Inspired By Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Bruce Springsteen, Swiss -Italian Singer Rocks the Washington, D.C. Stage
The Embassy of Switzerland in conversation with Andrea Bignasca.
Can you tell us about yourself and how you became a singer?
AB: I was born in Lugano and raised in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. My mom is from Schaffhausen, so I was raised bilingually, and my second mother tongue is German. When I was about eight, I saw a drum solo. I must have fallen in love because my mom organized drum lessons for me, which I took for ten years. When I was about sixteen or seventeen, I started learning to play guitar by myself and to sing. Later on, I founded a band with my friends. When I was in college, I studied English and Italian literature in Zurich and I just decided that this wasn’t going to be my future. I decided that I wanted to live with music and I’ve been doing that since 2014. First, I performed alone with my guitar and a kick drum, like tonight, so this is back to my roots for me. Now, I perform with my band and our new album came out at the end of September.
What type of music do you perform?
AB: We started out with folk rock music, and now it’s more rock.
Where does this love of rock music come from?
AB: From my dad. I was raised with almost no Italian music in the house. It was more American and English rock, meaning the classics like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Bruce Springsteen, who is my personal hero; also Tom Petty, the Velvet Underground . . .
Is that why you sing in English instead of Italian?
AB: Yeah, that’s one aspect because I feel that it’s my music and the music I write tends to be that kind of music, the one I know, the one that’s part of me. English is also a newer language to me. I feel like it’s my third mother tongue now, but it’s newer to me and the words have more power because I’ve used them less.
Is there any Swiss influence in your music?
AB: Well, I am influenced by all the artists that inspire me; so, of course, there are Swiss artists that inspire me.
Do you get a lot of inspiration from the American music and arts scene?
AB: Yes, of course. In my musical path, I would say I mirrored what happened in the U.S. When I was playing drums, I played more jazz and then I switched to guitar. At first, I played acoustic guitar, so folk, and then I got into rock and blues.
Do you have a special goal you would like to achieve through your music?
AB: The more realistic part of my answer is that I just want to keep being able to live with my music. I’d like to be able to tour clubs in Europe; that would be cool. In a more philosophical sense, I’d like to move people. I would like that my music can give solace or be an outlet for anything one might need, even for just two or three minutes.
You are Swiss Italian and you are here as part of the Settimana della lingua Italiana, with this year’s theme of Italian language networks. Is there anything that you would like to say about your link to the Italian language?
AB: Well, I’m proud of my heritage and I’m weirdly proud that I’m from the small part of Switzerland that speaks Italian and I’m happy to be here representing that, representing Ticino.
What do you think about the music scene in Ticino and more generally in Switzerland?
AB: I think it’s hard to live with your music if you don’t get out of Ticino. So, one of the first barriers we encounter is language. You can go to the north, to the German-speaking part or the French-speaking part, but it’s hard if you don’t speak the language. I didn’t have that problem because it’s my second mother tongue so it was a bit easier. But I guess all the bands might have an easier life going abroad first and then maybe coming back to the other parts of Switzerland. I worked in Switzerland first and now I’m starting to go to Germany and do tours there.
What’s the best venue to listen to live music among all the places you’ve been in Switzerland? Where should people go if they want to listen to good live music?
AB: I have a lot of favorite spots. I think festivals are good to discover new music because you have a lot of artists at the same time. I tend to love the bigger venues because the bigger stages are always fun. But I also love the more intimate settings, so I wouldn’t have an answer to that. I know that there’s a place in my heart for the Living Room in Lugano, where I’ll be releasing my album. I have a release party this Friday. I land in Milan at 10 a.m. and I play at night in Lugano. That will be fun. I also like Moods in Zurich.
You are on social media. How do you think the digital sphere affects artists and how should they take advantage of it to promote themselves and get more visibility?
AB: I try to be on social media, but I have a lot to learn. I use it as a kind of PR firm. I use it to promote my music and just as a direct link to the fans, to let them know what I’m doing, what I’m thinking.
Your second album, Murder, came out in September and now you are going to have some shows in Switzerland as well as in Germany. Can you talk a bit more about that?
AB: Yeah, I had two tours in 2018 as a solo act in Germany. Now, for the first time, I’ll bring the band for a small tour in December and hopefully that will be just an early taste of a bigger tour in the spring of 2019.
Can you tell us a bit more about the album? Why is it called Murder?
AB: Sure. It’s a bit of a heavy topic. The idea is a kind of self-mutilation in the sense of cutting away the negative aspects of one’s personality, the ones that drag you down, the ones that poison you and your way to a healthy and lovely life. Hopelessness and resentment are the easier answers; it’s easy to be hopeless and angry. It’s a battle for one’s heart in the sense of cutting away the bad parts — to murder them in a way — and to salvage the good parts that are in you.
Is this your first time performing in the U.S.?
AB: First time, yes. It’s my second time in the U.S. and my first time performing.
How do you like Washington, D.C.?
AB: I love it. I always had this fascination for the U.S. — from the music to the arts, everything. Culturally, I love American comedy and I watch a lot of shows and political shows. It’s fascinating, and it feels like it needed to happen, coming here.
What’s next?
AB: I’ll keep promoting the album because it just came out. That means a lot of shows in Switzerland, Germany, hopefully Germany again in spring and then the festival season. I hope that I’ll have a fully booked summer tour and that I can start writing new stuff early so that it’s not three years again between one album and the next.
