Afterhours

Italy's 1990s rock scene saw Afterhours rank among its most significant acts, alongside Marlene Kuntz and C.S.I., even though the group had already started work in the 1980s. An intense, deeply personal approach quickly turned them into a major commercial force and drew critical notice that focused at once on the gifts of frontman and guitarist Manuele "Manuel" Agnelli. Agnelli's parallel roles as musician, author, producer, and manager proved decisive in expanding Italy's independent-music community.

The Milan-based outfit formed in 1986 and took its name from a Velvet Underground track. Two years later the band issued its first release, a 7" single on the Turin indie label Toast that contained "My Bit Boy" and "To Win or Destroy." Agnelli was joined at that point by guitarist Paolo Cantù, bassist Lorenzo Olgiati, and drummer Roberto Girardi. Two years after that, the EP All the Good Children Go to Hell, recorded with new drummer Max Donna, earned widespread critical praise; its blend of Lou Reed-inspired elements and melodic pop also attracted notice abroad, including a favorable notice in England's New Musical Express. In the same period Agnelli helped establish Vox Pop, which became Italy's leading independent label for the first half of the 1990s. A positive write-up in the American magazine Alternative Press led Afterhours, now with Girardi back behind the kit, to perform at New York's 1990 New Music Seminar. By year's end the group had delivered its debut album, During Christine's Sleep.

A revamped lineup—Agnelli, guitarist Cesare Malfatti, bassist Paolo Mauri, and drummer Giorgio Prette—returned in 1992 with the EP Cocaine Head, recorded alongside Andrea Scaglia and Fabrizio Rioda of Ritmo Tribale and featuring a cover of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man." After Malfatti and Mauri were replaced by Xabier Iriondo and Alessandro Zerilli, the band recorded its first Italian-language song, "Mio Fratello è Figlio Unico," for the Rino Gaetano tribute album E Cantava le Canzoni. The 1993 full-length Pop Kills Your Soul revealed a more individual voice, drawing equally on Velvet Underground, glam, and hard-rock influences. Following another Italian-language recording—Ivano Fossati's "La Canzone Popolare," contributed to the 1994 tribute I Disertori—Afterhours chose to work exclusively in Italian thereafter. The 1995 album Germi presented both fresh material and Italian versions of earlier songs; one of them, "Dentro Marilyn," was later recorded by Mina under the title "Tre Volte Dentro Me," thereby extending Agnelli's visibility as a songwriter. From that point Agnelli also began producing other artists, among them Cristina Donà, Verdena, and Massimo Volume.

After Vox Pop closed, Afterhours—now a trio of Agnelli, Iriondo, and Prette—moved to Mescal and released the 1997 album Hai Paura del Buio?, widely regarded as one of the decade's most influential Italian rock records. Its sound was more personal and varied than before, incorporating psychedelic and acoustic textures, and all nineteen tracks became anthems for a generation of listeners; in particular, "Male di Miele" is frequently cited as Italy's counterpart to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." For the subsequent tour the lineup expanded to include bassist Andrea Viti and violinist Dario Ciffo. The 1999 album Non è Per Sempre displayed a more pop-oriented facet while retaining the band's harder edges, a balance exemplified by the orchestral ballad title track. Shortly afterward the group returned to the road with live-only guitarist Giorgio Ciccarelli; those performances were captured on the 2001 live album Siam Tre Piccoli Porcellin, which also introduced the new song "La Sinfonia dei Topi." Later that year Iriondo announced his departure, and Agnelli launched the first edition of the Tora! Tora! festival, which for several years served as Italy's premier alternative-rock event. Around the same time Agnelli published the short-story collection Il Meravigliso Tubetto.

The 2002 album Quello Che Non C'è presented Afterhours at their most introspective and assured to date and further consolidated their audience. In 2004 the band toured with Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers and contributed a version of Area's "Gioia e Rivoluzione" to the soundtrack of Guido Chiesa's film Lavorare con Lentezza, in which they also appeared. Agnelli subsequently guested on the Twilight Singers' album She Loves You and joined their touring lineup on keyboards for dates in Italy and the United States. That collaboration prompted Dulli to produce Afterhours' next record, 2005's Ballate per Piccole Iene, which was mixed by John Parish. Later the same year One Little Indian issued the English-language edition, Ballads for Little Hyenas, which was supported by an extensive world tour.

By then the band comprised Agnelli, Prette, Ciffo, full-time member Ciccarelli, new bassist Roberto Dell'Era, and Mariposa's Enrico Gabrielli on saxophone, flute, and keyboards. Their 2008 Universal release I Milanesi Ammazzano il Sabato represented their most sonically exploratory work to that point and featured guest contributions from Dulli, Parish, Zita Swoon's Stef Kamil Carlens, and former member Malfatti. An EP recorded at several studios along Route 66 in the United States, Meet Some Freak on Route 66, appeared in early 2012, shortly before the full-length Padania arrived in April with yet another adjusted lineup.

The double album Folfiri o Folfox arrived in 2016 and, though not the group's first hit, became their first Italian number-one record. Its personnel included Agnelli, Dell'Era, and Iriondo, together with violinist Rodrigo D'Erasmo, guitarist Stefano Pilia, and drummer Fabio Rondanini.