Interview with KALAHARI
RMN: Where are you from and what’s the origin of your band name?
Kalahari:
We are from Forlì, Italy. We are glad you asked us about it because there is a lot to say about our name. KALAHARI, like the African desert, means “the land of the great thirst”. It comes from the ancient Tswana tongue and the substance of such etymology is nothing but a reflection of the present world, of the society where we live in and of the system we take part to, distorted in a pond of dirty water.
In this great desert, we are all slaves to the surplus of opportunities that rain upon us. Unfortunately, such possibilities slip away and vanish before we can grasp them, like a mirage or as the rainwater, which is swallowed by this earth, leaving us thirsty and dying, victims of our own delusions.
RMN: Introduce shortly your band members and history
Kalahari:
The embryo of our band was born in 2015 from the idea of some friends. Our guitarist Gabriele was the first one to come up with the project. He involved his cousin first, who was the original singer. At this point, the band still needed a bass player and a drummer. A Gabriele’s friend suggested Alessandro as a suitable banger behind the drumset and that was done. Then Gabriele’s guitar teacher unveiled that his son Josh just started playing bass. After a couple of years, the now-former singer left the band due to family matters. It was then that the rebirth of Kalahari happened. To give more firepower to the guitars Alessandro contacted Gino, who was in love with fast riffing and crazy solos, and Gino himself introduced Nicola to the rest of the band. From the first note, we all knew that the right spark had been lit. So here we are playing some kick-ass metal together.
RMN: What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?
Kalahari:
We know we are a metal band but we also know that we love experimenting and we are not afraid to say that we are still looking for the ultimate sound. You know what they say: “It’s all about the journey!” We are mostly influenced by the bands we listen to, which space from huge classics such as Metallica and Iron Maiden to Machine Head and Trivium.
RMN: What are the main themes or topics for your songs?
Kalahari:
Our lyrics touch social and existential themes, but they are also inspired by strong emotions and from the events that cause them in the first place. Everything is rigorously presented in a metaphorical key.
KALAHARI is first of all music and, for us, music is made out of strong feelings, that gives you chills, and that is what we want to deliver to our audience.
RMN: Where have you already performed and do you have any upcoming shows?
Kalahari:
We hit pretty much every underground gig in our region (Emilia-Romagna), but we recently strayed as far as Milan. Unfortunately, this expansion was stopped by the recent pandemic. We built a decent following in our area and we were planning many shows to promote our new EP “Theia”, but we guess we’ll have to save it for later. Cannot wait to be back on stage, it’s our medicine!!
RMN: Any last words?
Of course! When can we come up there in Südtirol to play our loud metal for you?!
