Black jeans, unbuttoned shirt, smart glasses and a reversed hat. Vasco Rossi enter the press conference by doing a live Instagram. “I’m on social media and I’m addicted to it – he admits – but I stopped at Instagram. I’m the only influencer who does it for free, if I had done such a thing in the 80s they would have slapped us“. Then you let go and it talks about family, existential troubles, love, politics and philosophy. And it’s a raging river: “If I’m still alive there is hope for everyone” says the rocker from Zocca, 70 next February, who is back on track with ‘We are here’, the new album out on 12 November. He is an existentialist Vasco, who cites Sartre and Nietzsche, Lacan and Heidegger. The Komandante is in shape and says it so, introducing the album that comes out two years after the last live and seven years after the last effort in the studio, ‘Sono innocente’, from 2014. In the midst of a pandemic, the ‘abusive’ previews of his singles on social media, the outbursts against Covid deniers.
“We are here, here we are – says Vasco -. Two years have passed but it seems like a century, this epochal disaster has overwhelmed us all and upset us a lot”. The lockdown, he admits, “was an incredible experience. I never thought I’d witness such a thing.” Yet Blasco did not give up. ‘We are here’ was made between January and May of this year, a little at a time, when possible, representing an escape and escape from reality. “It was like living in a science fiction film – Kom confesses – but it was reality. I was a bit suspended in this period, I realized that the most important purpose of my life is missing if I don’t do concerts anymore. . I looked for hobbies, I tried horse riding, golf but I don’t like doing anything, I just like music. Without music I’m nothing. “
The months to come look like a golden moment for the national Blasco, who made the history of Italian music and who even today, on their 18th studio album (“I’m of age” ironically) is still here to conquer and be conquered. Starting with the single ‘We are here’, which will be released next Friday. “It is a very vast song as well as very ‘tub’ – jokes the rocker -. It is a song of love for the human condition, which is to be thrown into the world. It is around her that I built the record , is the most intense “. And it is a song that also speaks of ‘trouble’. “I am not referring to those of the pandemic, I wrote it before Covid, they are existential troubles – reaffirms the Kom -. I sing ‘We’re here alone and disappointed confusing what you are with what you use’ and that’s the feeling I get. We are overwhelmed by the technique, which has become powerful, it exploits our weaknesses, our angers, our aggression. Civilization has always gone on looking at profit and not at human existence. You are worth today only if you are useful, otherwise you will be marginalized, now it is only a question of utility “.
The new album is ironic, provocative, exciting. And above all in the name of heavy rock, like the opening track “Xl Comigione” which sounds hard, visionary, with scratchy guitar strings, a ‘stadium’ piece with ‘heavy’ notes‘. “I feel in the air this strong ignorance that is coming, I have given up I no longer argue with ignorance but there is nothing to be done, it is better to surrender to the bitter end” explains Vasco, telling of an album that goes “in an obstinate direction and contrary, as Gaber said “. An album completely different from what you see around, with classic rock sounds. “I wanted to use the autotune but they told me that I am too in tune – jokes Vasco. Few words of the songs,” because it is the imagination that counts and that must fly. “But, he points out, ‘We are here’ is also a “funny and amused album that I think communicates spontaneity”. After all, Vasco is sincere to the end, as in ‘L’amore amore’, where he tackles the theme of sexual orientation in the times of liquid society (“love is made as you want I say – he explains – and I’m open to everyone, the important thing is that there is love “) to then give way to the hard drums of ‘Tu ci ha il con me’. In the second part the more intimate and sentimental Vasco prevails as in the melancholic ‘I found you’ or in ‘We are here’. And again, there are intense rock ballads, such as ‘Patto con ransom’, ‘Let’s take flight’, (“I was inspired by the blue sky of Zocca and Los Angeles”) and ‘The rain on Sunday’, a pop song from the album, full of that moody Sunday irony. Chills also for ‘A love song thrown away’, which talks about a complicated couple relationship.
“I’ll tell you a secret – he tells reporters – to be with a person for life you need to be able to turn a blind eye, sometimes even two, what matters is not the behavior but the project that is done together, the family project goes also held up by defending it from everyone and from themselves “. The mouth remains closed on the judicial question concerning the son, of whom he had already said he was “embittered” but on the actuality he spares no blows. In Italy “there is a very extremist right – he says – for me it is right that there is the right but it must not be as dangerous as what seems to be on the horizon. Even the tones of Meloni and Salvini are divisive tones, they only create hatred for having consents. I make music, I bring joy, I do this in life. There are people blowing on the fire, you know who they are “. He doesn’t mince words even to talk about social networks” It is the world we live in today – observes Vasco – there are continuous offenses from all sides, everyone quarrels on social networks “.
And on women he admits: “I love them and they must be respected but in the man-woman relationship I find there is an imbalance to the detriment of the male, which I now see very confused. Women have all the reasons but they are a bit prey to themselves lately “. He also comments on today’s young people who “want the car immediately, the biggest watch, the yacht. Just listen to Sfera Ebbasta, young people are like this today, I’m sorry to say”. Among his colleagues, on the other hand, he applauds the Maneskin: “I liked them a lot in Sanremo – he doesn’t hide – theirs was a rock song. Finally, I thought, here is a group that does rock since today everyone is rap and trap”. But he also likes Madame “who sings with heart and soul”. Although the lockdown hit him there is no trace of it in the 10 songs of the new album that sound like 10 strictly different stories.. “Having lived there in that period made me think of many things, I read a lot, the anguish is always there, I live with it” he stresses. The result is a Vasco with a thousand souls, at times ferocious and mocking, at times very sweet and nostalgic. Which is preparing to sell out on all the dates of the next tour, starting from Trento on 20 May. “We threw our hearts over the obstacle – he admits – thinking that there will be no more problems and we will be able to hug and gather with 100% of our abilities. We hope that happens. There are 11 dates, I will go from North to South and vice versa”. And he promises: “This year I want to come and play at your house too”. (by Federica Mochi)