MAN LOOKING MAN interview

August 31, 2026

MAN LOOKING MAN interview

Hi, MAN LOOKING MAN. Greetings from Germany (hahaha)! What are you up to these days?

Hey there! After enjoying the Berlin summer, we are currently working on new material and are very excited about it.

Would you please introduce your band to our readers who are not aware of your music?

We are a bunch of music aficionados who felt the need to express our deepest feelings through music, and our common ground, and actually the most effective way we found to do that, is playing post-hardcore. I think many people can relate to that, right?

Could you give us a little insight into the formation of the band? When and how did it happen?

We started way back in 2018-ish. Carlo (guitar) and Maurizio (bass) had already played together in another band and reunited after a few years. Getting back together in a room and playing felt like second nature, so that's where many of the riffs from the current album were born.

The band then started taking shape when Jaco joined on drums, and first Tommaso, then Nico, on second guitar. That's when the project really started to take off.

At what age did you guys start playing instruments, and since when have you been into metal music?

We are all kind of veterans, all things considered, hahaha. Around the age of 12 or 13, more or less all of us started playing instruments and just kept going ever since.

MAN LOOKING MAN recently released self titled album. Could you tell us something about it and walk us through all the track's lyrics and meanings?

Lyrics are deeply important to us, especially through Carlo's multilingual writing style.

Across the album, there are lyrics in English, German, Italian, Dutch, Russian and even Latin. Different languages carry different emotions and textures, and that became part of the identity of the album itself.

Conceptually, a lot of the record deals with alienation, emotional exhaustion, political awareness and the feeling of trying to stay human in a completely deranged system. Capitalism and the damage it causes to people and relationships is a recurring theme throughout the lyrics, but there's also a strong focus on emotional survival and resistance. Revolution, both personal and collective, is a big part of what we talk about.

How has the response been so far from listeners? Have you started working on new songs?

The response has been very positive so far. What we appreciated the most was that many people highlighted that we apparently don't sound like any other hardcore or post-metal band. We definitely appeal to those genres, but our sound and approach are being recognized as distinctive and therefore somehow unique. That's probably what we appreciated the most from the reviews so far.

And yes, we have tons of new material! We're currently sorting it out and recording demos. It will take a while, but it's already sounding great. It's much more hardcore-oriented, we feel like it's the right time to express some anger, given the obscene state of world politics!

When and where did you play your first gig? How was the experience of going live for the first time?

We played our first show in 2023 at Kirche von Unten in Berlin, together with two other great Berlin bands. It was a fantastic experience to finally show our songs to an audience. Unforgettable, I would say, especially considering how long we had been working on those songs, hahaha.

According to you, what is the secret behind the band's success?

Well, I would say it's the fact that we only follow our gut feeling when it comes to our music. That instinctive character keeps us in tune with our sound and our identity as a band.

Have you ever had an epic fail moment during a gig?

Hahaha, luckily nothing disastrous has happened yet. We'll keep you posted on that!

If asked to differentiate MAN LOOKING MAN from other bands in Berlin, how would you respond?

Berlin has a very vibrant music scene, and we are so damn lucky to live in such an active city. What probably differentiates us the most from other bands is that we make music mainly because it's a creative urge rather than just a musical project.

We simply can't do anything other than write music, first of all for ourselves, and then eventually to reach other people and hopefully connect with them through our art.

How compatible are the band members with each other?

We've had some incredible fights, trust me. But somehow we've always managed to keep it going and find a way to make everybody an active part of the project. What's important is giving each member space and respect, creatively speaking but also from a human point of view.

Which bands/artists do you draw your influences from, and which are your favorite local bands?

Influence-wise, we are definitely rooted in post-hardcore and screamo bands like Converge, Orchid, Botch and Refused. But we also have a strong connection to post-metal, sludge and doom bands like Tool, Amenra and Electric Wizard.

Outside heavy music, classical composers like Modest Mussorgsky and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky have also been very inspiring to us because of the darkness and emotional weight in their music.

How do you guys manage your jobs and gigs, and how often do you gather altogether just for fun?

It's definitely tricky to balance jobs, personal life and the band, but as always: consistency over perfection! So even when things get difficult, we meet once a week. Sometimes we don't even touch

our instruments and just hang out and have a good time together.

MAN LOOKING MAN is a very promising formation. Looking at your future, where do you see yourselves in 3 years?

We wanna put out more stuff, that's for sure. We're currently working on a lot of material for new songs, and we're eager to show it to our audience as soon as we feel it's ready!