| DANI NOLDENs INTERVIW: SHADOWSIDE FEMALE SINGER |
22nd June 09 |
The brazilian band Shadowside is lead by her pretty and charismatic singer and frontgirl Dani Nolden. During this summer the band will be touring in Spain after the succes on the USA tour. Continue readin' to know much more...
(Jarama Rock Staff): Hi Shadowside, pleased to meet you.
(Dani Nolden): It's my pleasure!
(JRS): C'mon with the interview ok?
(DN): Hit me with your best shot! ;-)
(JRS): First of all its a presentacion. Tell us your names. Where're you from?
(DN): Dani Nolden (vocals), Raphael Mattos (lead and rhythm guitars), Edu Simões (bass) and Fabio Buitvivas (drumms). We live in Santos, Brazil.
(JRS): Who are the Shadowside main influences?
(DN): It's quite hard to say precisely who are our influences, since we all listen to nearly everything. I'm very much into Hard Rock in general, old and modern, Raphael is big on modern Metal and also really into 80's bands like Duran Duran while Fabio is the Thrash Metal guy. But we all like all that and we all write songs in Shadowside so I guess we are influenced by everything in a certain way. From 70's Rock to nowadays Metal.
(JRS): A typical question: Todays a lot of bands with a female singer but they use to do Gothic metal. It's a handicap? Is there machismo in Heavy Metal?
(DN): There's machismo in Heavy Metal as much as there's machismo anywhere else. There's also feminism. I think there are lots of female singers in Gothic Metal band because usually female voices fit that genre very well. That doesn't mean women can only do that, I strongly believe that if a girl wants to scream, growl or wail then she can... she just needs to want that and work hard to be as good as anybody else out there. If the girl becomes the best singer in town, then she won't have a problem finding a band. However most female voices fit Gothic Metal better just like most male voices would not fit Gothic Metal bands so I guess that's why we see so many female fronted bands in that genre.
(JRS): Ok. Time to speak about music. Four albums, USA tour, Spanish tour this summer... Obviously Shadowside is in a great moment of their career. How do you feel?
(DN): It's a great feeling but we are keeping our feet on the ground! It's been a freaking awesome ride indeed but it's just the beginning and we have to work extra hard now, not only to maintain the status we achieved but also to keep growing. This isn't the time for us to start thinking “yeah, we're rockstars now, we don't have to work hard”. At all. In fact, I don't think we'll ever think that way because there's always room for improvement. Ten years ago we could not believe we would come this far, we saw all this as nearly impossible. We believed we had what it takes, yes... but international tours, supporting bands we grew up listening to, releasing albums people like... all that was so far away, you know? It was a distant dream and it's our reality nowadays. So now we aim higher and work even harder especially live. Putting on a kickass show for the people who like us and take the time to come see us live is our way of saying a huge thank you to those who made it possible for us to live the dream.
(JRS): Tell me about your last album 'Dare to Dream'. A lilttle summary of songs. The single and your favourites songs. What can we find in 'Dare to Dream' diferent than in the olders albums?
(DN): Maturity is the key. We are a lot more mature now, both as musicians and people. On our previous album, Theatre of Shadows, we already had the catchy melodies, the heaviness and intensity that made Shadowside what it is, but now we are more cohesive and know what to do with our ideas and creativity. We have a very clear focus of where we want to go and a strong sense of identity. We know what Shadowside is all about. We are a band that likes to have fun and make people enjoy themselves. It's about the music instead of our own egos. It's raw and straight to the point.
Dare to Dream goes to both extremes... it's heavier in some parts but also a lot more melodic at some other points so we managed to be the punch-in-the-face Metal band combined with the beautiful melodies of Hard Rock without that clash of styles, mixing both old and new together. A good example of that are the singles Baby in the Dark and Hideaway, they feature heavy and angry guitars but also some groovier, lighter parts, they are very dynamic, like a rollercoaster ride. You get both the tense and relaxed parts, which makes the tense ones even stronger. I'm also very much into In the Night, that's a personal favorite of mine, that's my pick if I ever need to kick someone's door down (laughs). But that doesn't mean I don't like the other songs, I'm in love with them all (laughs). I feel very good about this album and really happy with the end result. We've been getting excellent feedback from old and new fans alike so it's great to hear they like what we're going for.
(JRS): I know the album was masterized by Howie Weinberg and the production was made by Dave Schiffman. They've worked with big bands like Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, Metallica, System of a Down. How is work with this kind of proffesionals? They get to rise Shadowside inspiration?
(DN): No doubts about that! Dave never told us what to do, instead he would come up with ways of stimulating our creativity so he definitely inspired us. He would come to us and say “this part sounds dull, give it something more” and it would be up to us to make it happen and create it. I like that, it keeps the music ours instead of the producer's. He's not the typical Metal producer, he knows his Metal very well but he worked with artists of all kinds so he's very open minded. That helped us a lot because we could bounce ideas with someone that wouldn't ask us to stay in the cliche. He would never say “this isn't Metal”, he would just say “it sounds good” or “it doesn't sound good”. It was our job to make it Metal, his job was to tell us if it sounded good and get the best out of us in the songwriting as well as the performance side. When I wasn't nailing a note, he would tell me “give me a Dani Nolden scream” (laughs). He definitely knew how to extract from us what we wanted. A raw, spontaneous band, with a very “live” feel.
(JRS): USA is maybe the best place for Heavy Metal. How was tourin' in the States? Too much party? Or never is enought party?
(DN): It's never enough (laughs). The USA tour was surely wild. We partied a lot but we had shows nearly everyday so you can imagine how much of a mess we were when we came back home (laughs). The tour went really well though, we will be going on a 3 weeks run there again this year. Back home, we will also be one of the headliners of Araraquara Rock for a few thousand people, play a few other shows including one with Sepultura. I'm looking forward to not seeing home much this year!
(JRS): During the summer Shadowside are gonna play in different places in Spain. What would you like to find in Spanish public?
(DN): Some of the most fantastic people in the world! The Spanish fans were a show themselves last time we went there, they headbanged, screamed, had a great time and it made things extra fun for us! Now we can't wait to be back there to do it all over again. I know last time lots of people had no idea we were going to play there, others didn't know who we were but now they do or wanna find out more about us. All I want from the Spanish crowd is that they are themselves: great people, crazy about Metal!
(JRS): You're gonna play with Dragonfly. What do you think about this band?
(DN): I haven't had a chance to check them out yet but I will definitely watch their concert. I'm looking forward to hearing their music.
(JRS): Right. We miss don't see you in our festival, but we hope a great success on the Tour and a quick return to our land!
(DN): Thanks a lot for the support and hopefully we'll come back next year and play at Jamara Rock! Catch us at one of the Spanish shows, we'll be playing Madrid, Valencia, Guijuelo and Villaviciosa and will tear apart the stage! Hope you all like Dare to Dream, if you haven't heard it yet, check it out at our Myspace website and then come sing with us live. Horns up and I will see you soon!
(JRS): Kisses to all and continue makin' good Rock! Bye!
(DN): Cheers!
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