Kalidia
Simon. was fortunate enough to meet up with Nicoletta Rosellini

Interview By: Simon Faulkner
Kalidia were formed in 2010 by Nicoletta Rosellini and Frederico Paolini in Lucca in Italy. The play melodic power metal and have amassed a good following over the years. Their first ep ‘Dance of the Four winds was released in 2012 and from there the band have gone from strength to strength.
The name Kalida is formed of two parts, firstly based on a fantasy name formed by the Hindu goddess of death, time and doomsday making Kali, crossed over with Lydia who comes from the ancient Iron Age kingdom of Western Asia Minor. Both parts coming together to form Kalida, and as the band grow into their talent Wildspiritz decided to send me on an adventure to meet with Nicoletta Rosellini who is the talented vocalist for the band. First up, we chatted about all things Kalida.
“Thanks for this interview! Kalidia is a melodic power metal band from Italy, founded in 2010 by myself Federico Paolini and our former keyboardist and drummer. After the meeting with producer Alessio Lucatti (Vision Divine), we self-released a demo-EP and then an album in 2014. The current line-up still includes most of the original members – Federico and Roberto Donati, plus our young yet talented drummer Dario Gozzi, who joined us in 2015 and myself.”
“We have no keyboard player at the moment, because Nicola Azzola left the band for personal reasons and we didn’t want anyone else to take his place for now as he wrote some parts for the new album. But we may get a new member in the future, who knows! In the last 8 years we’ve grown up in many different ways. Mainly, we have improved as musicians and songwriters, which is really important. We learned a lot from the production of both albums and have enhanced our live performances. But we still are enthusiastic like its day one!”
As Nicoletta talked me through the history of their band I thought it would also be the perfect moment to learn about their previous releases and what was coming up.
“The first one was our demo-EP ‘Dance of the Four Winds’, released in 2012, which was followed 2 years later by our debut album ‘Lies’ Device’ (2014). We self-released ‘Lies’ Device’ because the offers we had weren’t that good. In the end it was the right decision: we could keep all the sales income and invest in a new and better production. Our second album ‘The Frozen Throne’, will be released on Nov 23rd via Swedish label, ‘Inner Wound Recordings’. We are really working well together and we are 100% satisfied with their work. It’s amazing to have a record label who believes in the band as much as we do.”
My ears perked up to the sound of new releases, so I wanted to get as much information as I could about the upcoming release of ‘The Frozen Throne.’
“It’s definitely a melodic power metal album, with roots in classic power metal but with a fresh and modern sound. There are lots of bombastic arrangements and really a strong melodic vibe.”
As classic power metal is obviously at the core of Kalida, I asked Nicoletta which bands were the inspiration and which ones Kalida were fans of when growing up.
“Some influences would have been, Rhapsody, Gamma Ray, Stratovarious, Hammerfall and similar power metal bands. We also listen to lot of new bands and lately we were impressed by Beast in Black.”
Of course, after that, I had to inquisitively lead on to asking what each of their favourite metal albums were.
Nicoletta – Symphony X ‘The Divine Wings of Tragedy’
Federico – Dream Theater ‘Images and Words’
Roberto – W.A.S.P. ‘The Headless Children’
Dario – Symphony X ‘Paradise Lost’
One of the main interesting things about Kalida is that Nicoletta writes all of the lyrics for the band. Having such a vast writing ability, I needed to know more about where she got her inspiration from.
“I do write all the lyrics, but we usually discuss the specific themes of songs. The songs are usually form mythology, both Greek ‘Orpheus’, ‘Amethyst’ and Egyptian ‘Lotus’, history ‘Myth of Masada’, fantasy videogames ‘Frozen Throne’, ‘Queen of the Forsaken’ or personal stories ‘To the Darkness I Belong’, ‘Go Beyond’.”
Mythological and Historic references are a perfect fit for the style of Kalida alongside the personal experiences which all come together to bring depth to the songs. Looking at the band, they have been able to travel quite a bit, so Nicoletta told me more about where they’ve been and if we could expect them back here in the UK
“We came to the UK back in 2016 for 4 shows and it was really a great experience! We really love the crowd and it was great fun. We really hope to come back very soon. We have also played in Germany and of course Italy. Actually, we played a lot in our countries during these years, which have given us the chance to support some big bands.”
Nicoletta has an incredible range of vocals, so out of curiosity I asked how she learnt to sing.
“, I haven’t had any classical training, just modern singing lessons. I’ve improved a lot in the last few years, as you can hear comparing the first and this new album. I can sing in both mezzo-sopranos and contralto range, and I think this helps me to stand out in such a saturated genre.”
I think it’s fair to say that every band has a story to tell when it comes to video shoots or performances, so Nicoletta let me in on a few little giggles.
“We had too many of this kind of stories, ahah! It was 2014, we had a local show. Roberto and our former keyboardist arrived at the venue very early in the afternoon. The owner said, ‘You must be the plumbers, come with me, I will show you the broken toilet!’. It was so embarrassing when he realized they were actually the musicians, ahah!”
Every band has a story and that’s one that must resonate with some other bands out there!
Well I am very glad to have had the chance to speak with Nicoletta and learn more things Kalida, as I wished her good luck with their new album I asked if there was anything they would like to pass on to the wonderful WildSpiritz audience.
“Thanks a lot for this interesting interview and thanks to all the readers for taking their time to read it. We hope to see you all on stage soon, as we are working on arranging the 2019 Euro shows! Rock on!”
Despite Kalida being a small band, they are playing a BIG part in the music industry and their determination to stand out from the crowd is what gives them such power behind their music. Their stories bring the band closer to their audiences as they entertain us with their charm. Kalida
are a magical band with such fantasies that are yet to be explored.