Phinx have Italy’s youth chanting “Where is my nation? I’ll build it now!,” which is maybe why they handily won our latest Artist of the Week contest. The quartet criss-cross the country spreading their dystopian dance rock, and make it back home to Bassano del Grappo for their Monday morning university classes.

In our interview with the boys, they revealed themselves to be the charming, funny guys that, okay, we kind of already thought they were. Read on to find out their secret to love on the road, their follow up to 2010′s Login, and their most naked, er, memorable, tour memories.

You got your start when you won a MySpace contest back in 2007. Will you always have a special place in your heart for MySpace, even though lately it’s getting schooled by Facebook?

All over the web is always changing faster, and for promotional aims you have to work with the most powerful gears you can. Some years ago MySpace was the most important platform for music because it was born to share and promote musicians and their songs. It was the first virtual channel we had to bring our music to listeners, so obviously it will always have a special place in our heart.

Now Facebook and Twitter are really popular. They are also well done even if they are not thought specifically for music. By the way, we should really thank the MTV New Generation digital platform and MTV Italia for their relentless support.

You tour a lot in Italy, and in 2009 you played something like 100 shows. What are your best (or worst) memories from life on the road?

Every time you are on stage is wonderful cause physically sharing your music with the audience gives you lots of energy.

It’s also fantastic meeting lots of new people, traveling through many different places. Our best memory in this year is maybe the Festival “Balla Coi Cinghiali,” where there were some painted and naked people dancing and partying.

Our worst memories are all about the stuff we lost.

In an interview, Francesco talked about Wagner and Schopenhauer. We were very impressed. Is Francesco a philosophy student, or very well-read, or just very good at making up sh*t to say in interviews?

Probably all of these answers are correct! In Italy we all use to study Schopenhauer in high school and Francesco, being a student at Conservatory, knows also about Wagner and other old composers, but we can be quite sure he made quotes in that interview just to pretend to be brilliant!

You guys are all in your early twenties, and could be in school full-time, partying and kicking back like how college kids do. Do you ever wish for the simpler life?

We have an ordinary life. We study at University and have lot of fun like all college kids do. In the weekend we take our van, go on the road and play all over Italy.

Do Italians ever get mad at you for singing in English?

No, in these years the Italian audience, in particular younger people, have started to listen to music sung in English as well as in Italian.

Radios still prefer musicians who sing in Italian but we love English sound for our music.

Since we were children we listen to bands who sing in English, even if they are not all from UK or US. We consider English as an European language with lots of beautiful and different accents that can travel across national borders.

You have one set of brothers in the band (frontman Francesco  and synth player Daniele). Do they ever fight with each other?

Almost every rehearsal we have a bloody fight between the two brothers.

The winner is the one who screams louder.

Last we heard, most of you have serious girlfriends. Congratulations! What are some tips for keeping up a healthy romantic relationship?

Consider music as your girlfriend and your girlfriend as a part of music.

How would you describe your music to a five year-old?

It’s a mix of notes coming out from computers, old machines and lots of acoustic instruments like guitar, drum, microphones, keyboards…

What’s the best place to hang out in Bassano Del Grappa? Name one daytime spot, and one nighttime spot.

The old bridge is probably the most famous building. During the day in center you can visit some middleage buildings and than stop for a drink.

Grappa was made in Bassano so you can find lots of different and good tastes to enjoy with.

In the evening you can find lots of good places where to eat and some clubs like Vinile and Shindy where there’re always live bands and DJ sets.

What does the future hold for Phinx? Any big plans for 2012?

We are working hard for new songs and we’re still touring.With the next album we hope to start traveling also the rest of Europe and US!

Recently we have experimented a show in theatres with some dancers, visuals, lights and our live music so we hope to take also this project forward.