Four-piece pop-punk outfit the Anthem sounds just like it was born of a Blink-182/Good Charlotte/ Fall Out Boy threesome. But Dario Di Franceschi (vocals/guitar), Paolo Notarsanti (bass/vocals) Piergiorgio Tiberia (guitar/vocals) and Federico Garofali (drums) are from Rome, Italy, which is not really the first place you think of when you their “catchy melodies, explosive guitar hooks and relentlessly driving rhythms." (That’s how Tiberia describes their sound.) Neither does Italy figure largely in their songs, which refer to cultural flashpoints such as American cities, figures of speech and movie stars from the 1950s.

But hell, it works. The pop-punkers have played more than 100 shows between Italy, Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine supporting bands such as All Time Low, You Me At Six, Young Guns, The Maine and more. The band has just released its second full-length album, In It To Win It, and today The Anthem premiere the video for “Like You’re James Dean” on Myspace (watch above). They also talk to us about where their name is from, how the band formed and how playing pop-punk was a conscious choice because it didn’t fit the Italian language.

Hometown and homebase: Rome, Italy

Why are you called the Anthem?

Piergiorgio: Because it sounds great! [Laughs] We were in high school trying to find the coolest name for us. But it was simple: "The Anthem." Probably it came in our mind from the last song of Blink-182's Enema Of The State or from the Good Charlotte song.

How did you all form a band together?

Dario: We met in high school, we all listened to the same kind of music and we wanted to reproduce it someway, so we started making covers, which is the standard way to approach music for a novice.

Why is your second album called In It to Win It?

Piergiorgio: We've chosen this title because we wanted a pretty direct title. In this musical period in which carrying on a band is not so simple we wanted something which reflected the band's attitude: we are doing this because we love doing it. It's like a fight, we're trying our best to "win" something.

What's "Like You're James Dean" about?  

Paolo: The song is about those people who only care about appearance and act like they are better than the rest, but who have nothing special to offer.

What was the best part of making that video?

The video was very fun to shoot, my favorite part is when we grab the guns and shoot the poor guy (those were real shotguns, it was a very dangerous moment and we didn't use stuntmen).

Did you guys grow up playing music?

Dario: We all have families which are pretty into music, but none of them have ever played an instrument for example. Personally I discovered music at the age of 6-7, when I used to sing animated cartoons songs in front of the TV, though I bought my first guitar 10 years later.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

Piergiorgio: It depends, because we listen to different bands and music genres. Basically we listen to pop punk, alternative rock, indie rock, hardcore and pop music. It seems like our biggest musical influences come from every music genres.

For Italian musicians, your sound is very American. How did you come to form an pop punk band singing English?

Dario: We've always gravitated towards a genre which doesn't fit with the Italian language, we simply liked it more than the typical italian pop songs.

Is that common in Italy and does everyone sing and speak English as well as you?

Dario: There are many italian bands in the underground scene who sing in a good English, I think it's a matter of improving familiarity with a language that is not yours by practicing a lot everyday. For example, I used to listen to music and read lyrics on the booklets at the same time several hours a day.

Do you have Italian musical influences?

Dario: Don't know if Italian music have influenced us someway, maybe it gave us some melody, which is at the top of everything in an Italian song.

Who would you love to collaborate with?

Piergiorgio: We'd love to team up with the artists we currently appreciate most like Twenty One Pilots, The Neighbourhood, Halsey and of course Madonna!

I'm sure you have great fans as well.

Dario: Fans are always so kind to us, I remember a girl who came to every single show of our first Italian tour, none missed, she traveled by train and brought us some food also! But fans often bring us food, that's why we put up some weight during the years!

If you were a hashtag, what would you be?

Paolo: Definitely #pasta

Do you remember the first song you ever wrote? What was it about?

Paolo: It was called "Turtle" and it sucked, I still remember the crappy bass solo included in it. It was about a guy we hated who looked like a ninja Turtle.

Do you have an awesome Myspace-related story as a musician?

Paolo: Myspace has been very important for us in our first years, it helped us a lot getting known by people from all over the world when we started. I also remember it was very easy to get in touch with bigger musicians and major record labels as well.