Interview & Stage Photos by Steve Foglia

Two-day Scream Rock Fest 2026 took Italy’s City of Flowers, Sanremo by Storm at the end of May, with pure energy dedicated to the best independent and historic bands from the Ligurian and national music scene.

The event’s organizer Steve Foglia conducted an interview with Ligurian heavy metal legends, WILD WINGS (formed in 1987), join the chat below.

Let’s take a step back in time: 1987, Imperia. In those years, the Italian metal scene was exploding underground, but making a name for oneself outside the main circuits was anything but easy. How were the Wild Wings born in the minds of Maurizio Dedoni and Phil Ranise, and what did it mean to play Heavy Metal in Liguria at that specific moment in history?

“It was a chance meeting between passionate rock musicians. Phil had just come back from an unsuccessful experience in London with his band, and I found myself playing music with various groups that just didn’t inspire me. From our meeting, a shared vision emerged; we started hanging out with guitars in hand, and our first songs came together almost spontaneously. The tracks were pure, heavy rock. We found a drummer, and the adventure began.

In western Liguria, we were probably one of only two bands playing Heavy Metal, but determination worked in our favor. We started making our voices heard at every single opportunity that came our way—music events, clubs, you name it. We worked hard to build a repertoire of original songs, and that’s what won over the critics and earned us our fans.”

The “demo tape” culture of the ’90s was the backbone of metal. You fully lived through that era of cassette trading by mail and photocopied fanzines. What is your craziest or most romantic memory of those recording sessions and that sheer “hunger” to be heard?

“In reality, Phil and I were the engine of the band; specifically, I was the more artistically creative one, driven by the desire to get our music out there. Our first recording was in the late ’80s at Thomas Gredler’s recording studio—he was the only sound engineer who believed in us from the very beginning, and he guided us toward a powerful and original sound.

I particularly remember my vocal and bass recording sessions, which were squeezed into the short breaks of my military leave. I would travel down from Milan, where I was doing my compulsory military service, head straight to the studio to record, and then rush right back to the barracks. We were driven by pure enthusiasm, and we were putting together several major songs—some of which we still play in our live shows today.”

In 2003, with the arrival of Frederic “Freddy” Volante on drums, the band received a real jolt of adrenaline. You immediately hit the stage again and wrapped up the EP at LAROKKA studio. What kind of energy did Freddy bring to ignite that spark so quickly?

“Freddy’s arrival was a moment of pure joy because, after the departure of our longtime drummer Kino, we were left devastated. However, our desire to play was as strong as ever, so we got to work and auditioned several drummers. Then a friend pointed me toward Freddy, who happened to be a fan of ours. I contacted him and we brought him in for a tryout: right away, I knew he was the right guy. Precision, power, finally a double bass pedal, and the ability to adapt to the band’s sound while locked into the bass lines, which massively elevated our rhythm section.

All the ingredients for a great new project were there. We threw ourselves into the studio and immediately recorded a 6-track EP; that’s when things really began to take shape for the…”

The band’s history is marked by an ironclad brotherhood, but also by the departure of Phil Ranise and a revolving door of guitarists that would have discouraged anyone. Yet, Maurizio and Freddy didn’t back down an inch. What gave you the strength to say, “We keep going, even if we have to do it all by ourselves”?

“Never give up is our motto in life. Over the decades, the band had built up an important repertoire, with dozens of songs waiting to be developed and integrated into an already vast catalog. With Freddy and Phil, we were like a family—the pleasure of spending time together, helping each other through tough times, celebrating everyone’s personal achievements; in short, the joy of sharing. When Phil left the band for personal reasons, we understood and accepted it with full awareness. Phil remained with us in our music and our thoughts, but our music was powerful, and we couldn’t just let a constantly evolving project—both in its creations and its sound—fade away.”

Let’s talk about Don’t Stay Blind, the 2025 album. Produced, recorded, and spat out entirely by the two of you (Maurizio and Freddy). A true declaration of total independence. Musically and lyrically, what kind of “blindness” does this record strike out against?

“Don’t Stay Blind was the crowning achievement of several aspects of the band. First and foremost, it brought us closer together. We were orphaned by Phil’s departure, and we had auditioned several guitarists; with some, it went well and we managed to play several live shows, but we still don’t understand why, in the end, Freddy and I always found ourselves alone again, without anyone bringing fresh blood to the band.

Since I am a multi-instrumentalist, the band’s songwriter, as well as the vocalist and bassist, Freddy and I decided that I would handle the guitar tracks too. So that’s what I did. Beyond being a tribute album to a historic local band, Don’t Stay Blind is also my personal calling card. On the record, we touched upon various themes; we wanted to issue a warning to pay attention to everything around us—a wake-up call not to stay blind, but to always think for oneself and break free from the mold that society and the media impose on us. Wild Wings is a free and unconventional band.”

Going from the demo tapes of the ’80s and ’90s to today’s digital streaming platforms is a quantum leap. How does an old-school band navigate this new world, where everything is just a click away, but where the magic of wearing out the booklet of a vinyl record or CD has perhaps been lost?

“Yes, absolutely everything has changed in music and music production. Today, the motto is ‘everything, right now.’ This allows people to listen to music instantly, which means music production has to be constant and active, otherwise the risk of vanishing from the market is high. We’ve never focused on trying to reach everyone, but rather on just reaching people somehow. We too hopped on the multimedia wave, but without any pressure—working at our own peaceful pace, for the pure pleasure of playing and being true to who we are, rather than what trends dictate.

In a way, listening to our record is a bit like stepping back in time; we took great care with the sonics of those years, and you can clearly hear it on several tracks. The same goes for our live shows, which blend the signature sounds of classic ’80s Heavy Rock with modern, more sophisticated tones.”

The loneliness in the studio is over: in 2025, Riccardo Malan and Alessandro Valzano came on board. With an extra guitarist and a multi-instrumentalist (keyboards/guitar), how is the Wild Wings’ sound changing? What kind of dynamics are forming for the second album currently in the works?

“Riccardo and Alessandro have fit perfectly into the band’s philosophy. Going from being a power trio with Phil to a band with two guitars and the addition of keyboards on several tracks has completely changed the game. We’ve shifted from a very raw, almost punk-rock sound to more refined and harmonious tones. The ‘grit’ and rhythmic tension remain the same, but they are now complemented by a sonic direction that guides the listener toward more defined harmonies.

We have enough material for several albums—the band is highly prolific. Our next work will feature older tracks, rearranged and adapted to our new sound, alongside brand-new songs. Of course, there will also be a cover song, just like on Don’t Stay Blind, where we celebrate a track or a band that has been particularly inspiring to us.”

Also in 2025, your documentary was released on YouTube. Laying bare decades of stories, stages, dust, and rock ‘n’ roll in front of a camera is no small feat. What was the most difficult (or most emotional) scene or memory to recall during filming?

“Making the documentary was a true blast from the past. I won’t deny that it was a very intense emotional experience for me, because for the first time, I went back in time and was forced to relive not only our entire history, but my own as well.

Of course, a 30-minute documentary isn’t enough to capture everything we’ve been through, but we wanted to leave a mark, a testament to our presence and to the history of music in western Liguria. There were several emotional moments during filming: sifting through hundreds of photos and recalling the story behind each one—most of them with a smile, and a few others with the bittersweet feeling of no longer having people who were part of our family close by. Every song is a piece of our lives, telling stories, thoughts, joys, and sorrows that have walked alongside us over
these decades.”

Here is the link to our documentary:

If you could take a time machine and show the Don’t Stay Blind album or your documentary to the Maurizio and Phil of 1987… what do you think those kids would say to you?

“They would definitely say ‘Great job,’ ‘It’s about time,’ and ‘Awesome work.’ Those kids would laugh, beers in hand, crank the record up to full volume, sing along to the choruses, and get inspired to push toward new frontiers. Because that’s exactly how it went. The mentality has stayed the same, and so has the heart. The kids we used to be still live inside us every single time we play our music.“

For more information:
https://www.facebook.com/wildwingsim
https://www.instagram.com/wildwings.1987