- 20/06/2025
The Måneskin frontman meets NME in London for this week's In Conversation to discuss his debut solo album ‘Funny Little Fears’, the sense of belonging he’s found in LA, and the lessons he'll take forward when the band returns
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00:00Our life as a band has been a lot about opportunities coming and us trying to get them all
00:07because we were 18 to 20 full of energy full of enthusiasm and so um of course we did that and
00:13I don't regret anything I just came to the point where like my energies were were lower my enthusiasm
00:20was lower so I was really facing them the pressure the anxiety the fatigue and I needed yeah a fresh
00:28start
00:37Hiya I'm Rishi from NME and today I'm joined by Damiano David in London for the latest in our
00:44in conversation series how you doing Damiano? I'm good thank you. Coming to the end of your
00:49London trip is it? Yeah yeah living in a couple of hours. I want to ask I know you're both your
00:54parents and flight attendants did you did you get to come to London much as a kid or the UK in general?
00:59Uh no actually like because the the cool thing about it was to use the of course I was a kid and
01:09I was going to school so uh we have like long Christmas vacation but of course it's like super
01:15cold in Europe so the trick was to fly to the other side of the world to have some summer but uh that's
01:22that was when when the company was like very big and full and then growing up the company started
01:27like failing so no more trips. Where was the best place you went as a kid do you remember?
01:31I went to Thailand, Tanzania like I saw a bunch of very cool places. Awesome and London for you the
01:39last couple of times it's been for a show or for promo for any any chill out time here or?
01:43Uh I came uh actually I lived here for three months in 2018-19 because we were supposed to do
01:54like a whole thing like it was a label move and then and then it didn't happen but we already paid
02:02for the house so we were like okay let's let's just stay. Would you come back do you reckon permanently?
02:07That was cool that was cool that was such a cool time we were living in in Shoreditch we were hanging out
02:13in like Camden and so like even even enjoying this like leaving the city being there for a couple of
02:20months of course it's completely different uh than being a tourist we have also like a bunch of um
02:27London friends uh so it was also like cool to leave it live as a as a local for a couple of months.
02:33Sick and after Paris is it back to LA or a few more? No uh after Paris I'm going to Tokyo um because we have a
02:41bunch of things to do then I'm going to Seoul for the first time in my life yeah and we have um a show
02:48there I'm playing and then I'm back to it. Cool and when you do go back to LA does it feel now like you're
02:55going home? It feels like I'm going home because I I've been um in the last like five six years of my life
03:03I've been traveling so much and I never really stayed in a place for more than a month so I
03:12felt like I never had a real house because even even in Rome I was staying in like yes apartments
03:18they were not mine they were not like personal and there was not all my stuff I lived out of
03:22suitcase in the last five years and so now my apartment there is the first place where I actually
03:28opened the suitcases I'm buying furniture starting to look like my house and of course I live there
03:34with my partner so I consider that house now yeah. And what does home and the importance of home mean
03:40to you as someone who you know has been traveling the world so much is still traveling the world so
03:45much and and a new home as well because you know you moved to LA permanently only kind of recently.
03:50yeah I I felt the the lack of a place that I could call home in in the last few years it's it's I think
03:59it's very um it does some weird tricks chemically chemically to your brain to uh never undo your
04:10suitcases and always knowing that wherever you're buying or living there it's like something that belongs
04:17to that place for that amount of days I think it's very weird and it's you never get to like build the
04:25community and really like have a social life when you're when you're traveling all the time so um
04:33in for me of course going back to Italy was always a chance to see my family and see my friends and
04:38it always gave me that sense of like relief but it was so rare and now having two places that I can call home
04:46it's it kind of makes the trick that's nice and what point in LA did you feel like it felt like home
04:52because obviously I know you went there to write the record in the first place but was there a point
04:57a day a moment that you can recall I think that for what are my goals right now and how I feel about
05:05my personal life and my music I think that right now it's the place that allows me to do what I want
05:11to do in the best way possible and also like and I of course I realized this writing the record and and
05:19starting building a community there with other songwriters and my partner and for friends and
05:25everything um I felt very welcomed and I felt like my energy in that moment was very matching the city
05:33because it's it's a huge city but it's very slow because it's so wide that like it's like my micro cities
05:41into the city so if you have the chance to take it slow not everybody has it of course and I'm very
05:47privileged for this but if you have the chance to do it I think it's a place that really helps to
05:54kind of cleanse if you don't it's very distracting I get that well yeah the people the place the energy
06:01all fits that's really great to hear so let's rewind a bit what was it do you think specifically that
06:07catalyzed your move to LA to write the record was there a moment was it an accumulation of things
06:13what kind of forced that decision on you could you say um with the previous read with the last record
06:19with the band we wrote part of it in LA and so I started already um kind of seeing the the circle of
06:27songwriting etc etc there and I enjoyed it on a human level and also on a professional level so when I
06:35started doing the record I knew that I couldn't make it in Italy because of course in in my hometown
06:43I'm I'm stuck in my everyday dynamics and I needed a place where I could have a kind of a fresh start so
06:52it's a place that I it was not completely unknown for me but at the same time I had everything to
06:58discover and also people didn't know me so I could kind of present myself in the way I feel more
07:05represented by right now yeah um so it was like this you know this compromise between the two
07:12things that really allowed me to feel comfortable but at the same time I had to force myself to
07:18get out of my comfort zone meet people etc etc and that really helped me um write the record yeah and
07:25you said they're a fresh start in the last four years since you won Eurovision and everything that's
07:29happened in the pace and even before that to be honest it's something like a fresh start and freshness
07:34something you think about and have time to think about much because I guess so much of it is just
07:39going along with the ride yeah uh yeah there was um I think yeah even before Eurovision um we had a
07:48uh such a fast um growth in Italy since we since we started so our life as a band has been a lot about
08:00opportunities coming and us trying to get them all because we were 18 to 20 full of energy full of
08:08enthusiasm and so um of course we did that and I don't regret anything I just came to the point where
08:14like my energies were were lower my enthusiasm was lower so I was really facing then the pressure
08:20the anxiety the fatigue and I needed yeah a fresh start I needed to get back to writing music only
08:32for the purpose of writing it and living it as a game that it's what really inspires me and makes me
08:38extremely happy actually yeah does that resonate with some of the reasons why when you were you know
08:42your teenagers wanted to get into music in the first place has this come a bit full circle for you
08:47yeah I think that for me when I was a teenager was about a lot about expression but it was also a lot about um
08:57kind of uh I don't know like not getting attention because that sounds bad but kind of stating myself
09:06like making myself exist you know and I did it and that worked for a lot and then I came to a point
09:13in my life where I actually not I wanted to exist less but I wanted to be less visible less constantly
09:21under the spotlight so I I really needed to take time to just write the music without any tour or any promo
09:29while I was doing it and only focus on that and now I'm very happy that the music is out and then
09:34I have the chance to like talk about it and have people listen to it because it was a full like
09:39personal journey yeah sure and um I mean you're it's easy to forget you're only 26 now and so much
09:46has happened in your life so far I just wondered in that time does it did did you feel like Damiano
09:51the person needed a bit of time to catch up with everything that was happening to you as
09:56sort of the front man of Maneskin would you say there was a little separation between the two in any way
10:01um I think that what you're saying is true only that I realized I realized it all at once I never
10:09felt my persona on stage and my real persona distantiating but that's actually what was happening
10:17because my stage persona was was a reflection of who I was when I started with the band so it was more
10:25reflection of my 18 years old self and now nearly 10 years has gone by and I was changing during these
10:34years but I was so busy that I couldn't see it and as soon as I was close to stopping because the tour
10:44was coming to an end and and everything I really felt that separation and it's like I was always talking
10:50from a I was always talking about some someone else someone that not I used to be because that stuff
10:56it's always part of me and will always be part of me like it's such a huge part of my personality my
11:02experiences and what made me who I am today but of course I've grown up and I developed new ideas new
11:09feelings etc and I felt like they need their their care too yeah for sure it's such a period of change your
11:17late teens and your 20s like is it something you even now and maybe going forwards want to take more
11:24time to like let yourself process those changes I yeah I uh I really want to take things easier and
11:35slower in the future because um I think instincts are important and we have to be able to follow them
11:44but when they're positive when it's like masked with anxiety or fears or anything like that I think
11:52I think it's very healthy to allow ourselves to take some time to be in there to be also in the
11:59discomfort and before we start even acting on it really recognizing where it comes from and what
12:07is that we're missing at that moment because otherwise the risk is to make even more damage before we get
12:13into the album in depth just want to rewind a little bit more because I mean Eurovision it's
12:18you always get asked about it it's four years ago now and the longer time goes on the further in the
12:22past it is if you think about it much are you very at peace with the way it will happen the positives
12:27the negatives that everything is it something you can kind of have drawn a line under a long time ago no
12:33I never felt like really touched by let's say the negative like all the rumors and stuff because I
12:41I learned very very early in my career that the bigger the thing the bigger the criticism so
12:49it was kind of a evidence that what we did was big and it still is like I never felt offended or
12:58anything it's Eurovision for me it's a beautiful memory it's a moment that of course changed our
13:05life then at the same time I don't think like we owe everything to Eurovision for sure I think
13:12I think it was a team work like we did something for Eurovision Eurovision definitely did something
13:17for us and it's a beautiful memory it's it's something that I think we will never forget for
13:26sure it was also like a beautiful experience overall you know the first contact with a with an
13:32international audience was like oh my god let's get straight into the music funny little fears
13:38I mean there's an age there's an age-old narrative isn't there facing your fears it's a phrase
13:42you learn as a young age but I wonder is there something in just speaking about them voicing them
13:48learning to cope with them rather than necessarily the brave you know courageous person that conquers
13:53their fears where do you sort of sit along that line uh I don't I think that everybody has fears and
14:03some are bigger some are smaller sorry and of course like it's beautiful to think that we are always
14:10able to face them and that's that's the ideal but then there's the reality and the reality is made of
14:16layers and there's moments where we're not able to even face a small fear because we are weakened by
14:24something we're fragile for something and um for me this record worked more the as a way to face my fears and
14:34to get over them it was more to recognize them because I yeah I when I'm sad when I have a problem in general
14:41in my brain there's a lot going on it's not like one clear voice speaking it's like a hundred different
14:48people giving over opinions and just having a blank sheet and writing it's like my brain is forced to
14:56focus on the main thought and so it's a way for me to kind of look at me it's like if I was in the mirror
15:04and I look at myself and I'm like whoa okay that's the problem then and I I didn't even know because
15:10there's too much noise here and music is a way to kind of silence thing and and and focus the lenses on
15:17one or two things and speaking of that focus a song like solitude is so you know on the nose with
15:23the lyrics and everything I just wondered how that came about and why you articulated things in that way
15:30is it that focus being so you know obvious I um this is the last song I've written for the record
15:41and we were in in the bezel and joshua tree and I felt like the album was done so I went to
15:48all the songwriters I was saying at the moment and I told them like let's just have a holy mary shot we
15:54don't have to make a single we don't have to make like a smart song we just have to make a song let's have
15:58fun and of course they knew I was coming from the band and I have like a rock background and I knew
16:06it and I knew that like with the record there was going to be a lot of talking about this rock versus
16:13pop thing and this song was kind of the way for me to say I don't need everybody to understand why I'm
16:19doing this if you can enjoy it good if you don't understand me I'm fine because I finally understand
16:27myself I know where this is coming from and I'm proud of it and nobody can take it away from me
16:32was the process of writing that song on the moment you wrote it like a time when you felt you truly
16:37understood yourself was that more of a a long-term thing or is it still a still something that you
16:43know comes in certain days and and goes on others uh I of course I think it's gonna keep happening for
16:50the rest of my life I hope because it means that I'm like changing and evolving and etc uh that
16:56moment was more like a closure it was like not not only I understood myself but I was able
17:02and these people that that worked with me for for nine months really had the ability to understand
17:10what was going on and to allow me to express some things that probably alone I I would have had some
17:16shame it's like these people gave me so much strength and it was like the whole process of
17:22the album it was like the cherry on top of everything yeah and vocally like you say everyone will know you
17:27from the the rock space the pop space but that is it's so unique I think on the album um how was that
17:34delivering it you know because it's almost like it's almost whispered at points you can really hear
17:40every word every syllable I I okay the truth is I don't really know what I'm doing I'm not I'm not
17:47I'm not a very technical singer like I know how to keep my voice healthy and not damage it but I'm not
17:53like I don't know a crazy crazy like Charlie Puth crazy technical singer I I envy them a little bit but
18:02um so for me it's all about using my body and using my voice as a like an intensity and dynamic to
18:14express then the message so that song sounds a lot like a conversation for me it it's written from from
18:21the point of view of a conversation it's more like a journal page than songs song lyrics and so it just
18:28felt normal for me to whisper and then dynamically build up towards the end because it's like you
18:34know liberation and I don't know words and melodies and intensity and body language comes all together
18:42for me and it's very automatic and distinctive the way I treat it yeah awesome definitely comes through
18:48and at the other end of the spectrum we've got songs like voices and tango which is so you know
18:53upbeat your people will be jumping up and down at the gigs I'm not sure but then in terms of the
18:57subject matter it's not necessarily as you know glossy and brilliant how how do those two things
19:03coexist to you is it is it similar to maybe how you were feeling and maybe on the outside everything
19:09looked you know brilliant you're the front man of this incredible band that was conquering the world
19:14when really you were you're actually struggling a bit inside it's that it's also how I feel every day I
19:21mean like if I'm sad for something I'm not sad 24 7 I'm like sometimes I'm sad sometimes I don't really think
19:29about it sometimes I'm half sad it's like you know it's a huge spectrum of emotions it's not just
19:36that one thing and I always felt like sad songs don't necessarily have to always be ballads because
19:44you know like the feeling is way more complicated and I think that having a song that if you listen to it
19:51you want to dance and then if you think about the words you're like should I be dancing gives it that
19:57layer of complexity that it's more human it's yes more complex so maybe it's a little harder to
20:04connect with it but at the same time I feel like it's more true you know and we spoke earlier about
20:11facing your fears you said recognizing your fears but tangoing with the fears that's a that's a different
20:16thing isn't it dance with your fears it's like you don't definitely you don't have to like solve it
20:23necessarily in that moment you can be with it for a while you can let it flow in your body and see
20:30what happens and see what's going what's doing to you and what's going on and what's really your fear
20:37and what's also behind your fear yeah and the dance is a partnership between two people isn't it
20:42there's no one that conquers the others it's a mutual thing and there's some great people you've
20:47got on the album Tangerine with David I just wanted to ask about Damione David and David yeah that's
20:53weird that's weird but what that was meant to happen how did you come across his music uh I started
21:01listening to him of course when he had his uh his exploit um and I was thought he's he has something
21:08special of course he's extremely talented he's he's unique very recognizable and also he's very young
21:14and I love when when young people are doing great because I kind of see myself six years ago being like
21:22super enthusiastic and I wish I could I could give some of my experience to them um and the song changed a
21:32bit during the process and when I got to the final version um I really felt like it could make sense
21:41with what he was doing and I always want to work with people I respect because it's not about like
21:46streamings or marketing or anything like that for me it's about like let's bring music to the playful
21:53level like we're two kids and we're writing a song and it's fun and there's no pressure because we're
21:57sharing it and it's all about yes I have to be myself but I also have to make the other person shine
22:05which is I think a very beautiful exercise also to deal with your ego um and so I I just the end
22:12in the song because he was like fire I want to be in it so it was like good great and same happened with
22:18with Suki like when the song was over um I knew I wanted a female voice on it because uh it's how the
22:25song was written and and um the type of voice I needed the type of um tone I needed was was perfect
22:34and and was was like matching with what she does and she has this very ethereal way of of singing
22:40and producing her music and I just thought it was going to be beautiful and I'm very happy that she
22:45liked this one wicked yeah they both sound great and like you said they're like little kids you know
22:50having fun when with all the people you work with whether that's um people like Suki Wallhouse and
22:56David or other songwriters you work with is that what it really is about for you because obviously
23:00there's the you know personal element you're processing things that are very deep and important
23:04to you but just like kids having fun is that a good way of saying like your ethos yeah I work with
23:12a lot of music professionals and there's I would say I would divide them in two groups
23:18one is a nine to five job and uh in that nine to five I have to get a hit and I respect that because
23:26it's true like it can be a job not everybody has to be as passionate or like this is my life if you're
23:32good at doing it just do it but I just don't connect with it because it's like I don't have the time to
23:38get in and I don't have the chance to make you understand what I want to do and also like if we're
23:42writing a beautiful song and you have the heart out you really destroy my enthusiasm and I'm and I'm
23:49very uh petty I'm like okay you don't like the song fuck you we're not gonna work together anymore you
23:55know um so I always try to work with people that show enthusiasm that show join that join in what we're
24:04doing and it's truly what collaborations are based on for me because then at that level talent is there no
24:12matter what and a nice little surprise for everyone at the end of zombie lady and your partner
24:16dovin how how did that happen was it as natural as people people might think was the song already
24:21there was were you playing it to her uh it all like did I wrote this album next to her we were
24:29already living together and and everything so um a lot of the songs are influenced by her but this
24:36in particular we were watching we were watching uh the court bride which is one of my favorite movies
24:42and um I I just wanted to reimagine the story if I was meeting her and and it felt romantic it felt
24:51like a beautiful thing to share uh we wanted to keep it like not secret because it's like people are
24:57smart enough to get it but like not like too on the nose it's like only on the credits because it's like
25:04our nice little romantic thing it doesn't have to necessarily be a huge thing you know yeah and
25:10it's a brilliant song the record goes all over like so many different places tonically lyrically
25:17how are you feeling like now is now it is out in the world I mean because not everyone gets to release
25:22a debut album twice you know that is true that is a unique thing what's the feeling like now that it's
25:28it's the world if you get why I I think that having already had experiences with this with the band
25:35really is allowing me to kind of block the noise and don't put too many expectations this doesn't have
25:42to be uh my biggest album or the biggest album ever um I can I will keep doing this job for for many years
25:51hopefully and so I'm only experiencing you know the joy and also it's like there's this pact that
26:00you do with people like this music is not mine anymore really it's for people to give their
26:05interpretation and it's like I have the curiosity to see what people read between the lines because
26:11of course I know the true story but I like I know the true story I already heard it I'm bored I want to
26:16hear your story and sort of now in the immediate term I mean do you feel like this sort of journey
26:22of rebuilding you went on when you started just writing this record you moved to LA is there is
26:27there stuff you're still to this in this on this day really you know working on wanting to devote time
26:33to um where are you at personally I guess is what I'm asking you of course I'm I'm in a much happier
26:40place in a much more aware place and um of course sometimes uh certain feelings come back but now I
26:50have the tools to recognize them and place them in parts of my brain that don't take my my full self
26:58and my full feelings uh but again like I I truly hope to keep struggling in my life because it means that
27:07I'm moved by something I'm passionate I want to change myself because I want to better myself and
27:12I want to be better for me my family my partner the people I interact with it's like I think it's a
27:20constant process of trying to better ourselves and it's okay sometimes we struggle yeah that's
27:25a really nice way of flipping the narrative yeah turn it into a positive what what are those tools if
27:29you don't mind me asking what have you you know discovered that you can rely on I guess
27:34some things are just in our head they're not real and if you're able to take that thing and tell
27:43yourself you're feeling that it's true for you but it's not real it's not happening you're projecting it
27:51you're creating the problem in your head what I do usually is to create the problem in my head
27:57before it happens because then I have a sense of control it's like I already solved it but that only
28:02makes me anxious until the thing happens and then the thing happens anyway so if if I'm able to you
28:11know place things in their spot I can try to like take care of one thing at a time and
28:19don't think about a problem that I might have in six months
28:24and speaking of in six months or beyond are you doing another solo album is is that in the works in
28:30no it's not in the works because because I'm not superman um I'm for sure gonna do another I don't
28:38know when I don't know if I'm gonna do before single or before with the band again before an Italian or
28:46a movie or whatever I keep every door I don't know like why not but um people ask me about it uh
28:54but yeah just keep every door open I want to keep doing stuff yeah and how's your 2026 looking busy
29:02kind of kind of no actually actually the tour ends at the end of 2025 so so uh it should be
29:12I should rest yeah next year I think there's time for a Christmas holiday like you did when you were young
29:16yeah yeah like like when I was a kid it's the obvious question Damiano we all know that
29:21Manuskin's not finished at all but I just wondered with everything you've learned now about the fatigue
29:27the burnout the everything you don't want to repeat are there things you already know mindset wise
29:33whenever that does happen you're going to take in to ensure it's a bit more sustainable definitely like
29:39I I know my needs better now and I'm sure actually I know that they know their their needs better now
29:47and we're grown up uh we I think that we between us and us with our team and like the industry in
29:58general we can communicate better and keep everything more doable and healthy yeah I know you kind of needed
30:04a bit of a separation from everything writing this record your surroundings the people but
30:09did you send any stuff to them did you use any of them as a sounding board they heard yeah before
30:15yeah sure when it was in the making of course of course yeah what do they think they loved something
30:19they hated something else it's what I expected what kind of circumstances do you think need to be in
30:24place for for the band to get get the train going again is there anything you can we have to be all
30:30well rested and uh we uh I think that the first thing we do has to be something that we really
30:39feel in our guts and doesn't feel like work at all yeah that's the best the ideal that's how it should
30:48be well enjoy Paris what you up to while you're there t show uh in and out some stuff yeah in and
30:56now like one day and a half nice one and uh get some rest you deserve it and uh we'll see you back
31:01out and talk really appreciate your time bye little bit start now
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