In 2021, the band – consisting of vocalist Damiano David, bassist Victoria De Angelis, guitarist Thomas Raggi and drummer Ethan Torchio – won Europe’s biggest song contest, Eurovision, and has been unstoppable ever since.
They’ve scored three number one hits on the Billboard rock charts this year alone: their viral cover of Frankie Valli’s “Beggin’,” “I Wanna be Your Slave” and “Supermodel.”
They were also recently nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards, including Best New Artist. They’ve left The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and headlined Saturday Night Live.
A little over a year ago, the four rockers were little-known musicians playing the streets of Rome and fighting with other street performers for a corner spot that would attract more people. Now, attracting a crowd is as simple as announcing their next concert.
Earlier this month, they played to a sold-out crowd of 70,000 at Rome’s Circus Maximus and have been invited to perform at some of the biggest music festivals in the US, including Coachella and Lollapalooza, where they will be making their first appearance this sunday.
This fall, they will embark on their first world tour, which will take them across the United States, Europe and Latin America with tickets selling out quickly and dates stretching into 2023.
CNN correspondent Maria Santana caught up with Maneski in New York before they were set to perform for a smaller, more intimate crowd at the city’s House of X as part of Sirius XM’s Small Stage Series, and spoke with them about their meteoric rise to fame, their humble beginnings, the next stops on their world tour, covering the “King of Rock n Roll”, Elvis Presley, and why they are standing up for the people of Ukraine.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
The first thing I have to ask is how do you pronounce your band name?
All: Moan-Ah-Skin!
Santana: I always listen to Man-Eh-Skin.
Victoria De Angelis: Yes, everything is fine.
Santana: So Moan-A-Skin?
Thomas Raggi: Moan-A-Skin is perfect.
And what does Maneskin mean?
De Angelis: It means moonlight. I picked it when we first started playing because we had to join this music competition and we didn’t have a name yet, so they just told me to say random words in Danish and we picked one.
Looking back at this past year, I’m sure it’s been absolutely crazy for you, from where you were a year ago to now?
Damiano David: Yes, it’s been a crazy journey, but of course we’re really happy about everything we’ve done, and every time we look back, all the steps, we’re super happy and proud.
What was the most surprising, perhaps most exciting, thing that happened to you last year?
Shots: I think we’ve had a lot of incredible moments this past year. Maybe a song with Iggy Pop is one of those, sure, and playing with The Stones. I mean a lot, it’s been a lot.
Now you are filling stadiums with 70,000 people, selling tickets for 80,000 and you said it was really hard for you guys to find a place to play in Italy. What was it like when you started?
De Angelis: It was very difficult because in Rome there is no real rock scene, so clubs don’t want bands to play their stuff, and also people are not very used to going to concerts of upcoming artists.
They just go to celebrities they already know, so it was very difficult and that’s why we started playing buskers on the street. We always fought with other street artists to have the best place, and we never won, but … (laughs).
And then you do Eurovision, how did it change your life?
David: I think that was our first actual window outside of Italy. From that moment we were basing our projects on Italy and Italy only and this was the chance to break into Europe, then from Europe to the US, and hopefully grow more and more.
How was the victory for Italy? It had been 30 years since Italy had won Eurovision, and then you win with rock n’ roll, a not very big genre there?
Raggi: Yeah, that’s crazy.
David: I think it was a surprise to everyone.
De Angelis: Yes, everyone was very proud, great celebration.
A lot of times for Eurovision winners, they have that big moment and then they disappear. What do you think makes you guys different that you’ve been able to pull this off and catapult so much and become this worldwide phenomenon?
David: I think for us Eurovision came at a really good time because we had just come out with an album, so what we brought to Eurovision was basically just one thing from the whole album and it was fresh, and it was super authentic to WE. So I think people were happy that they found a lot of coherence between what we brought to Eurovision and what they saw in our catalogue, and they felt like, OK, this is not just a viral song that they made specifically for Eurovision, but it’s just one of their songs and then they have two albums, and it all makes sense.
Next, you release “Beggin’,” which turns out to be the biggest rock song of the last year. I mean, I wake up every morning and I think about the last year like, (sings), “I’m begging you, I’m begging you”… (laughter) … It just pops into my head, and then I’m like, come on, just get out!
David: Yeah, it’s our fault, it’s our fault, (laughs). Well, it’s not even our fault that we didn’t even promote it. It’s TikTok’s fault. It just went viral. We were quite shocked by it. When we saw it growing up, we were like what’s going on, and then we found out it went viral on TikTok and everything that happened after that.
Why that song? It’s a Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons cover, and I can’t think of a more different style than you guys and The Four Seasons.
De Angelis: Actually, we played it at the beginning, when we first started, and we think it’s much more challenging and fun to cover very different songs. So, like now, we’re also playing “Womanizer” by Britney Spears, for example, and we find that challenging and stimulating, and it really makes you take a different interpretation of something and bring it into your own. That’s when you do something good, I think.
You also covered “If I Can Dream” for the Elvis movie, what was it like singing an Elvis song? I mean, you know, “The King of Rock n’ Roll.”
David: Well, whenever we have some big deals, we try not to think too much about it, because then you’re anxious and you feel the pressure. When we had the chance to play an Elvis cover, we didn’t feel like we were going up against Elvis because that would be impossible, you can’t try to fight Elvis’ legacy. We were very happy and super happy and super honored to have the opportunity to play one of his songs, and we focused on that, and we focused on doing the best we could on that song without comparing it to Elvis. one because, of course, it is intangible.
Now you have two VMA nominations and a third number one song on the Billboard charts, “Supermodel,” can you tell me what that song is?
De Angelis: The funny thing is that everyone thinks it’s about supermodels, but it’s not. We wrote it after we were in LA for three months where we met a lot of people who were pretending to be supermodels or superstars. Everyone was too focused on how they appeared rather than how or who they really were. Everyone was just trying to fake having the best clothes, the best friends, the best club, stuff like that, and we found it a bit silly, of course, but it was something we thought only appeared in movies, like eg stereotype, you know, but when we saw it in person, we thought it was fun and wanted to make a funny song about it.
I can tell you that nobody in New York is like that. We are very real. If you had to make a song about New York, what would it be about?
From the Angels: Ohhh … (laughs) … we have to spend more months here.
David: I think it would be like a club song, super dirty, club… (laughter).
You’ve played various festivals, like Lollapalooza in Europe, but this weekend you’re doing Lollapalooza in Chicago. What does it mean to play Lollapalooza here in the US?
Raggi: Crazy, it’s huge.
De Angelis: It’s our first Festival in the USA. So this is like a big, big…
David: It’s not our first festival! We played at Coachella, come on! … (Laughter).
From the Angels: Well, that’s right, Coachella. We started this festival season this summer, and so far it’s only been in Europe, so this summer is a first.
Raggi: For the summer, yes.
You sing in English and Italian, but we have a lot of Italian singers who are big in Latin America and they sing in Spanish — Laura Pausini, Eros Ramazzotti, Il Volo — do you think you’d ever sing in Spanish?
David: Why not?
De Angelis: In Spanish?
David: I mostly listen to Spanish music, so I wouldn’t do support… (laughs).
You will start your tour and go to Latin America, Santiago, Buenos Aires. What’s it like going to all these places, is it a culture shock when you go?
David: Yeah, you know, we’ve never been, outside of Ethan, we’ve never been to Latin America and we’ve never played there, but of course, we know something about the people there and we know that they’re really crazy … (laughter) … hyped, fired up and we like those kinds of crowds. So we’re looking forward to playing there and it was one of the places that impressed me the most. When I saw the tickets go on sale, I was like “what the f**k?”, how did we get there? It was crazy so we can’t wait to be there.
How has fame changed you, if at all?
De Angelis: I don’t think it has changed us.
David: I’m less worried about things, actually. I think I’m stable… (laughs).
Do you feel that fame, when you are so well known, comes with the responsibility to speak about certain political issues? Many artists say, I’m an entertainer, not a politician or an activist.
De Angelis: Yeah, for us, I think it comes naturally, so when we think we know enough about a topic and we think our opinion can make a difference or something we don’t feel like pressure or something. It comes naturally and we are happy to do it. Also, if we can share a positive message about something that really matters to us, we’re happy to do it. If not, we also feel no pressure to do it.
You made a song in support of Ukraine, “We will dance with gasoline”, how do you feel about that situation?
David: It’s really hard to say because we feel so bad about it, but we also know that we have a great privilege, no worries, no worry that something will happen to us. So we are privileged, but of course, if we can spread knowledge about it, we are more than happy and we think we should do it because this is something that is happening today and if we can do something today, it is more. valuable.
One of your first songs was “Zitti E Buoni”, which means “Shut up and bring it on”. It doesn’t look like you guys are going to shut up or behave anytime soon.
De Angelis: No, not at all.
Where do you go from here?
De Angelis: I don’t know, we feel very free. We just want to keep playing. We’ve got so many amazing gigs and tours coming up, so I think we’re going to really enjoy it and take all the inspiration we can from that and then turn it into music. We don’t want to set any specific targets, but we just want to keep going and see what happens and keep improving and doing what we think is right.
CNN’s Marysabel Huston-Crespo contributed to this report.
