Amari - Back to the roots of Pop Sbagliato

It starts from a small idea from one of us, an idea that isn't necessarily the heart of the song but is, in fact, often a marginal, secondary detail - sometimes we even throw it in the bin. That's why we call it "pop sbagliato": because to reach the final result, instead of taking shortcuts, we take the scenic route...

You've been part of the music scene for several years now. You started in 1997, but the big breakthrough came with "Grand Master Mogol", dated 2005. How has your life changed over these past eleven years?

We finished university, found a job, quit the job, dumped the girlfriend, found a girlfriend, found a part-time job, quit that one too, took pills for gastritis, played and played and played some more without ever stopping believing in it, and in the end something happened - and we like to think it's only the beginning of something new that we're doing right now.

Around Amari a whole world has been built up of pin badges, bespectacled kids, trendy t-shirts, trash. Do you feel like a "generational" band? And if so, which generation do you feel you belong to?

There's an ageless generation, from 20 to 30 years old and beyond, that experiences being a bit of a loser as something cool - call it indie, electro, call it "lovers of the 80s" (whether they lived through them or rediscovered them later), retrogaming, pin badges - all of this has by now become its own scene, one that has thankfully taken a liking to us. Whether we're "generational" or not, I couldn't say, but we'll take it as a nice compliment anyway.

Thanks to Riotmaker's skillful handling, we've ended up with a great friendship and plenty of drinks shared with most of the Italian press - and that's allowed us to come out unscathed from the typical second-album panning!

We're tired a lot of the time, sure, but I have to say this tour is going really well and we always come home with a smile on our faces, so stopping isn't on the table for now — what we're talking about instead is managing to play abroad, which is trickier than it sounds given that we sing in Italian. We'll gladly take tips from Erasmus students!

Absolutely in favour. Even though, being the "old fogeys" that we are, we love CDs and often vinyl too, we have to admit it's the future of music, so let's come to terms with it and start giving away records!

We're already working (between one tour and the next) on a new record, which will definitely come out next year — we don't know if it'll be spring or autumn, we can't give too much away for now, let's just say it sounds like an INXS record recorded on a mule track in the Andes.

Cheers to that.