We intercepted them on Saturday 11 July, shortly before the performance at the BPM in Terranuova Bracciolini, one of the musical locations in their area, the Arezzo area. The occasion was to talk about their first album of unreleased songs ei Punkcake – at the registry office Sonia Picchioni, Damiano Falcioni, Lorenzo Donato, Bruno Bernardon And Lorenzo Migliore – they certainly didn't hesitate to bare themselves in this chat. Just like they did on the cover of We are here We are thesereleased on June 26th by Rude Records, where they are shown in front and back versions (all except one, by choice). Their ideas are always those that made them become a band between 2020 and 2022, which they then brought to the X Factor stage in 2024 and which are all within the ten tracks of this debut. From the loss of identity to the anxiety of abandonment of individuals No Pants And Fake Swing, from the topic of gender expectations of Toothache to the wonderful anti-fascist anthem of I want a Fiatpassing through the destruction of the patriarchate of Phallocentre until the alienation of Just Kidding and the need to start again from the rubble Adam & Eve.
A dirty dozen, with inevitably punk, noise rock and post hardcore sounds, all very rough, built with instruments in the rehearsal room and which promises very well in a live version. One song that stands out from the other, one song that pulls the other away. In between, the story of this quintet who grew up in the Tuscan underground scene and continues their act of community resistance.
Your first album is out now but let's take a step back, to 2020 and above all to 2024, inevitably passing through the X Factor experience. Who are the Punkcakes of 2026?
We are more conscious Punkcakes. We faced a television and commercial experience that marked us, we felt really bad. We come from self-management, from total nothingness: no one knew us, we had no contacts in the world of music, we are all self-taught and certainly not children of art. We started by organizing our own evenings and those of other groups, from Arci clubs to high school assemblies. When we were called into that world, our position remained critical but we had prepared ourselves, we thought we could be a “Trojan horse”. There we discovered how well the system is able to absorb criticism and transform it into something commercial, in the end we gave them a bit of what they wanted. Our costumes, the criticism we were trying to bring to the end were quietly integrated and probably even attracted the public. It is the great power of consumerism: the alternative becomes a possible, acceptable oscillation, as long as it is capitalized. It was a useful experience, which made us more determined and aware because we understood what we want and what we don't want from our music, but above all we managed to keep the group and the friendship strong. Even now that Lorenzo has hurt himself, for example, we always go to visit him since he doesn't have an elevator and is confined to his house [ndr scopriamo così che Lorenzo Migliore, il batterista, si è fratturato gamba e mano e in questi concerti estivi al suo posto ci sarà un sostituto].
Don't you miss Manuel Agnelli a little?
[Si parte ridendo, ricordando il suo addome potente ma si torna subito seri]
Manuel, despite being stuck inside that mechanism, is doing some crazy stuff. With Germs and with Fresh Meat he is using his visibility to give space to young groups, aged 16 to 30. This project is truly a flagship, an artistic and cultural pride.
Speaking of the Punkcakes of 2026, we see them with their butts out on the cover of an album entitled “We are here We are these”. Is it a kind of self-affirmation?
It's a way to lay ourselves completely bare and say “we can start again from here”. But it will be the last cover with the ass, we swear. We wanted to really expose ourselves, declaring we are this, we are like this. Showing our facets in that sense too, because in the end this album is a kind of manifesto of what we have been and what we are. Contains pieces written before, during and after The X Factor. Now that we have truly undressed, we can start again and explain ourselves even better. It's a beautiful statement, a manifesto of intent.
This album represents you very well. In your opinion, what is the song that does it best of all?
Sweet it is certainly the most personal. But Toothache it's a song that has always brought us together: it was one of the first we wrote and the video was born from a great collaboration, we're very proud of it. We did the soundtrack for Punk State, a completely self-produced and self-financed film. And they made our Toothache video. Usually our videos are self-managed and they certainly represent us, even if we don't have large means of production, they are still us. However, even though they involved other people, they captured our true essence, our message and represented it with great professionalism. For us it was an honor.
While we're talking about songs, how a song like is born Meow?
[Risponde Sonia] I wrote music and chords in a very short time, a few hours, on the train on the way back from Milan after they kicked us out of the X Factor. In those two months I was away from my kitten, we have been roommates for two years and now we are one, I missed him so much. I also had a megaposter of him in Milan and I even asked to make a video call to him [e qui si ride un po’]. I missed him so much that I wanted to write him a song and it came naturally to me to do so. It's something that unites us because we are all cat lovers. With anti-fascist cats.
In the album all your discomfort towards the contemporary world emerges, I would say more than shareable. Even if it's not your job, is there also a proposal, a hope inside?
The album was written very instinctively, without a programmatic message. However, in retrospect and thanks to a change of psychologist, we can say – avoiding political redundancies or things already heard -, as the Idlethat love is community, unity, dialogue, connecting with other people and confronting even those who have ideas that are distant from yours. If you can compare, communicate and unite with others, you can find well-being. We need to understand that no one is an island, we are all in the same boat and we need to come together to make a change.
The province is in your DNA. How do you look at Valdarno today and, in general, at the area and its music scene?
We are very critical of Valdarno. There are many negative things, especially the presence of the mafia, which also reaches inside the institutions. But at the same time, we are lucky. We live in industrialized realities but, at the same time, a stone's throw from nature. This allows you to reconnect with what is true, with spirituality, to breathe clean air. There are also other aspects of the province that we carry with us. We noticed this especially when we dealt with people from Milan and big cities, especially for X Factor. There's a lot more individuality. Not by everyone, and often it's not even a choice: perhaps it's a bit inevitable when you live in big cities. Due to the way cities are built, when we went to Milan or Rome we felt under pressure, under judgement, with constant anxiety. These are sensations that are much less common here in Valdarno.
Here there is a lot of closed-mindedness but, at the same time, however, a strong sense of community, thanks to many spaces like ours [ndr il Circolo Arci Restone, a Figline e Incisa Valdarno, nel fiorentino]. The BPM festival, together with the Beta Bar, is one of the few spaces left to make live music and create a real connection between people. Everyone does it in their own way: some in a more commercial way, some less, like us who try to be “shitty communists”. Luckily the bands are there, even if there aren't many. The other evening, at Beta, there was a concert by Esera Collectivean absurd band. The good thing is that practically all the bands were present, or at least one of their representatives. So we could compare, get to know each other and unite. That's what really matters.
Getting involved in your territory, trying to improve the place where you live, is something that should concern everyone. Many people opt for the so-called “brain drain” but we remain convinced that taking on responsibilities, taking power and then distributing it and improving the situation of the place where you live, where you were born and which you can fully understand, remains an added value.
Returning to music, what state of health does punk have today?
There is only one discriminating factor: being punk while trying to escape the patterns of capitalism, or at least always being fully aware of it. Many people see punk as a simple release valve, something violent, but for us it's not that at all. Punk must be free energy, it must be love. As they say Idle. If we have to give advice, it is precisely to listen to them: in their songs there is a lot of self-criticism, a lot of reflection and a strong catharsis. Of all of them, they are the ones who today manage to give the most modern and, in our opinion, the most authentic vision of the essence of punk.
You always cite Idles as a point of reference, but are there any other names we could mention?
[Risponde Damiano per tutti] It's difficult because we are all five individuals who listen to many different things, and then a lot also goes in periods. At this moment I found great inspiration in Die Spitz. They are a collective that, like us, exchanges tools, does not have fixed roles and does not have a vertical structure within the group: it works horizontally. This made me really happy.
Have you ever come into contact with us?
No. I texted them just today, complaining, but they will never reply. I will never forgive you for not coming to Italy to do the tour. We need you, please [ride].
Is it true that you are already thinking about the next album?
Yes, we are already writing and we are already bringing some songs live. We don't care about the commercial perspective of keeping the pieces hidden because at least then there's hype, but screw it. As soon as we have a piece it means that we have a new conception, a new idea that is increasingly closer to the truth and therefore we want to give it to others immediately, as soon as possible.
Is self-production still your path?
Absolutely yes. The album was already recorded before the agreement with the label that distributed it: we provided the licensed masters, which remain ours. We will continue to work as self-produced as possible.
For those who don't want to miss these self-proclaimed “shitty communists” live – an increasingly rare category, alas – the appointment is July 18th at the Men/Go Music Fest in Arezzo and August 1st at the Punk Ducali Festival in Atri, Abruzzo. To follow, other dates in Tuscany. While talking about upcoming concerts, the interview took a detour, turning into a heated discussion about the out-of-control cost of concert tickets. We'll only spare you because we've already gone too far. And, deep down, we are pretty sure that you would have agreed with everyone.
One thing, however, is worth saying. The undersigned saw Punkcake live at Firenze Rocks and can confirm it: they work. Musically, sure. But above all because on stage they manage to do something increasingly rare: be consistent with what they play, with what they say and with what they represent. And today it is not at all obvious.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
