ANDREA MANGES

photo by Andrea "Canthc" Cantelli

ANDREA MANGES

When did you first realize your love for music, and how did you get introduced to rock n' roll? Knowing that Ramones are a very important band for you, when did you first hear their music? What led you to pick up a guitar and start writing your own songs?

I didn't pay much attention to music as a kid, but in  the mid 80s I fell in love with Madonna and started buying her vinyl records instead of listening to my big sister's cassettes. Then Iron Maiden, Guns N'Roses, Ramones, they all came a while later and were perfect to channel the teenage rebellious spirit of those years but I was also listening to a lot of pop stuff. I discovered the Ramones on TV when the Pet Sematary video was on heavy rotation. Bought the Brain Drain album, bought more of their records, punk rock slowly became my favorite kind of music. Some school friends started a punk/metal/crossover band and I was in from the beginning so I bought a cheap guitar and amp, but I was just learning to play while the other guys were all ahead of me. I thought we stopped rehearsing 'cause they didn't call for a while until I saw a poster of a gig the band was playing at the local squat, a gig I knew nothing about. That hurt me a little but after that I made a point in being loyal to my friends and now I've been playing with the same people for 25 years and of course those other guys went nowhere. So it was the early 90s and I kept going to shows, I had the long hair and the dangerous look but I didn't play guitar again until the Manges asked me to join. Didn't know I could write songs. I was mostly drawing posters, and doing cut-n-paste graphics for some friend's metal bands or local events. I thought I was going to be the fanzine-poster guy but I was really bad at that too. In fact the Manges bassplayer Mass is really talented in graphics and photography so those aspects ended up 100% in his hands very quickly.

When you began writing songs, were you studying any specific influences? How did you develop your own style of songwriting? Were you recording your songs as demos and showing them to anyone? How did The Manges first form, and were you in other bands before?

Mass and Manuel almost didn't know me, I was 18 and they were 16 when they asked me to join the band because I had the look and the Ramones t-shirts.. they were really focused on playing Ramones influenced punk rock and just picked me because I had the same taste in music. We come from a small town and all people listened to grunge and metal at the time, punk rock was considered a dead thing. We had no idea that the success of bands like Green Day was just round the corner and the following years were going to give us some of the best punk albums of all time and punk rock was gonna be mainstream. We were still trying to figure out how to play while our local shows were packed cause we were the only kids doing (very badly) what every other kid suddently wanted to hear. 

We were so bad - we had more fun playing our own crappy songs than trying to cover the good ones. I found the impulse to write songs in me in a very natural way, I was not asked but brought a couple of my own ideas to the first rehearsals we ever did. I think I just feel good when I'm creative but I still don't see myself as an artist.

Your songs are clearly influenced by Ramones, but you have your own style of songwriting. How did this develop? Did you struggle to find your own style, or did it come naturally for you? Were you writing songs on an electric guitar most often?

Since the Manges started we shared all the punk music knowledge we had (no internet at the time of course) and in the first years we were just plain bad. No experience no skills, but the whole DIY thing was a lot of fun and before we could realize what our identity was we were already recording songs and reading reviews of our 7"s in magazines. So on one side we were partying, hanging out with friends and knowing our band was just a stupid thing that was not going to be successful, but on the other side, me, Mass and Manuel had a very strong determination in making the Manges our main focus and be respected as a band.

The Queers, Screeching Weasel and later the Riverdales have been our main inflences in the 90s. We were also adding the 50s rocknroll vibe to punk rock, and that's the other main ingredient. Beach Boys has always been a favorite of mine. Hard-Ons also were really important and still are to the Manges and a lot of people can see their influence in our music.

I was writing almost all of our ugly songs, but also my drummer started to experiment with lyrics and now we are still doing a lot of work together... I write the music, he writes a good chunk of the lyrics. 

I rarely come up with new music when I'm playing guitar. I get the guitar only when I think I already have a good idea to work on. It was tape recorder, than digital recorder, and then iPhone voice memos, but it almost always start with some humming. 

Your guitar playing is very relatable, but I've also wondered if you ever tried to do the Johnny Ramone style of all down-picking in order to feel more like the Ramones? Has strumming always felt more natural to you? I've also realized that Manuel's hi-hat drumming is so fast that it would be nearly impossible to do all downstrokes for many of the fast Manges songs!

Our drummer style is definitely what defines the sound of my band. Like most of all technical aspects of playing music. we just never addressed the downstroking issue for 25 years. I see myself as a singer-songwriter and always have been a lazy guitarist. I admire all those downstroking guitarists, I wish I could be as good as them, but for a long time I thought of it as just a silly way of copying the Ramones... like those ugly Ramones cover bands that wear wigs on stage. I've always been a fan but never felt we should sound the same as them. I realized later how much that affects the sound, but whatever. For a long time, making music was just singing on a chord sequence and some fast hi-hat. Good fun. 

In the early 90s was there much of a pop punk scene in Italy? Were The Manges leading this style in your area, or were their other bands in Italy or around Europe that you admired and looked up to? How did you access American pop punk in the pre-Internet days? Did you send demos and letters to the USA?

The Italian pop punk scene suddently expolded in the mid-90s, and bands like Senzabenza and Derozer were leading the way to younger kids like us. While in Italy punk bands started to make money and success, we were still searching for our true identity and found it in releasing vinyl singles only and moving to London in UK. We all lived together, a Manges house, we bought great records that couldn't be found in Italy, went to shows, learned to speak English a bit better... when we came back, we were totally disconnected from the Italian scene of bands trying to score easy success and also we have been first in Italy to go for the Riverdales-Ramonecore thing. Soon after that we toured UK for the first time and started to connect to the pop punk scene anywhere. I also have been one of the first guys I know having an internet connection and that suddenly unlocked a lot of possibilities... yes we used to send records and demos overseas. Our first release in Canada happened after we sent stuff to the label and they organized our first USA-Canada tour.

Ben Weasel has always supported your music, but how did you first come into contact with him? Has his songwriting influenced your own style? What are your thoughts on his later material, such as the Babyfat album? Do you feel that you share many songwriting instincts with Ben? Do you also relate to his personality as an individual? What is your friendship like?

Mass sent him some of our singles in the late 90s, Ben sent us a postcard back, saying he liked our band. A couple years later he wrote again to our P.O. Box asking for permission to cover our song "I Will Always Do". We have been sent from Lookout! a promo copy of the Teen Punks In Heat cd and we listened to it on the van on our first day of our first USA tour. Sure his songwriting has been an influence but I think I started to write decent stuff when I stopped trying to copy someone else's style and found my own. It is not art, it is clearly derivative, but it is my own. I appreciated his respect for my skills over the years and since I am a fan of his music, it is a very positive vibe. We stayed in touch and worked together every now and then on music, and also music business when I started Stripedmusic.com. I like the guy a lot, I don't share his opinions sometimes, but he's a smart and funny man and always have been loyal and helpful to us. I do like his recent material too. 

John Jughead has been a Manges ally for a longtime as well. What are your thoughts on his contributions to pop punk? Though he wasn't the songwriter in Screeching Weasel, I feel that he did make significant contributions through his performances and unique personal style that was relatable to fans. Do you agree?

I agree with you, Jughead is a true artist and he masters many different forms of expression. He might not be directly responsible artistically for the success of SW in pop punk but he is a true punkrocker, you need people like him breaking the rules and the cliches sometimes, and searching for the true soul of this thing we do. Also, with Even In Blackouts he showed that he's a talented songwriter too. 

John visited Italy and spent months in our hometown in 2001, and since then we're good friends and we see each other every now and then. We share good and bad memories, like: everyone remembers where he was on 9/11, right? We were in Pisa with Jughead. Living that day beside an American friend has been even more intense. 

The Manges have always stayed true to their musical roots, and each Manges album is very consistent in its style and quality. What led you to start a separate project - The Veterans? Did you feel that you needed a different outlet to explore other sides of your songwriting? 

Playing more than half of your life in the same band with the same people that started the band with you is an amazing experience, but we all have something else besides the Manges to channel our energies into. Manuel is a painter. Mass is a photographer and works in movies too. Mayo is a tattoo artist. I am the boring one of the pack, and this means... more music! The Veterans started as a side project that was supposed to be studio-only. One release every once in a while, always with my buddy Alex producing with me, and with a group of random musicians and guests. I wanted to channel all the surf-beach-60s-positive influences from a lot of stuff I listen to that couldn't fit the Manges basic approach to music and negative lyrics. I wanted to release some rock 'n' roll music but I ended up with a second punk rock band so we recently decided the Veterans were going to be my solo project. The new album was written mostly with Lorenzo (The Ponches) who's the Veterans drummer, and arranged by the whole band. We just released a plain punk rock album, which sounds more like 90s pop punk maybe, it came out just the way we wanted, I am very proud of it. 

Your songs have a timeless feel - do you think that your songs could be played in different styles besides pop punk? Have you ever considered doing an acoustic album or a recording that is very different in its style compared to what you are known for?

I'm afraid our songs wouldn't work outside of punk rock. I recorded an acoustic song, it's a cover, written by an Italian folk singer in the 70s, that I translated in English. I am releasing it someday, maybe as an extra to some Veterans release. But no, I don't think I am interested in doing a lot of acoustic stuff, that's not in my plans at the moment. 

The recent Manges tribute album turned out great, and is a sign that your songs have been very influential to bands over the last two decades. How does it feel to know that your songwriting has been inspirational to other talented bands? Do you find inspiration in hearing these new bands, too? Who are some current bands influenced by Manges that you enjoy listening to?

I am a fan and a friend of many of the bands that took part in the tribute album. We were there a few years before they started so we might have been an influence of some sort but all those bands are just sharing our same passion for the Ramones and Lookout! music. I like many of the current punk rock bands of our scene, Mugwumps, DeeCracks, Tough, Vapids, Teenage Bubblegums, Ponches, Giant Eagles, and many more. The tribute album has been an overwhelming wave of love and respect that really touched me. 

Is there a song or album that you are most proud of in your career so far? What has been your songwriting process throughout the years? Do you start with a song title, or a melody more often? How do you catalog your songs and lyrics so you don't forget them? Has your method changed or evolved significantly over the years?

I think our best album is "Bad Juju", even if most of our fans are more into "Go Down". I am very proud of most of the Veterans stuff. "Sayonara Summer" from the last album is the type of pop song that I wanted to write for a long time.

My songwriting routine has been pretty much the same for a long time now. I record all music ideas on my iphone, mostly with no lyrics. Starting point is the verse. If I come up with an interesting verse melody, it's quite possible that I can deliver a good chorus too, once I have the lyrics/title figured out. Starting from a good chorus only is often a dead end for me. Chords progression is secondary to me. I feel like the chords are just there when the song is working in my head.

I save online (email drafts usually) ideas for lyrics and song titles, and my drummer's ideas too (he writes lyirics as poems, often with rhymes, with no music in mind. He writes on small pieces of paper and hands them to me when we meet). Chunks of text from books and articles. Anything I think will be useful is saved in these files.

I often have my drummer checking out my ideas in the rehearsal room. I tell him the speed and we go. Verse-chorus and if it doesn't work in 30 seconds, it's discarded. I work on lyrics, structure and extra arrangements on my own, and with band and producer when it's almost studio time. 

Does your family support your music? What is their reaction to your influence and fame within the punk rock scene? How is your music received by the general public in Italy? It seems that Italians perhaps have more appreciation for classic rock n' roll than other countries - do you agree?

Nobody in my family played music or encouraged me to follow my passion, but they're proud of who I became. Not 'cause I'm that influential or they understand what my place is in the punk community... but I'm a honest, happy guy that does his best everyday and I think they see it. 

Italy has a huge musical and cultural tradition on all genres and of course American music too has always been very popular. I think Italians are mostly fascinated by good melodies... pop punk Italian bands generally speaks bad English and maybe sound a bit crappy but we have the best hooks. 

How was the experience of doing a split with CJ Ramone? Do you ever have conversations with him about songwriting? It seems that his songwriting talent is often overlooked, but he's released some great records - especially in recent years.

The record, and two weeks ago the show, with CJ Ramone have been an incredible and rewarding experience for me. The Ramones were like magic characters from another planet when I started to listen to them. The world is much smaller now, I'm not a kid anymore, but I'm still surprised to think I met them all and I ended up playing with one of them. CJ's solo career is an amazing tale. He's a great guy, a true rocker, and his albums are outstanding. I can only say good things about CJ Ramone, especially now that I know him personally. 

Your music has also been associated with The Queers and Joe is an accomplished songwriter like yourself - has your songwriting been influenced by Joe directly? What do you think is special about his songwriting? Are you able to come up with tunes quickly like him? What is the key to remaining inspired as a songwriter?

Yes I listened to The Queers a lot and they have been a huge influence. Joe's shocking talent is in how he can write poppy melodies that could have been Beach Boys or bubblegums hits. You can hear that he likes that stuff too. I could never be as quick at him in delivering good music. Also I'm not quick with English phrasing cause it's not my first language and I'm still kinda bad at speaking it. Ever heard when they make fun of Italian immigrants in movies? That's how I speak. 

What are some of your personal goals for the future as a musician and songwriter? Does your daily life and job allow you to spend as much time on music as you'd like? How has the band experience changed for you in today's era where less people are interested in buying music? Does this discourage you at all?

One thing I would like very much is to turn Andrea Manges & The Veterans into a 60s surf rock 'n' roll party band. I'm not interested in fronting two punk rock bands too similar to each other. My life is good as it is but I'm always working in the direction of freeing myself more to do more music related stuff. I don't care if I'm successful or not, or how many people buy our records. I do what I love with the people I like and it's ok. 

Having travelled to the USA and experienced our culture, what are your impressions of the pop punk scene here compared to in Europe? Do you think that bands in the USA are as motivated as European bands? Do you feel that the scene is more supportive here or across the ocean? What do you think of other international scenes, for example Japan? Do you see the pop punk community as more of an international scene now with so many ways to easily connect through social media?

On our first trips to the USA, American pop punk bands were way ahead of us in terms of organization and professional mindset, but that changed fast and slowly things ended up being more stable and successful for European bands. I've toured Japan once and I am amazed at the passion those guys have, coming from a culture that is so distant from their own. I travelled much with my band an learned a lot about other countries. The band has been a gateway to a lot of knowledge. 

Now the pop punk scene is mostly revival and traditionalism, it's starting to look a lot like rockabilly... dead music and style that a small group of people enjoy in their own events, it's not gonna be popular anymore unless some nostalgic wave comes up. 

What is your proudest achievement so far as a songwriter? Who are your all-time favorite songwriters, and finally what advice would you give to someone who is passionate about songwriting but struggling to make their mark?

I am proud to have written a few songs that a few people enjoyed. Music to me is a way of being creative and sharing stuff with others, and thinking that some things I wrote made someone feel emotions or think, is important and I feel blessed just by having reached that. The respect of other musicians, including some of my favorite artists, also counts.

All time favorites, we mentioned many of them already, I would add Dee Dee and Joey Ramone, Brian Wilson, Rivers Cuomo, John Fogerty, Francesco Guccini, those are the first that comes on top of my head. I'm not sure I can give good advices on songwriting... maybe one thing I can say is that I think all forms of art and expression are connected. So you can't be a good songwriter if you don't read, or watch movies, talk to other artists or take care of what goes on around you. Being curious and eager to learn in all fields is the best way to be a good writer, cause in the end, if you don't have anything worthwhile on your mind or you have no personality, why should other people be interested in listening to you?