Alternative rockers THE PHANTOM ROCKETS have been doing music for some time, releasing singles, then taking some time for themselves, to change things up. Only to return with an all new single coming soon, as well as an EP as well. The band talks of their content, playing shows and just doing what they do best with music making as each day goes bye.
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
The band originally started as a power duo, just me (Stefano, guitars/vocals) and Mattia (Drums). We formed right before the whole pandemic thing started so we wrote the most of our songs during lockdown and the subsequent restriction period.
After releasing a couple singles we realized our sound was taking a different direction. What we were writing was different and we felt we just couldn’t do it as duo. We then decided to add a bass player to the band and that’s how Albert (Bass guitar) joined the band. We now are a power trio, although we have another guitar player on live shows.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
I came up with the name even before the band started cause I’m a big fan of outer space, U.F.O.’s and all that weird stuff. The ghost rockets were sightings of rockets-missiles shaped unidentified flying objects in northern Europe (Scandinavia) during WWII. So, I just swapped ghost with phantom ‘cause it just sounds better to me.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
We’re from northern Italy, actually we’re all located between Milan and Como Lake. Regarding the Italian music scene, well, that’s a difficult question.. I am pretty sure there are plenty of valid bands, the issue is that it is really complicated to show off here. Mostly after the pandemic. A lot of venues just shut down and the majority of the ones that made it through it just want tribute and cover bands to play because they guarantee a certain turnout, hence, a safe revenue. This really sucks ‘cause as I said, I’m sure Italy has a lot of good bands but they just don’t have a chance. The most of the bands that really want to commit try to get live shows abroad, I guess that’s the right path for an Italian band to have a little chance.
4. How would you describe your style?
We all come from different music backgrounds so our style is influenced by many genres.
Mattia is a huge fan of Frank Carter while I’m more into Rock/Americana like Ryan Adams rather than all that East Nashville songwriting scene so you can find all of that in our music.
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
We released 3 singles in the past two years, then, as I mentioned above we took a break to sort things out as our sound/style was changing. I actually never asked my self what people could expect from our music, it is more about what I expect from our work and in this case I hope people will understand where we’re coming from and mostly they can appreciate it.
6. Do you have any new music in the works?
Yes, we’re about to release the first single out of our upcoming EP “Come Undone”. The single will be the title track and will drop on August 2nd, 2023 on all streaming platforms along with the official music video on our YouTube channel @thephantomrockets. Besides that, we’re already working on new music, although, we don’t know yet if it will be for another EP or for an LP. We’ll figure it out..
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
We played a few shows here in Italy lately while we were still working on the EP but we’re actually waiting for it to come out (might be around Sept. 2023) and then we’ll plan a set of shows to promote it.
As I said, playing your own music here is kinda difficult so that’s why we want the record to be out in order to plan shows abroad as well.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
Nowadays it’s hard to plan a future for an emerging band. Music business is out of control so I guess you have to deal with it and take it step by step without creating high expectations. For sure, what we aim for is to play as many shows as we can (‘cause that’s the reason why we do this) and keep writing music.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
You can listen to our music on every streaming platform, watch videos on YouTube and follows us on Instagram (@thephantomrockets). As of now our merch is available at our shows but we’re working on a website with a shop section where you’ll be able to purchase our stuff.
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
Well, I think listening to music is a very subjective matter. I go through a lot of different emotions when I listen to new music for the first time. Sometimes it’s “love at first listen”, sometimes it takes me a little longer to appreciate it and sometimes it’s just “ok, next”. Of course I wish people dug our music but mainly, I’d love people to feel something while listening to it. When you can speak to someone through your music, well, that’s when you have made it. Doesn’t matter if you’re Kings of Leon or the most unknown band down the street.. if you can speak to somebody through your music, that’s success.
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