Dani Nolden of Shadowside!!!

 

By Darkzen

04/12/12

 

Dani Nolden, one of the most unique and strong female voices ever heard, they combine influences of Hard Rock, Thrash and Heavy Metal and are known for their strong hooks, heavy guitars and high energy live show!!

 

 

 

Thank you very much for this opportunity! Dani! Here a little of this great singer!

 

Darkzen ask;

 

 

Dani Nolden tell us who is? as formed within the metal scene? what are

your origins?

 

 

Dani: I was born and raised in Santos, Brazil, it's an island about

one hour away from São Paulo, where you will immediately stand out in

the crowd if you go out wearing your black band t-shirt since everyone

else is so tropical and colorful (laughs). This is the land of surfing

and soccer but people are very friendly. However society can be very

harsh to a young aspiring musician here, especially if said musician

intends to be in a heavy metal band. I remember back when I was in

school and my teachers and classmates would ask me what I would do

after finishing school, what college I would go to... and everytime

I'd say "I'm not going to college, I'm going to be a professional

musician". It was always awkward. Some people looked at me with pity

in their eyes as they though "poor girl, she's a dreamer", some others

laughed straight up in my face, my teachers would try to make me

explore my "potential" better. I have to say all that kinda made me

want this even more because at that point I just wanted to prove

everybody wrong and I did. Now a few years after that, concerts in 21

countries and 3 albums later, I'm living the dream and they're looking

like idiots (laughs). I started listening to heavy metal thanks to my

cousin who introduced me to bands like Guns n' Roses and Skid Row.

After that I started searching for heavier stuff on my own like Judas

Priest, Iron Maiden and Helloween which later escalated to Anthrax,

and more recently bands like In Flames. As my passion for that type of

music grew, so did my drive to be a metal singer and it all came to a

point that I just couldn't see myself doing anything else other than

living and breathing heavy metal 24/7.

 

 

tell us what you like and dislike Dani Nolden?

 

 

Dani: I love music, as you can see (laughs)! But I also like animals,

computer games, martial arts and books. I'm fascinated by books. All

of them. Give me a book, any book and I won't drop it until I finish

it. I may hate it after I'm done but I will read it (laughs). There

are probably lots of things that I dislike but when we're talking

about music and musicians, if there's one thing that really gets on my

nerves is when musicians treats their fans badly and justify it by

saying they're having problems or a bad day or whatever. That's kinda

like going to work and taking your problems out on your clients...

however your fans are even more important than just "clients", people

have a very intimate relationship to their music and there's nothing

more disappointing than being treated poorly by those who you admire.

 

 

you have a favorite band? as was formed Shadowside?

 

 

Dani: I have many favorite bands, they change oftenly (laughs). My

favorite band today was Killswitch Engage as I spent the whole day

listening to them, it's a "new" band that I like very much. However my

favorite tomorrow might be an old favorite like Deep Purple or Pink

Floyd. Shadowside started as a way for my friends and myself to bring

some ideas to life... we never really expected this band would become

what it is today, and we're still growing! I never expected it, that's

for sure. I knew I wanted to be a musician but I didn't know it would

be on this band. We started mostly as a studio project recording a

demo EP. Then we sent to a few magazines and concert promoters and

turns out they liked it a lot so we realized it would be worth to

start playing a few gigs and see where it would take us.

 

 

which is the inspiration for the songs? you write them?

 

 

Dani: I've been writing all the lyrics lately but that's not because I

want it that way, it's just that the guys have been lazy as hell when

it comes to writing lyrics (laughs). That's fine as long as I have

enough ideas for me but if they ever feel like writing, I'll enjoy

reading and singing their ideas as well. When it comes to the music,

we all do it together as we nowadays like to make sure the whole band

has a say in every song we create. Our guitarist Raphael and I came up

with half the initial ideas each for Inner Monster Out, however none

of our demos that we presented to the rest of the band sound like what

you hear on the album. We all changed everything. And we didn't stop

working on the songs until we were all happy with the results,

especially because none of us like the same things and have very

different influences. Our goal was to mix all our tastes into one

thing that would sound unique, that we all would be pleased and proud

of, and would have fun performing it on stage. So Shadowside happened,

a crazy mix of thrash, power metal and hard rock that in the end

sounds heavy, modern, melodic yet doesn't step away from our roots and

from what traditional heavy metal is all about. We don't think about

whether people will like it or not, because we feel it wouldn't be

authentic. If we're happy with what we're doing, we'll always find

people who share our tastes and enthusiasm for our work. In the end,

we are our own inspiration... when we give each other ideas on each

other's songs, we end up forcing ourselves to think differently,

outside the box instead of just redoing our own personal formulas.

 

The lyrics are all about personalities, day to day situations, dreams,

fears, perversions, they are kinda like my own personal diary... on

Inner Monster Out, the whole idea behind the record was to bring to

light a journey through people's minds... all aspects of it, good and

bad. It's my way of saying that we are all disturbed and crazy in one

way or another when you look closely. No one is normal and that's

exactly what "normal" is.

 

 

we want to convey with his songs? Shadowside that offers to the world?

 

 

Dani: I guess we don't think of ourselves that highly (laughs). I

don't think we ever stopped to think about that... at least I haven't,

to be honest. What I personally want to offer with Shadowside is the

best music that myself and my band buddies can create and the best

live show we can ever perform. We are explosive on stage and we want

to give our fans intensity and the feeling of a great party, of

escaping all their issues with a lot of screaming, singing and

headbanging. Maybe some of my lyrics can be of help to someone, make

them think and realize they're not alone. I remember people telling me

that songs such as Believe in Yourself or Hideaway changed their

lives... more recently someone told me they didn't know someone else

felt like them and that listening to Gag Order made them feel better

because they noticed there were others in the same situation. I'm

always writing about real life situations. Sometimes not about my own

life, but about people close to me for example. So my lyrics are

always real and people can relate to them.

 

 

what type of voice you have??? your vocal range?

 

 

Dani: I'm contralto with a four octave range. My lowest note is

actually what a typical lowest baritone note would be but I never used

it in a song because I don't like how it sounds, maybe I should work

on it to see what happens but right now, it's too weak. Being able to

reach it is just for entertainment purposes (laughs). However I can

sing songs that were originally written for a tenor voice, which is

the highest main male vocal type, as well as most mezzo soprano songs,

which is the female voice in between contralto and soprano. My voice

is dark and deep, meaning I'm not fit for cute stuff. I was made for

heavy metal (laughs).

 

 

you would like to sing with someone special? favorite singer??

 

 

Dani: It would be really cool to do a duet with someone like Sebastian

Bach or Lana Lane, my favorite male and female singers respectively. I

already had the honor to share the microphone with singers like Ripper

Owens and more recently on Shadowside's album Inner Monster Out, with

the swedish trio Björn from Soilwork, Niklas from Dream Evil and

Mikael from Dark Tranquillity so I consider myself pretty lucky

already to have been able to be in such good company!

 

 

video clip? some Latin American tour??

 

 

Dani: I hope so! We already have the Angel with Horns videoclip

available on YouTube, I'm not sure if we'll do another one but a Latin

American tour is definitely something we want to do very soon! We are

playing a lot around Brazil around the moment and it's a sure thing

we'll hit Europe and USA again, but I would really like to play some

Latin American countries, it's our home continent and it would be a

dream come true for me!

 

 

Rock or Metal you prefer?

Dani: Both! There's a moment for each for me. I like nearly everything

in the rock and metal scope, from Pink Floyd, which is one of my

favorite bands to modern stuff like Disturbed and Rammstein. I can

find the perfect soundtrack in Rock and Metal for every moment in my

life.

 

the last words are all yours! for readers of Rock & Metal World Magazine!!

Dani: Thank you very much for the support, I hope everyone is enjoying

Inner Monster Out! Play it very loud, bang your head like crazy and I

hope to see you when we come to your country. Stay Metal and have fun!

 

 

--

Shadowside Management

www.shadowside.ws

www.myspace.com/shadowsideband

www.twitter.com/shadowsideband