△ It seems like your connection with Italy is very strong. It’s clear that you are very attached to this country. This is a big honor, because it means that our country is still able to accommodate. From movies to music, would you say this was something instinctive or a choice made out of necessity?
It started almost by chance in the 90s thanks to my girlfriend at that time, who was Australian but with parents who were Italian immigrants. When we came to Italy to meet her family, I got in touch with the country’s musical scene, and after some time I started performing. I formed a bond with Italian people right away, and started friendships that still live today. When I come to Europe, Italy is my headquarters, I stop here especially for pleasure, regardless of my musical commitments. The creative impulse I found in Italy is unique. At some point I even ended up living in Sicily. I love the culture and the vibe of the Italian south, it reminds me of an old world. Being in a place that has such ancient bonds is enchanting for me, especially for a person who grew up in Australia, a totally new and modern world, whose history is just 200 years old.

△ This bond you have with the south, the home of sartorial Italian style, is easily perceived. In you, I see the elegant style of the men from Naples, a little dandy and a little roguish.
That’s true, a bit of humor is always needed, and Italian men are very good at that. Their style is undoubtedly peculiar and unique, influencing trends all over the world. I’m not talking about fashion, at least not about fashion in the accepted sense of the word. I’m talking about style. That’s a totally different story. It’s also a way of life. When you’re in the South, you go at least 20-30 years back in time. I always loved this sort of opposition to progress. When I lived in Catania, I would go to the secondhand market, where I would find vintage men’s clothing from the ‘40s and ‘50s that taught me a lot about the ancient art of men’s tailoring. I also came to understand how Hollywood had been influenced by Italian standards of beauty. I always look for new ways to express myself, both in music and style, so I decided to experiment, mixing elements from rock with items that have nothing to do with that, like an elegant suit. I like to play with the Anglo-Saxon bourgeois uniform typical of my culture, mix it with Italian vintage and rock’n’roll, mostly not to take myself too seriously. The only thing not to joke about is their visual imaginative power to inspire and to influence. When you’re a performer, you project what you are through the way you look.

△ Yes, today more than ever it is necessary to master different visual languages. This includes clothing too. Is it the reason why you indiscriminately produce videos, literature, music?
This is a necessity nowadays if you’re a full-time artist. But that’s natural for me. Those are all ways to influence the perception of your audience. If you want to involve the audience and your ideas are complex, music alone is not enough. Music is perfect to create an atmosphere, bring a message and evoke feelings in a magical way. But it only lasts 5 minutes. On the other hand, in a book you have plenty of room to explain things in detail. With a movie, you can take a concept and do things you can’t do with music and literature. Nevertheless, I still think music is the most direct, unexplainable, and emotionally devastating form of art. You just need a guitar. Yet it is so powerful to change our society, as rock’n’roll did in the ‘50s.

△ I know that the street culture was very important for you. During the ‘70s and ‘80s it was a noticeable phenomenon. Do you think it still exists?
I left Australia to investigate the world, to learn the stories of the street. By street, I mean real life. My whole experience comes from there. For me, traveling was always crucial, starting from the first time I ran away from home as a kid. I had an appetite for experience and I immediately understood that music and travel have a lot of common ground, at least from my point of view. Street culture is alive and kicking, and it will always be. You can see it also in failure, because failure means that there was ambition. This is what I’m interested in. Being a musician obligates you to get away from the regular timetables and places. You live the counterculture, the revolt, the hidden circumstances. You see real stuff happening, you meet bizarre people saying interesting things.

△ Speaking in musical terms, who or what is number one in your personal top-ten?
For me, no doubt, it’s family. I love music, traveling and everything we have talked about until now, but if you have no family, I mean any kind of family, like friends, your life is meaningless. One of the most difficult things for a musician is being bound to your family, as we’re always traveling for work. For me, it’s easier to mix a new album than to keep in touch with my wife.

Music is the only form of art that can bring back into your mind distant feelings and memories, as if they were happening right now. Just like a scent can do. Hugo would say, more poetically, that “music is the illusion of life”, and I like to think that, far from the accurate interpretations and logic where we try to enclose our emotions, there is exists something mystical that we cannot explain. ▲