Krida Interview: Inside Italy’s Pop-Punk Scene & Their Rise From Parma

Photo: Krida | Translation Edits: Vanessa Gabellini | Italian Version

Pop Punk From Italy Straight To Our Ears: Meet Krida 

When we think of pop punk, Italy isn’t the first place that comes to mind, until now.  We recently came across Italian alternative rock band Krida, and when we first heard their tunes, we instantly got the coolest international Warped Tour vibes; they play into that fun and chaotic nostalgic sound we constantly crave with the genre. We chatted with the band about how they got started, their influences, and what’s really going on in Italy’s alternative scene.

Meet the four-piece from Parma, Italy: Dave on vocals, Dami on vocals and guitar, Massa on bass, and Criva on drums. They are a fairly new band, having formed in March 2024, before making their public debut in December of that year. “We've all been playing music our whole lives and come from other projects in the Parma music scene.” They ended up meeting each other at a concert by chance. “That same evening, Criva stopped Dami and asked him to play the songs he'd written and kept in his drawer, and from there we added first Dave and then Massa. Later, we realized we were in the same place that night and that all four of us had spoken to each other—a sign of destiny!” 

Their first-ever single, called “Guardarsi in Faccia” (AKA “Look Each Other in the Face”), a track about a relationship that ended without ever getting closure. After having shared so much, they can’t even look each other in the face anymore. It was released a little over a year ago in January 2025, and they’ve been rolling ever since.  This band brings the fun vibes we know and love in the scene, focusing on social media content to engage with their listeners and reach new audiences (it clearly worked).

“We try to create social media content that can range from simple instrumental or vocal playback, videos of our live performances, or more humorous videos, perhaps in strange places or situations (usually, we spend hours laughing before we get anything done here).” The band creates this content to promote new singles or let the world in on the behind-the-scenes of what they do, with help from their management team from Superbia. 

So what does Krida mean? Their hunt for the band name took a while, as anything good does. After going through suggestions, wanting it to hit as it should,  they finally landed on the name. “We wrote down lots of suggestions until we found a catchy name that everyone agreed on. Among the many names, Krida came up, which comes from the word "crîder" in Parma dialect, which is a way of loud, shouty, desperate crying.” 

Krida released their latest single, “Quanto Resta”  (“How Much Remains”) in March, written by guitarist/vocalist Dami. He describes the song as an ode to their friendship: “It reflects on simpler times, when it didn’t take much to feel good, and on memories that even life’s chaos can’t erase.” The beginning of the track shows just that: “It often makes us smile, especially when he shares anecdotes from those days. It’s something we all enjoy.” 

Just like many of us, Krida grew up on late ‘90s/early 2000s pop punk from our neck of the woods: “our influences were primarily Blink 182, Green Day, Sum 41, The Offspring, Rancid, New Found Glory, and so on.” They also mention acts like Neck Deep and Machine Gun Kelly having an impact on what they do, describing them as a “breath of fresh air” to the scene. Back in their part of the world, they mention bands that have had an impact on the Italian pop punk scene as a whole. “There were bands like Finley, Naska, and Vanilla Sky, who certainly had a significant impact on the entire Italian pop punk scene, both in the past and now.”

We were naturally curious about the alternative music space in Italy. When we think of music that stems from there, pop punk definitely doesn’t come to mind, but Krida assured us that the scene is definitely alive. “In Italy, we have a really strong underground scene across a wide range of genres. You can feel it when you go to small venues for live shows—the quality of the bands is consistently high, and even the unreleased songs you hear are usually well-written.” 

That being said, we asked Krida, their TOP8 local Alternative band and artists recommendations in Italy, and they delivered:

1. Naska 2. Cara Calma 3. Elephant Brain 4. Wel 5. Sunset Radio 6. NoDRIP 7. Vintage Violence 8. Goodbye Neverland!

Though there is so much talent in their local scene, the band mentioned how there isn’t really a middle ground in Italian music. “It often feels like there are only small bands or mainstream acts, with very little in between. For smaller artists to take the next step, they often have to rely on industry connections, where those with more money behind them tend to go further. That ends up hurting the overall quality of the music.” 

Another issue that they think affects the music scene as a whole is social media. “This isn’t just an issue in Italy. The music world today is increasingly driven by social media numbers rather than the actual artistic value of what we’re listening to.” Honestly? We get it. In a world focused on follower counts and views, it’s easy to lose sight of why this genre and music as a whole mattered in the first place. Imagine telling a band like Blink-182 in the early 2000s that they had to constantly post and worry about their social media engagement? Doesn’t matter if you’re in the U.S. or Italy; those numbers seem to be even more important than the actual music, even in a genre that’s supposed to be about being real, having fun, and doing it for the love of the tunes. Now is the time to support smaller bands who are doing it for the right reasons more than ever. 

What’s next for Krida? They have a new single coming out around May/June, and they assure us that there will be more new music coming out in the fall. “You can catch us on April 8th at the CDC in Parma and on April 17th at The Machine in San Giovanni Lupatoto (VR). We’re also looking to set something up abroad this fall,” they mentioned, having had success playing four shows in England last year.

TOP8’s Take?

It’s really cool to get a peek into the international pop punk universe. Krida’s music ultimately slaps; even with the language barrier, you can feel the same fun energy as all of our faves from the early 2000s. We’re definitely keeping our eye on them. This is your sign to tap into global pop-punk, give “Quanto Resta” a play, and vibe along.