Player Motta apparently came to the same conclusion as Edgar Lee Masters' violinist Jones, and that conclusion is: Ring!. This is the name of his new project (if the word makes you sad, call it album or EP, but possibly not new album), available from October 11th. Is called Ring also the unreleased song alongside six republished, rearranged, remodelled, replayed songs, in one case with a distinguished guest, Teho Teardo.
And that's roughly the name of his label: Sona. Which apparently is what they told him at the beginning. «I was lucky enough to grow up in a province full of musicians who helped me to improve but also to try not to talk too much during concerts, since one more word could have been silenced by a unanimous shout: sòna!».
But all this playing is worth talking about.
Let's immediately satisfy the indie fans: what is this new label?
From an editorial point of view I am always with Sugar, a record company with an independent and free vocation, which has always allowed me to do what I wanted. And this is an example. It's not exactly a new album, by the way Ring there are pieces that come from different moments of my journey, since 2012 with the Criminal Jokers.
What did you want to change?
It all started from a tour with over a hundred dates, in which I rediscovered certain sensations of being in a band. With Cesare Petulicchio and Giorgio Maria Condemi we made trio arrangements that included different guises for the live versions of my songs. Then in the studio we also changed them very profoundly. For example, Rome tonight it lost the chords and guitar licks of the original. Certain changes surprised me in a way that goes beyond the satisfaction you feel when you like a piece. For example Beastswhich I released with Criminal Jokers. It's like 12 years later I finally understood the song.
And now for these songs reborn during the concerts, will you do other concerts?
We will do four, two in Rome and two in Milan (on 7 and 8 November at the Hacienda in Rome, on 27 and 28 November at the Base in Milan, ed.). In the middle of the venue, therefore in the middle of the audience. Without stage.
Damn, the musician who descends among the people. But maybe it's its place. The fact is that in Italy it is very difficult to consider someone who does your job “a musician”. Either you are a singer-songwriter or a pop star – or a rapper, who, moreover, is debated whether they are “the new singer-songwriters”.
The culture of the musician is dominated by the desire to pigeonhole things. I imagine that those who listen to me don't know whether to pigeonhole me into pieces like Our last song or others like It's almost like being happy. I'm lucky enough not to be tied to a particular song, I wouldn't sleep on it at night.
Speaking of Criminal Jokers, I was intrigued by one thing: in your interviews in recent years you repeatedly mentioned the film Jokerwhich obviously came out after you gave the group that name. You might think it's a spirit guide of yours.
Not entirely, so much so that I haven't seen the new one yet Joker. And actually when I was little I cared about Batman. Del Joker by Todd Phillips I was very struck by the scene in which he dances on the stairs, like someone who has found his freedom in madness and lets himself go completely. In this album perhaps I wanted to return to having a freedom, courage and fun that I always risk sacrificing to the idea of the profession, of the market.
Any expectations, too?
Also. I have been associated with names that made music completely different from mine. I love pop, but I've never been pop. Some of my songs ended up on certain playlists, but in some cases they were pieces that came to me, yes, but I wasn't even that convinced about putting them on the album. Then certain things happen to songs, songs are even more important than who writes them – and as I was saying, I don't necessarily understand my songs straight away.
Are you making the classic indie move of distancing yourself from your most successful stuff?
No, but my life as a musician was born during a huge record crisis, for me thinking about becoming famous was out of the question, I didn't know what a contract or a press office was, I took it for granted that I wouldn't make a penny out of music. But I liked playing too much. Then, I consider myself lucky because The end of the twentieswell, it's a miracle that it reached so many people. If it came out now it wouldn't be that successful. But there are phases in which things really come from below, from word of mouth, I think it was my case, that of Calcutta, of Cosmo.
And you think it couldn't happen today? Has everything changed?
I don't know, things are certainly more difficult, and at the same time, apparently easier. Now that I have a label I think in my own small way I can help musicians and I listen to many things, and in the meantime there are young people who sign a contract with a multinational after just one song.
But you were also the next big thing to a certain extent.
There was a phase in which I was surrounded by lots of people who told me I was good, then someone started telling me «Mmmh, yes, but you should do more of this and less of that». Then some didn't tell me anything anymore, haha!
But you always have a good relationship with critics.
I would say yes, they treat me well. I am honored to have won two Tenco awards back to back.
Motta with his band. From left, Giorgio Maria Condemi, Roberta Sammarelli, Cesare Petulicchio. Photo: Matteo Graia
Haven't you ever read things that irritated you?
Actually, nothing much. At the beginning, when the Criminal Jokers album came out, I was very fragile, and certain reviews made me feel bad. I think the public felt the same way though because that record didn't do particularly well, to put it mildly. Then, as regards the interviews, at a certain point I thought that the fact of taking precise political positions and saying – as I also do on stage – things that seemed banal, obvious to me, could lead to exploitation, to shouty headlines. But because of who I am, what my parents gave me, what I believe in, I don't want to lose this freedom. I keep saying what I think, it's always worth it.
And musical freedom? In this period for most record companies it's a gamble. Now that you're a bit of a record producer yourself, what do you think?
Freedom in music is a long discussion. To make myself understood, I'll try to give an example. Let me start by saying again that I love pop and I have a Spice Girls t-shirt. So I don't mind seeing, for example, the Taylor Swift documentary. But one thing that terrifies me is that search for absolute perfectionism.
Among other things, to express what in his intentions is absolute intimacy.
This is not to say that I recommend improvisation, also because I always try to keep in mind the teachings of music schools, having done quite a bit of it: there a wealth of experience of the musicians is passed down. But it happened to me, on a tour with three girls from Niger with whom we had barely rehearsed before performing, that I did one of the most inadvisable things ever. I don't want to get into technicalities…
Oh no, I insist: with you musicians it happens too rarely to talk about music.
Well, to put it as clearly as possible, during the concert at a certain point we made a minor chord while the girls did it in major, and any musician will tell you that this thing creates beats and dissonances. But I realized that I was enjoying feeling this imperfection, especially in public.
For the Joker's sense of freedom.
And without killing anyone, what's more.
