Måneskin 'Didn’t Expect' To Blow Up In 'Such A Short Amount of Time'

Måneskin has had one busy year. The Italian rock band, consisting of bassist Victoria De Angelis, singer Damiano David, guitarist Thomas Raggi and drummer Ethan Torchio, dominated the charts with their hit single 'Beggin.' For Måneskin, their runaway success in the United States has come as a surprise.

“The fact that there’s a band in the top of the charts playing just three instruments, it’s something that hasn’t happened for so long,” De Angelis told the Los Angeles Times about their unexpected rise to the top. “But we didn’t expect it to happen in such a short amount of time.”

They've become so popular in the States that their American fans can already sing along to their Italian lyrics. “We were playing songs in Italian from the record that we didn’t think were very known here,” De Angelis continued. “But everyone knew the words, even if it was harder for them to sing.”

Their exciting sound has found listeners from all ages, genders and backgrounds. “We meet young people that are like, ‘I’m 10 years old, I’ve never heard stuff like this, now I want to buy a drum kit,’” Raggi added.

While traveling around the United States, De Angelis says they liked to visit venues like The Rainbow Bar, where famous musicians haunted in their own heydey. “I grew up on metal and glam rock, so we were all sitting on the couch in there, like, ‘This is where Lemmy and Mötley Crüe used to hang out,'" she said.

Lisa Worden, program director of Alt 98.7 in L.A. and vice president of rock and alternative music at iHeartMedia, spoke to the outlet about Måneskin's takeover of mainstream radio this past year. “They’re one of our three biggest hits of the year, if not the biggest,” she said. “It’s so unusual to have a rock band with streams of that magnitude. To have a song like ‘Beggin’ that gets launched on pop and rises in alt and rock, it’s been a while since we’ve had that across formats.”

The band will play iHeartRadio’s ALTer Ego next year, as well. “It’s important to give them a chance to be more than a single,” she said. “They deserve to have more of their music exposed. I saw them at the Roxy and they’re a force. I think people will walk away with a new respect for them.”

Måneskin is also looking forward to playing at the Circo Massimo—"a huge public park that was once the site of ancient Roman blood sport and carnivals," according to the LA Times—back in Italy. “It’s gonna be our biggest crowd ever, so it’s gonna be very emotional,” David said. “It’s like the biggest place where you can play in Rome. I think it’ll be very good for the country too.”