It’s ten o’clock in the morning in Los Angeles and Thomas Raggi is still feeling jet lag when he accepts the video call from his home in Europe. But you detect no trace of tiredness in his eyes, just excitement, adrenaline and a spark of tension in the room.
Of course, this isn’t entirely new for Raggi – as the guitarist of the successful Italian band Måneskin, he knows all too well the feeling of an artist who finally presents his musical baby to the eager public. “I can’t wait to share my album with everyone,” he says.
“Let’s play real instruments!”
“Masquerade” will be released on December 5th and was produced by former Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello. “I love rock and I want to give it to the younger generation,” says the 24-year-old. For Raggi, rock’n’roll is not dead at all – on the contrary, he thinks that the genre is still very much alive among young people.
“It’s not true that young people don’t like rock music. They just don’t know it very well,” he says. Raggi, who grew up in Rome, was lucky that his father played many rock idols for him on vinyl during his childhood, as he says. “Young people are particularly drawn to electronic music. It’s important to me to show people of my generation that you can buy an instrument and learn to play it! Completely analogue, the guitar, the bass, the drums – we can play real instruments!”
Fans will approach “Masquerade” with some curiosity, as it is Raggi’s debut as a solo artist. Most people know him for his role in Måneskin, the Italian rock band that took off worldwide in 2021 after winning the Eurovision Song Contest. Through energetic performances, their latest album “Rush” and praise from Mick Jagger and other rock institutions, the four-piece Italian group quickly became the epitome of a new generation of guitar music.
But in 2024 the band announced an indefinite break – to concentrate on solo projects, as they said. What will happen next with Måneskin remains a mystery for now. Things haven’t gone quiet for the quartet: in fact, singer Damiano David released his solo album “Funny Little Fears” in May 2025. Bassist Victoria de Angelis tried her hand at DJing and released her first own singles.
Finding your way as a solo artist
And now Thomas Raggi follows with “Masquerade”, even though, as he himself says, he felt no pressure to follow his bandmates. On eight songs, the dark blonde guitarist brings together some established names in the genre with Nic Cester, Chad Smith (yes, Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers!) and Matt Sorum, with UPSAHL, Hama and Sergio Pizzorno, with Alex Kapranos, Luke Spiller and Maxim.
“It was a great challenge to find my own sound for this first solo project,” says Raggi. “I worked with so many different artists for the album, and everyone has their own vision. When the moment comes when you find the perfect match between their ideas and my idea, the intersection between their taste and my taste – that’s the most difficult and at the same time the most beautiful part.”
With “Masquerade” Thomas Raggi introduces himself to the rock community in a completely new way – you can tell that by the fact that the record clearly stands out from previous Måneskin works in terms of sound and style. Does the album reveal a completely different Thomas Raggi? “Yes. Every song is a snapshot, a portrait of the moment. And I change every day,” he says. “Sometimes I listen to a song I wrote three months ago and I’m like, what, I wrote that? That was me?”
But there is one characteristic complaint that is typical of Thomas Raggi and that runs through the project like a common thread: “These hard guitar sounds that are totally distorted and the extravagant solos – that’s me. That’s my personality.”
“Every new song is a new challenge for me”
The album feels new not only for fans of Raggi and Maneskin, but also for the guitarist himself. “I try to push my boundaries, always write different songs. Of course, I always have my rock idols as role models in the back of my mind – but this album was like an exercise for me,” says Raggi. “Every new song is a new challenge for me. I experiment a lot with instruments and melodies, and the work process has helped me a lot personally.”
His bandmate from Måneskin, Raggi reveals, have already heard “Masquerade” and thought it was “great”. “I am so happy and really appreciate the support they have given me for this project,” he says. At least, we learn, the four members of Måneskin still seem to be on friendly terms despite their time off. Fans who had already feared the worst rifts between the band members should breathe a sigh of relief.
Tom Morello was a good mentor
Thomas Raggi received particular support from Morello, whom the musician first met two years ago in Los Angeles. “It felt natural for me to ask him to produce my record,” explains Raggi. “He was a teacher to me and I learned a lot from him. We have had an incredible journey together.”
Perhaps the most important piece of advice came from the Rage Against The Machine guitarist, who knows all too well what it takes to be a good guitarist. “I’m always super focused on the riffs in a song. And I’m always looking for how I can make them even better,” reveals Raggi. “Then I think, this riff isn’t perfect yet, I have to keep looking. But from Tom I learned that the first attempt, the first idea is often the best. That you have to trust your instincts, your intuition.”
With this attitude, the young Italian wants to tackle further projects – and his life as a whole. Above all, he is now looking forward to being able to play his solo debut live and to continue writing new songs that do justice to his intuition as well as the lifelong dream of a real rock’n’roll guitarist – a dream that was born to the sound of his father’s records, grew up in Måneskin and now stands on its own two feet on “Masquerade”. “I want to connect with my fans, old and young, and give people the music I love.”