1. The Cure

This was one of the first bands I got into as a teenager and one of the first gigs I ever saw, which makes me feel old! I think I saw them during the Prayer tour which was in ’89. I was 11 or 12, it was in Southern Italy, and I had to go with my dad because I couldn’t go on my own. You’ll never forget your first gig, never forget how overwhelming that experience is. It was a very compelling show, three hours, fantastic. If I’m not mistaken, they ended that gig with the song ‘Faith’, and it was my baptism to music fanaticism. They really struck me – the simplicity, minimalism, and the recording technique, around that time when they recorded Faith. They had Lol Tolhurst on drums, and he’s never been a drummer, he’s very basic but so intuitive, and so on the money as far as I’m concerned. I remember googling so many times the mics they recorded with, the drums they used, the studio they went to, because I wanted to have the same sound.