Michael Imperioli was playing in bands long before he became a famous actor.
While many fans have just recently learned about his rock 'n roll habit and his band Zopa, the music has never stopped for the Sopranos actor.
"Music is a love, and always has been," he tells Jim Kerr and Shelli Sonstein. "I had very limited ability then [when I started playing in 1986] — kind of still do in some ways. But I bought the cheapest guitar in the store, which was a nylon-string acoustic. I figured I could just put a microphone on it and it would do something special, which it didn't. I bought a little pickup and glued it and plugged it in."
Michael describes his early music endeavors with terms like "no wave," "post-punk," "weird" and "noisy," but as the years went along, he became more interested in songwriting and creating compositions with more structure.
Zopa has been Michael's main musical project since about 2006. Its 2021 album, La Dolce Vita, was lauded by Rolling Stone as one of the best releases of the year.
This week, the band premiered the music video for its latest single, "Red Sky." The celebration continues Thursday, February 17, when Zopa takes the stage at Babys All Right in Williamsburg.
Watch the full conversation via the player above!
Photo: Getty Images North America