For the entire month of June, the special paper dedicated to Vasco Rossi is on sale at the official merch of the stadiums in Ferrara (5-6 June), Olbia (12-13), Bari (18-19), Ancona (23-24) and Udine (28-29). It contains, among other things, a long conversation in which Vasco talked about everything, from how he writes to his experience in prison, from the anger to use in songs to his idea of freedom. Here are some quotes from the interview.
On making songs
«I write always remaining on the same side. […] Continuing to say what I think, which comes from inside me, without filtering it. I've never given a shit about being liked or pleased. When I write a song I don't write it so that people like it, you understand, I write it because it has to be beautiful, beautiful enough to convince me.”
We're not Americans
«This year's song is We're not Americans – (For what I have to do) I'm in the military – which is so perfect for this historical period that it almost seems like he wrote it now. I put it in the lineup because it's essential. I would have also called the whole tour “We're not Americans”, but they tell me no, that it's better not to do it. It would have been nice because we're not Americans, it seems like the right thing to say at this moment. Oh! We are not Americans!”.
Living to write
«I just wanted to write songs, you understand, nothing else, imagine what I cared about going to bed and sleeping. In fact, I remember being amazed when at a certain point they were all worried. But that was where the pieces came out. One after the other. So if I hadn't slept for three days, it made sense not to have slept for three days. In fact, it was worth it. For that I was ready to lose my health, everything, because I wanted to write songs, I repeat, we are always there.”
The prison
«I was reported by my drug dealer, I think I'm the only case in the world. Twenty days in prison, five in isolation: guys, it's something we're not even talking about here. But at that point it was also time to come to terms with my life a little. I had to straighten up for a moment, change. I have partially reset but the fears remained. To go on stage I had to drink at least one bottle first, otherwise I wouldn't have the courage, because the truth is that I'm not built to go on stage. From the beginning I knew that I wasn't suited to going there: I saw myself more as a DJ, someone who was on the records but with his back turned rather than going forward with his face taking slaps.”
Anger as a driving force
«I had anger when I started… Anger was the driving force behind everything, because my adolescence was… I suffered a little in adolescence, a lot. I was, as they say today, bullied. Partly because I came from the mountains, which in those days in the city if you came from the mountains you were considered second-class. And then also because of my relationship with women: I fell in love at 17 and got a terrible slap. […] So the anger came out right in that period, you know, I vented it in the songs and that's how it has to be done. It must be channeled, transformed, transmuted, as they say now, into love. Love for the things you do. I was already doing it without realizing that I was doing it. Today I know that the best mechanism is there.”
Defend yourself from yourself
«I was writing Living is not easy. I already had Tullio Ferro's music, I had listened to it thousands of times and I wanted to put words to it because it deserved it. “I keep getting into debt. Living isn't easy.” Fuck I say, perfect! But then, moving forward, towards the last part, I think: what else do I say now? I didn't have any other idea, so I was a little resigned. Then I don't know where the phrase came from: “I don't know how to defend myself”. But I recognize it: “But that's what I've wanted to say for 30 years!”. And I don't know how to defend myself, in fact. Losing the meaning of things or going after problems that I created myself. When a deep thought, sensation or state of mind arises, I immediately go after it. And that's where bad things can happen. But in the end you go where you go.”
Dying while alive
«To live life to the full, you have to die while alive. For example, I have died I don't know how many times. You die and if it goes well with you, certain beliefs, bad ideas, some wrong way of seeing or thinking also die. In any case, you get to a point where everything is actually collapsing around you. These are also necessary moments.”
Just die
«When I was young it was called a nervous breakdown. […] It seems like everything that exists in the world is there just to piss you off, and you struggle to respond, it's incredible. Even things that used to go well become tiring, unbearable, dangerous. And maybe after two or three months you even start thinking about killing yourself. In short, I had started to think about it. Maybe lateral thinking about how to do it so as not to cause too much annoyance, too much pain to those around me helped me. Nor did I want to satisfy all my detractors or professional accusers.”
Be free
«Being free, in your head, has always been my battle. Freedom isn't doing whatever the fuck you want, as all the ignorant people around now say. Freedom is one possibility among many, it is not something to be taken for granted. In chaos you are not free, you are in disarray. Even starting from my position as a radical anarchist, I began to appreciate the value of the rule, its meaning in relation to the profound meaning of freedom. Rule as a shared principle, not as a fucking rule of law.”
The myth
«There is no one in Italy who doesn't have an idea about me. And everyone is always convinced that it is the right one. On the other hand, I also feel quite normal. Sometimes I see disoriented faces looking at me as if they had seen the Madonna. Then I happen to remind him: “No, I am not the Madonna. I am here representing the myth”.
