entertained a conversation with the British magazine “NME” on the meaning of the album, full of great collaborations, starting with the one with Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine, and the future of the Capitoline quartet.
Although on paper it is a solo album, “Masquerade” actually boasts of a series of highly prestigious collaboratorsfrom Serge Pizzorno of Kasabian to Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, passing through Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Maxim of The Prodigy, all involved alongside producer Morello. Regarding the nature of the project, Thomas emphasized the desire to “bring different generations together“. In fact, artists with more recent careers such as the singer Upsahl and Luke Spiller of the Struts are also involved in the album. When asked how the idea of a collaboration album was born, Raggi then explained: “I took a lot of inspiration from Slash’s eponymous albumin which he had involved many fantastic artists such as Lemmy from Motörhead and other incredible musicians. Beyond that, it all came very naturally, because I had written a lot of songs and also had a great relationship with Tom Morello. We talked to each other many times and he invited me to many of his concerts, so it was natural to discuss this idea with him. We have a really beautiful and authentic relationship; I hope you can hear it on the record.”
Even during the show in Hollywood to present the album, Raggi was there performed for the first time in the role of singer for the first time in public, the majority of the album features guest vocals. The guitarist was then asked if he had aspirations to be the frontman: “The guitar is the main part of the albumbecause every song was born from a riff, so in this sense it’s my album”, underlined Thomas: “Also, I sang for the first time and there are two songs with my voiceso I think it was nice to explore that as well. Everything started from an instrumental guitar base, then I thought of a drum beat and the vocals came last. I tried to sing some melodies and, after taking a few lessons, I realized that maybe my voice wasn’t that bad after all!“.
The interview then provided an opportunity to ask Thomas what meaning or impact your project has soloist and that of Damiano about the Måneskin. The guitarist said:
“The idea is just to experiment in different worlds, which I think is important for a band. I can imagine that when we go back to the studio, we will bring a lot of different elements, because everyone has had a different journey. It’s a good thing and I think it will help the creative process of the band a lot. There is something good in the fact that everyone has the space to experiment.”
When asked if the band is Roman has already started working on new materialRaggi replied:
“Not yet, but we have some cool things we can try when we get back to the studio.”
