From the custom course through pre-academic to the first level academic course, your first contacts with the SL date back to 2007/2008. What does St. Louis represent to you today?
For me, Saint Louis represents the most suitable place if one wants to pursue music education at a professional level in Italy, both because of the faculty it offers and because of how the school has evolved in recent years from a structural and educational point of view.
You went in a rock drummer, studied jazz, and came out a pop drummer. How were you able to do this research during the course of your studies?
Throughout my academic journey, I always pursued my own extracurricular projects in which I applied (often unknowingly) many of the concepts I was studying. Although I took the jazz course, what I was listening to and playing was not strictly related to this genre, but this helped me so much to get out of my “comfort zone,” exposing me educationally to some of the founding principles of modern drumming, such as the study of rudiments and independence, but especially from a timbral point of view, it gave me the opportunity to search for a sound that fully reflected me.
You call yourself a turner; you have always played even while studying. How did you manage to combine study and work? What are the most famous artists you have played with?
I remember that it was not at all easy to reconcile my education with what would shortly thereafter become my job, especially in the last two years. An emblematic episode was the day I discussed my thesis, I made sure that I was the first one that morning so that at about 11 o’clock I would have a chance to get on a train to Pordenone where I would perform with Chiara Civello that evening.
These were intense years, where I gained experience and made contacts with many people who are still part of my path today. Throughout the pre-academic phase and for an early part of the academic phase, my studio and live activity was almost exclusively with my band Boxerin Club, along with Matteo Domenichelli. my peer and partner in various classes at St. Louis, as well as bassist and singer in the band. With them I played for several years doing more than 150 dates in Italy, had my first experiences in Europe and the United States, won contests such as Arezzo Wave and worked on an album and two ep’s released on the Bomba Dischi label that to this day represents one of the most important independent realities at the European level.
Towards my last year at Saint Louis (2016/17) my activity in the studio as a session player was consolidated thanks to numerous collaborations with producers such as Jesse Germanò, Pietro Paroletti and Fabio Grande, while live I took part in the first tour of Giorgio Poi, who was presenting his first album “Fa Niente” that year. I owe so much to him in terms of musical growth and in a way he gave me the opportunity to showcase myself and start new collaborations in the years to follow with Phoenix, Motta, Francesca Michielin, Aries, Tutti Fenomeni, Aiello and Il Tre.
How do you handle the managerial aspects of the profession? (vat number, contracts, billing, file opening, application for agibility, cooperative management)
I think this is the issue that should be explored most of all during an academic journey, in which I have learned to navigate on my own, trying to imitate older musicians and comparing myself with peers in the same situation as me, but still without any baseline. The figure of the turner in Italy is not regulated enough and anyway poorly protected, you are not a technician and you are not the main artist, you are something in between. Knowing how to then handle all the “bureaucratic” aspects of a tour, such as establishing proper cachet for rehearsals and concerts, billing and dealing with the various cooperatives (to name a few), are matters that you often have to deal with yourself, in addition to all the amount of work you already have musically. Not to mention the fact that first and foremost you have to generate work by making contacts.
Your latest projects include writing a song for Sanremo and a solo record on the horizon. Tell us more….
For the past two years I have been given the opportunity to participate in some writing sessions with Il Tre, as he is already a member of his band; a young, very talented artist who is extremely inspiring to work with because he knows how to be ductile by blending various genres into his songs. During the summer/autumn of 2023 I was proposed to participate in a session together with producer BRAIL and Paulo Zou (formerly my bandmate and also an alumnus at Saint Louis), from which a first version of “Fragile” song was born and later selected to participate in Sanremo 2024. It was a new and beautiful experience, made with people I deeply respect and can call friends. Also because of all this I am trying to gain courage and give myself some solo music that I hope will see the light of day in the new year.
