“Call my new album ‘Love your neighbor as yourself‘ is a powerful and provocative way of putting what’s on the record into one sentence. It makes the climate when I wrote this record well, that is during the lockdown. With slower, more dilated time management I had plenty of time to reflect. I thought about the things that are happening in the world, about me, about the relationship I had with other people and it came natural to name the record with a meaningful phrase. ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is a concept that has never become rhetorical and it isn’t rhetorical above all now and it tells well the my relationship to the outside and, since it’s on the cover my burning face, he seems to suggest with a certain irony and a rock smile: if this is how you love him, it is better that you forget your neighbor”. Closes 2022 and opens 2023 in beauty Manuel Agnelli.
The leader of the Afterhours has chosen to start in biblical way the new album, which marks the start of his solo adventure. Currently the Milanese vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist, born in 1966, is on tour with the super band that sees the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Beatrice Antolini on piano, synth pad and bass, Giacomo Rossetti of Negrita on bass, Frankie and DD of Little Pieces of Marmalade, respectively on guitars and drums. The next dates they are: on 11 December at the Alcatraz in Milan, on the 14th at the Orion in Rome, on the 16th at the Vox in Nonantola in Modena, on the 17th at the Mamamia in Senigallia (Ancona) and on the 22nd at the Ogr in Turin.
Manuel, what happened to the Afterhours?
“At the moment the project is on pause, it is frozen. They all continue to be talented and personality musicians, with a very defined sound, but each of them has their own parallel projects. I didn’t want the group to become an ensemble working together in between many other projects. This is why I attempted this new adventure which gives me new life from a creative point of view, a new professional freedom and which sees new musicians beside me. With the Afterhours we will start again only when we have something interesting to say to express collectively and with an absolute priority”.
In the meantime, is he going on alone, like Manuel Agnelli?
“Logic, given that after all I wrote most of the pieces and I’ve always taken charge of the managerial and organizational part of the group, I don’t find it hard to see myself alone. The Afterhours will exist when the love for the project makes them exist again”.
Does the dive into new sounds continue?
“Actually, I recorded the album all by myself, regardless of the musicians who would have played it live. I chose the musicians for the energy and emotion they express and which they also transmit to the public”.
Do you think you will soon be a protagonist on TV again?
“I have a project in mind, but next year, at least until the summer, I will be busy starring in ‘Lazarus’, the musical conceived by David Bowie, who wrote all the music and, with the Irish playwright Enda Walsh, the text. Walsh himself will supervise the Italian version of this contemporary opera which will debut in Italy with direction and lyrics by Valter Malosti, me on stage as TJ Newton and other actors.
Here are the first dates: 22-26 March 2023 Teatro Alessandro Bonci Cesena, 29 March – 2 April Teatro Storchi Modena, 5-7 April Teatro Amintore Galli Rimini, 12-23 April Teatro Argentina Rome, 26-30 April Teatro Arena del Sole Bologna , 3-14 May Teatro Mercadante Naples, 18-20 May Teatro LAC Lugano, 23-28 May Piccolo Teatro Strehler Milan and 6-18 June Teatro Carignano Turin”.
We were saying, so no tv for a while?
“Yes, but I’m doing some radio on Radio24. The program is called ‘Leoni per Agnelli’, I put some music into it, my world, I invite a lot of different artists and characters. From Michele Serra to Mauro Pagani, Vasco Brondi or Dario Brunori. Motta or sportsmen like Massimo Mauro. It’s an opportunity to talk about current events, filtered by music, but not necessarily”.
From music to TV, from the stage to the radio, in short, is everything you do good?
“Let’s say I’ve gotten good at promoting the things I’m good at. I come from a very lucky season, which is that of the early eighties in Milan in which there was a mingling, a mix of characters who came from completely different backgrounds. Photographers, painters, designers, musicians, architects, filmmakers, producers and many other creatives. We met in different places contaminating each other positively, telling each other how we worked in different sectors. I’ve learned a little bit, I’ve become passionate about something about all these professions outside of music. This is why I have no qualms about experimenting, I enjoy thinking of myself as free from this point of view as well. Everything fits into and enriches my making music, my way of thinking and creating”.
How is it in the world of rock?
“It’s like any other industry, there are a lot of great people and a lot of idiots. In the end the musician, unfortunately as a training is often an idiot, he gives himself many excuses, he is often unable in real life to take responsibility and for this reason it is often difficult to carry out projects and above all to enjoy them. In short, for many, the playful part of music is skipped, which is why we are lucky to do a job like this. Then luckily I found wonderful colleagues with a great capacity for analysis and self-analysis, for experimentation”.
What was the effect of winning the David di Donatello and the Silver Ribbon for best original song with “The depth of the abyss”, a song from the new album lent to the soundtrack of the film “Diabolik”?
“I am very proud of this award. I think it’s the culmination of a journey I’ve made and it’s doubly nice, given that it’s the first time I’ve written something on commission. He also made me realize the esteem I end up having around me. It’s something not to be taken for granted, but not even refusing to see at a certain age it’s right to start enjoying the things you do”.
Have you ever been bullied or not accepted in your job?
“In the beginning, yes. It was a bit sought after since we were a bit of situationists and we went out on stage dressed as little girls with hairy legs and pigtails, playing stuff that for the Italy of the time was really sound terrorism. After all, even my latest records are rather difficult compared to the average of what is produced today”.
Intelligently borderline music?
«Yes, the first few years we were on the other side of the border. I started doing martial arts because we beat each other to play. I have been practicing them for a lifetime because people often became very aggressive with us, she refused us ”.
And did you always defend yourself?
“It’s not like we fought every day, but surely being able to defend myself gave me a naturalness in being what I wanted on stage. It seems prehistoric, a bit it is, but that was the reality in which we were moving. And then the martial arts give discipline, a culture of exercise, awareness, which are important in life”.
Is he still in great shape thanks to martial arts?
“In this period, when I can I still train quite frequently and with intensity. Lately, between rehearsals and the tour, I haven’t been able to do it much, but I try to maintain a certain constancy, to have fun, beyond the performances. After so much savate, I recently started wrestling and jujitsu which was a discipline I was missing. Starting after fifty is tough, but technically it’s wonderful, a game of chess.”