Maneskin: It’s not our goal to convince rock’n’roll fans we’re real rock
Maneskin believe their popularity comes from actually being able to play their instruments.
Maneskin believe part of their appeal is being able to actually play their instruments.
The Italian group grew to prominence in their own country after competing on the Italian version of 'The X Factor' in 2017, before being catapulted to superstardom after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2021 with their heavy rock track 'Zitti e buoni'.
They have faced judgment from some die-hard rock music fans, who branded them "not real rock"
However, the 'Supermodel' hitmakers - whose latest album 'Rush!' cannot be pigeonholed - prefer not to label their music.
Frontman Damiano David said: “I would say traditional rock fans aren’t our target.”
Bassist Victoria De Angelis joked that "at least we don't play trap or hip-hop".
She said: “When we play, people can be like: ‘This is not real rock because it’s on TV, so it’s s***!’
“We don’t care about it, because if you’re really passionate about music you should judge the music and not where it comes from.”
She went on: “It’s not our goal to convince rock’n’roll fans that we’re real rock. We’re just doing our own thing. Especially when we’ve had the pleasure of playing with legends like Iggy Pop, the Stones, Guns N’ Roses, and even they don’t think about it, so other people shouldn’t either.”
Victoria quipped: “At least we’re not playing trap or hip-hop!”
Damiano insisted being able to play live sets them apart from the "majority" of mainstream acts.
He added to Classic Rock magazine: “If we talk about analogue music in the past ten years, I think we filled an empty spot.
“Also our live performance; we see less and less actual performance and more backing tracks and DJ sets. Perhaps with Eurovision, people saw that we were actually playing. It was just the four of us with a lot of noise and music. I think that’s what stands out and makes us a bit different to the majority of mainstream artists.”
