Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Moustache Prawn
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
For almost anyone, whether they’re a musician or not, music is part of our earliest memories.
Personally (Giancarlo), my first memories connected to music go back to when my aunt used to babysit me in my childhood—she would make me dance and jump around to songs from cassette tapes, especially hits from bands like the Cranberries and Lunapop.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
Our passion definitely started in middle school, around the age of 12.
Back then (around 2007), TV channels like MTV used to broadcast music videos featuring amazing artists who, to us, felt almost like superheroes to look up to.
At that time, we were buying our first records—Placebo, Green Day, Verdena. Meanwhile, older relatives and friends were introducing us to bands from the ’80s and ’90s like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Kyuss, Metallica, and so on.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
It all started in that same period. To emulate our idols, forming a band felt like the natural step, and those dreams and passions brought us together with a shared goal: to play music.
Moustache Prawn was formed in 2008, when I (Giancarlo) and Leo messaged Ronny on MSN because we needed a bass player. At the time, he was already playing in another band.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Overall, between our first and second album, we’ve gone through an evolution with several changes. We’ve always written slightly different things from one track to another, but if we had to sum it up, we’d say indie rock.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
It’s not something we’ve learned recently, because we’ve always approached it this way unconsciously—but we’ve only recently fully realized it: when working on music and creative projects, you shouldn’t rush or be arrogant. It should be driven by the enjoyment of relationships, creativity, and collective work.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
Nothing specific at the moment—we have a very ’90s-style setup: two guitars, a bass, and drums are enough for us. In the studio, though, we like experimenting with unusual tools. For example, on The Monster we recorded the sound of a creaking door, and on “The Lantern” (in Erebus) we used a large metal container.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
Superstar is a project we’ve been following recently, and there’s also a track by Finn Mulder (Grocery Store) that we really like.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
A lot, definitely.
Life experiences help you grow individually and make you more attentive to detail during the creative process. The important thing is not to lose that sense of lightness along the way.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
Without a doubt, we hope to inspire a new generation of artists—encouraging them to connect, share ideas, and go through the same experiences we had in our twenties.
Making music brings indescribable emotions and experiences, and we hope they get to live that too.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
That rushing and chasing ambitions blindly doesn’t get you anywhere—in fact, it often does the opposite.
You should always start from the simple pleasure of making music. Everything else comes second.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Coachella is a festival that has always fascinated us.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
We’d love to collaborate with Battles or Django Django.
They’re artists we really loved during our earlier years as a band in our twenties
Where can our listeners follow and support your music?
https://www.instagram.com/moustacheprawn_band?igsh=d3J3c3p0bzk0eG1v
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
We’re not particularly focused on the future. We’re currently working on an EP that will probably be released in 2027—whatever comes next, we’ll be happy to embrace it.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
That we have a strong bond between us, despite the long period of inactivity.
We care about each other deeply, and everything we create comes from that.
