«Today in music there are exclusionary artists, like those rappers, let’s not mention names, who only talk about money and cars. We, on the other hand, are the singers of a welcoming normality. A worker who works for 1,500 euros a month needs someone to tell him life as it is. And that’s what we do.” Word of the Nuclear Tactical Penguins. The record-breaking band from Bergamo – 1 million tickets sold in a year – kicked off its new tour in the sports halls on Monday evening from the Assago Forum in Milan. Let’s not lose sight of each other: the 33 dates are all sold out (in Rome Riccardo Zanotti and his associates will spend May 7, 8, 10 and 11 at the Palazzo dello Sport). The setlist includes hits such as Pastello bianco, Ringo Starr, Scrivile scemo, Giovani Wannabe, Laridere and Ricordi, as well as a cover of Fix You by Coldplay. «We tell the fans to chase their dreams like we did with ours», says frontman Riccardo Zanotti.
Do you feel like the Italian Coldplay?
«The story is similar. We also started from a garage, with a fairly naive approach, and we got to where we are. We lack international success, however: it is the next goal we want to achieve.”
The stadium tour scheduled for next year, which will start on 7 June 2025 from Reggio Emilia and end at the Olimpico on 4 July, is entitled Hello World, literally “hello world”. A case?
«It’s a phrase that fascinates us a lot, the one they teach PC programmers. There is the activity, the possibility. Maybe. We will definitely arrive with a new album, which we are working on: for now, however, we only have drafts of songs.”
«The Nuclear Tactical Penguins Tour 2025 dates are already sold out. Sold out. Instead, our church, where Jesus is present at every mass, is almost always empty.” This was said by the parish priest Don Beppe Zorzan of Santena, in the province of Turin. What do young people find at concerts that they don’t find in faith?
«I don’t know (laughs). But the don was a great communicator. Perhaps the church finds it difficult to speak to young people because it does not speak the language they are used to. We would like to have him at one of our concerts, to have him bring his requests in front of thousands of people.”
At the debut in Milan there was no lack of a reference to current events. In Bergamo you launched a message of solidarity aimed at the Palestinian people: «Take out your keys and shake them. They are powerful objects, they are the symbol of what they open, but they are also the symbol of the Palestinian people who no longer have a home.” Busy turning point?
«It’s not about making a commitment. Politics often talks about music, so it’s right that those who make music also talk about politics.”
Have they already offered you a docu-film about your career?
«It has been talked about, yes. But at the moment we are not sure we want to do such an operation.”
Why?
«We think that our history can still give a lot. Burning a cartridge like this now, telling a half-baked story, wouldn’t seem right to us. There will also be a moment of crisis, sooner or later. And when it happens, we will try to get back on top. So it will be interesting to tell us about it in a documentary. Talking about things when they are going well is boring.”
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