Iggy Pop on why Måneskin are “a really strong band”

Iggy Pop has praised Måneskin following his recent collaboration with the Italian rock provocateurs on their track ‘I Wanna Be Your Slave’.

• READ MORE: Iggy Pop – “I assumed things would quiet down once I turned 65. That hasn’t been the case”

The original version of the song appeared on the Italian group’s second album ‘Teatro d’ira: Vol. I’, and previously landed in the Top 10 of the official UK singles chart before it was reworked with Pop’s vocals.

In this week’s NME Big Read cover interview, the icon hailed the band after working with them on the collaboration.

He said: “That’s a really strong band. [Damiano David] is an amazing singer and the bass player, [Victoria de Angelis] really handles that position well and doesn’t overplay, but on stage and in their videos, she really stays with the message, woo, she’s a firecracker. The Guitarist [Thomas Raggi] is smooth and powerful, somewhere north of Joe Perry. The drummer, [Ethan Torchio] is really clever, he plays rock but I get the feeling he understands there’s a wider group of people who’ve heard dance music, techno and synthetic music so he also plays some very simple four, four beats.”

He continued: “I read an interview with them that said they started out busking on the street in Rome and had to fight other groups for good positions. You can tell they have that background, that they’ve done something together where they got a little taste of poverty and obscurity, and I think that gives them a really nice edge.”

Speaking about recording the collaboration with the band, Pop added: “I had a hell of a time doing that vocal, and they were very, very kind about, they were listening to each take and, you know, I got a little applause when I did something well it was just impossible. I finally asked [David], I said, ‘Did you sing all in one take?’ ‘Yeah, man, I sang it all at one take’. I was like, ‘That’s amazing’. I just couldn’t breathe that much, you know? He’s, he’s really got it, that guy.”

Speaking of the collaboration, in their own Big Read earlier this year Måneskin, frontman David said he couldn’t believe the icon was singing their song.

“When he recorded that, I was like, ‘Fuck – he’s singing my lyrics with my melody, my structure, and it’s fucking Iggy Pop’,” he said. “He trusted me, and that was the best moment ever.”

Raggi added: “It was just crazy because he’s a fucking legend. He was so humble and kind. He was really into this shit.”

Elsewhere in the interview Pop vowed that he won’t ever stage dive again owing to him being “too rickety” at the age of 75.

He also paid tribute to Taylor Hawkins by praising the “incredible style” and “colour” that the late Foo Fighters drummer brought to his forthcoming album.

And he recalled working with producer, musician and songwriter Andrew Watt on an unreleased Morrissey song.

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