“My main guitar is a Squier. My first guitar teacher gave me that. It’s a very important guitar for me”: How Thomas Raggi produced his raucous, all-star solo album, with a little help from Tom Morello

Måneskin might be this decade’s most rock n’ roll rock n’ roll band – unrepentantly horny, loud and glam – assisted by guitarist Thomas Raggi’s raw, old-school noises, made the way only young fearless musicians can. With his main band taking a break, Raggi has created his solo debut Masquerade, enlisting a team of rock’s finest from the last 40 years. Tom Morello is the producer; drums come from Matt Sorum and Chad Smith.

Vocalists include The Prodgy’s Maxim, The Struts’ Luke Spiller, Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos and Kasabian’s Sergio Pizzorno. The album’s lead single Getcha was co-written with Beck and features vocals from Jet’s Nick Cester.

With a lineup like that you could end up with a directionless hodgepodge – but instead Masquerade has a clear identity. Raggi’s raucous tone and the live vibe unify the record, which carries the carefree and raucous spirit of Måneskin, while venturing into new territory thanks to the diverse collaborators.

Did you worry about making your solo record sound different from Måneskin?

No, everything came very naturally. It was cool to experiment with lots of other artists. But I grew up as a band member, so the approach was the one that I loved – jamming with the guests in this very nice studio and keeping the real sound of the room.

YOU SPIN ME ROUND (LIKE A RECORD) with Matt Sorum, Luke Spiller [Live from Whisky a GoGo] - YouTube

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When I was super young I took lots of classes with guitar teachers, and I discovered lots of cool bands from the past. So my approach was to be like the best, stay in the same studio and play live. I hope you hear it on the tracks.

You first worked with Tom Morello in 2023 when he played with Måneskin on Gossip. How did he become your producer?

We have a really good relationship. After we met, he invited me to lots of shows in LA. I’d written lots of different songs and at one point I said, “Okay, maybe I can do a record.” It was very natural to ask to Tom to become part of this trip. He was super excited, actually.

After that I wrote different songs in different sessions. With Serge Pizzorno, for example, it was the first time I’d met him. We were in the studio in London, and we came out with this super cool song. I put the pieces together, went to Tom and we were all together on the whole track. Everything was very, very natural.

What did he bring to the album as a producer?

Lots of stuff – the way to arrange a song, and to put the guitar at the center. The whole songs and the singers are amazing, but my guitar is the main thing that’s connected to all the different vibes. Tom gave me lots of advice. It was super inspiring to have him playing live with me and giving me notes.

What’s the best advice he gave you?

One was to trust the first take. Lots of times I’d find a riff and say, “Maybe this is not the one.” He’s say, “It’s great!” You just have to trust yourself. Lots of times, you’re gonna be overthinking to find the perfect part. Sometimes the magic of the first take is the best.

He’s famous for always using the same guitar tone for everything. Did you do that?

I was super free – Tom gave me the space just to jam and experiment. After that he said, “This is the best of all the takes you did.” It was very cool speaking with him about the gear. I have my setup, of course, but I tried Tom’s pedalboard and amp for some songs. With my approach and Tom’s gear, we found a very cool sound.

Tell us about your own gear.

I have three main guitars – a Telecaster, a Stratocaster, like a relic, and a Squier. My main guitar is the Squier. It’s made in Japan so it's from the 70s. I have a Seymour Duncan SSL-5 in the bridge position. My first guitar teacher gave me that guitar. He was using it for, I don't know, 10 or 20 years. It’s a very important guitar for me.

I have lots of different pedals. I have an OCD, a wah, Strymon Mobius, a Deluxe Memory Man – that’s one of my favorites. Then I have a rotary simulator that gives that cool twist to the songs.

Thomas Raggi - LUCY (ft UPSAHL, Chad Smith & Hama Okamoto) prod. Tom Morello [Live @ Whisky a Go Go] - YouTube

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Is that the rotary on You Spin Me Round?

Exactly. Also in the solo of The Ritz; and with Måneskin I use that pedal a lot. I'm trying to find my marker. The fact that you can recognize me thanks to the rotary is a super cool thing.

Another thing I took from Tom is that you can recognize him thanks to the sound he has. I would love to do the same as a next step. I'm trying to find the right pedals so you can hear it and say, “That sounds like Thomas.”

I have two rotary pedals actually. I have one inside the Strymon Mobius, and the other one is the Strymon Lex. So for the recording of Zitti e buoni, the Måneskin song, I used that pedal.

My amp is a 100 watt Marshall Plexi, like Jimi Hendrix used. It’s a reissue. I put a master volume on it so you can turn it down. I have two OCDs. My clean sound is not a properly clean sound – it's more like a crunch, with a little bit of drive from the OCD.

After that I have my rhythmic sound from the second OCD with lots of drive. My solo sound that is the second OCD boosted by an Agata boost by Effeti di Clara. Sometimes, when I have to go very distorted, I use a Rat pedal. That’s a masterpiece.

Did you write the songs with the guests in mind, or did you look at a song and go, “I know who’d be incredible on this song”?

It was both. With Maxim, for example, I had in mind a rock song with some electronic elements. It was the first time I’d met him too. Matt Sorum is a really good friend of mine. I said to Tom, “I’d love to include Matt,” and me and Tom spoke about it. Then we said, “He's gonna be perfect on that song.”

Luke Spiller is a friend of mine and of Tom too. Upsahl is amazing on Lucy, I think she did an incredible job. The whole thing about this album is that we put two generations together. We have Upsahl and Luke, but we have Matt Sorum, Maxim and Chad Smith.

There are lot of solos on this record. Were they improvised?

Yeah, a lot. The approach I have is to improvise, but I like to add three or four important licks into the pile. I would play different solos then Tom would say “Okay, Thomas, come in here.” In the control room we took the best parts of those solos. I love that approach – it's important to me to find a very hooky part in a solo, and not be shredding around. But everything starts from improvisation.

Thomas Raggi - GETCHA! (feat. Nic Cester & Chad Smith) - prod Tom Morello [Live @ Whisky a Go Go] - YouTube

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Did you overdub your solos over the live tracks?

I did some overdubs, like in You Spin Me Round, for example. There are some harmonies around, and also in Getcha. But the idea was to have just one lead part, because another guitarist that inspired me a lot is Jimi Hendrix. The cool thing about that generation is that you have a combination between solo parts and chords because it was just one track, of course.

I’m the only guitarist in Måneskin, so as I grew up with the band my approach was like that, basically to cover the whole part with one guitar – like Led Zeppelin and the Red Hot Chili Peppers did. So yeah, I did some overdubs, but there should always be just one guitar to take the main part.

What do you want people to get from this record?

The main mission for me and Tom was to inspire a new generation of people to grab an instrument, the same way we did. I love it when someone tells me, “I love this riff you did, and that’s why I picked up the guitar.” So the mission is to try to create a new scene.

I’m 24 years old, and I’m very lucky, because my dad put me onto the huge bands of the past. But lots of people my age don’t know rock n’ roll is is real –not because they don’t like it, but because they don’t know it.

What are you going to take with you from this album when you go back to Måneskin?

Experimenting with different artists was very cool. But it was hard to find the right spot between my taste and the taste of the guest. I had to go into a new world every time. So I have the feeling that when we make our new record with the band, I'm going to be more open-minded.

Rock music is still the main thing to me, but I think my approach will be different. I can take the vibe from Damiano, Vic and Ethan. I would say “versatile” is the best word.

• Masquerade is on sale now.