It’s safe to say that although Italian rock quartet Maneskin was pretty huge in its home country and parts of Europe when they took the Eurovision stage last year, the band’s name recognition and popularity exploded when it won the coveted prize with the song “Zitti E Buoni.” Over the past year, the group has seen its streams, sales and tour itineraries soar, appeared on “Saturday Night Live” and at the Coachella festival — and perhaps most impressive of all, began working with Max Martin, the most successful songwriter-producer of the past 25 years (from Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys to Katy Perry to the Weeknd and Taylor Swift), on its next album.
Although the group premiered a new, anti-Putin song called “Gasoline” at Coachella last month, the first fruit of the new partnership arrives tonight: the single “Supermodel.” While Martin started off as a singer in a hard rock band, this is the first time in many years he’s worked with one — and it’s hard not to notice that the song’s riff owes more than a little to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
Listen to the song here.
“Yeeepppp,” bassist Victoria De Angelis acknowledges coyly. “It started off with Max, but we worked on it, Thomas changed it a bit and added more to it.”
Guitarist Thomas Raggi adds, “I took a lot of inspiration from the California vibe!”
The group has been working on the new album, which is not finished, in Los Angeles for the past three months. Along with Martin, also involved are writer-producersRami Yacoub, Savan Kotecha, Mattman & Robin, Justin TranterandSly.
“We met Max at our first gig in L.A. in November,” De Angelis says. “He had heard of us because of Eurovision and we talked and then we decided to work together.”
Singer Damiano David adds, “We did more or less half of the album with him — ten songs with him, but not everything. Working with him, first of all, was a huge chance to learn new things — he’s been doing this for 30 years and has done so much great stuff — and it was also just great. When you write song with him it’s more or less going to be 100% a great song!”
Asked about Martin’s famously meticulous working processes, he added, “He’s very Scandinavian!”
Pressed for more details about the new material, the group didn’t give up much — “You’ll have to wait for the record! We want to be mysterious” — but De Angelis did add, “We’ve experimented a lot on the record. It’s always us, of course, but I think fans will like it. We also have some songs we wrote a couple of years ago, songs we wrote completely on our own.”
Along with meeting Martin, the group’s U.S. tour last fall saw them opening for the Rolling Stones in Las Vegas. The bandmembers gushed about the show and the experience.
“We met Mick and Keith Richards!,” De Angelis enthused. “Mick had listened to our music and was really happy that we play real instruments. Keith said, ‘I don’t know who the fuck you are’” — they all laughed —“ but I know you’re doing great, so congratulations!”
“He was very iconic, very rock and roll,” David added.
The group will premiere “Supermodel” when they return to the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, and a video for the song — which they were working on at the time of this interview on Thursday —is expected in a couple of weeks.
After that, the group is back on the road in Europe starting in June, and return to the States for another tour starting in Seattle on Halloween night.
31-oct-22 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre (SOLD-OUT)
03-nov-22 San Francisco, CA The Masonic (SOLD-OUT)
04-nov-22 San Francisco, CA The Masonic (Added Show)
07-nov-22 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium (Added Show)
10-nov-22 Phoenix, AZ Arizona Federal Theatre
12-nov-22 Salt Lake City, UT The Complex
14-nov-22 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium (SOLD-OUT)
18-nov-22 Detroit, MI The Fillmore Detroit (SOLD-OUT)
21-nov-22 Toronto, ON History (SOLD-OUT)
22-nov-22 Toronto, ON History (SOLD-OUT)
24-nov-22 Montreal, QC MTELUS (SOLD-OUT)
26-nov-22 Boston, MA MGM Music Hall at Fenway (SOLD-OUT)
28-nov-22 Philadelphia, PA The Fillmore Philadelphia (SOLD-OUT)
29-nov-22 Philadelphia, PA The Fillmore Philadelphia (Added Show)
02-dec-22 New York, NY Manhattan Center Hammerstein Ballroom (SOLD-OUT)
03-dec-22 New York, NY Manhattan Center Hammerstein Ballroom (SOLD-OUT)
05-dec-22 Washington DC The Anthem (SOLD-OUT)
07-dec-22 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle (SOLD-OUT)
09-dec-22 Miami, FL Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Café (Venue Change)
12-dec-22 Houston, TX 713 Music Hall (Venue Change)
13-dec-22 Dallas, TX South Side Ballroom (SOLD-OUT)
16-dec-22 Las Vegas, NV The Theater at Virgin Hotels
