Lacuna Coil  – Andrea Ferro (Interview)

By Ron Senyo
w/ Kaely Smith

Empire Extreme talked with Andrea Ferro of Lacuna Coil before the show at RamsHead Live in Baltimore MD. Lacuna Coil is back in the states after a run in Asia in support of their new album, Delirium, which is the eighth studio album from the band who hails from Milan, Italy.

Empire Extreme sat down and discussed the new album and how it compares to the band’s previous releases. We also learned who some of the biggest influences are to their music, and the writing methods that Lacuna Coil employed to write the new material, which the band believes to be their heaviest album yet.

Aside from touring and the new album, Andrea talked about which pop-star Lacuna Coil would consider touring with, and why, and some of their latest pop song covers.

Empire: How are you doing today?

Andrea: I’m pretty good. Pretty excited for the show tonight.

E: How’s the tour going so far?

A: So far, so good. We’ve been in the US for a couple of weeks now. We were in Asia right before. We played China and Philippines at some festivals. It’s nice to come back to the States after a while. it’s been cool so far. People have been coming to the shows and bought a lot of merch.. They are really excited about the coming record, they’ve bought a lot of the pre-cards to buy the album. Right now it’s all about building for the new record, introducing new songs, and getting people excited to listen to the full thing.

E: What can fans expect from the new album?

A: They probably have understood by the first couple of tracks that have come out. It’s kind of a heavier album for us. There are a lot of dark atmosphere and melody as is our signature sound. We tried to go a little more free, without thinking too much about what Lacuna Coil is today. We wanted to go back to when we did records like Comalies and Karmacode. When we were a bit more naïve and we didn’t have the same experience. We tried to stay away from the sound that people expect us to sound like. We tried to do more of what we want to sound like. We have always tried to do what we like, but unconsciously you condition yourself or force yourself into a state of mind. You know, the “We need to have a radio single” mentality. This time around we focused on what the vibe was for the music. If the song was calling for a double bass part or girl vocals we would just go for it. Overall, it’s probably the heaviest album for us. Even if every song isn’t heavy like that, because there is quite a variety of songs, but in general it’s our heaviest album for sure.

E: What’s the difference between U.S. fans vs. European Fans?

A: There is not a massive difference. I would say maybe in America there’s more a mixed crowd. We see different people you wouldn’t expect at a metal concert, but the way they react to the music is very similar. While in Europe it’s a bit more specific crowd that goes to a metal show and some different ones that go to a rock show. It’s not as mixed as it is in the States.

E: Where would you say was the best crowd that you have experienced in the States?

A: So far California has been really good both LA and SF, Flint, Michigan was really good and sold out. We have good shows wherever we go, obviously the bigger cities you can have more people, but in general it’s all been positive.

E: What bands influenced you to do the type of music that you do?

A: When we started we were listening to a lot of bands like Type O Negative, Paradise Lost, The Gathering. Those kind of band pushed us more towards the darker and slower side of metal. Then the more we grew, the more we have been traveling and opening up to and exposing ourselves to different kind of music we incorporated more groovy and heavy parts. The basic has always been the 3 elements that forge our sound has always been metal, rock, and dark or goth music. Those elements are always in every record. Sometimes we push more toward rock, like on Shallow Life or more into metal like this new one, or the goth like we did on Comalies. Those three elements are the key. Then you can play and push towards the heaviest.

E: What singers or bands more inspired you?

A: Definitely, Paradise Lost and James Hetfield from Metallica. I like Mike Patton from Faith No More, his range is so big. I also listen to a lot of death metal like Chris Barnes from Cannibal Corpse. I like to be very open. I love all rock and metal.

E: Since you have two vocalists how does the writing for the songs work? Is it 50/50?

A: Usually Marco writes all the music, so we get demos from him. Then me and Christina work separately on our own ideas. We then meet in Marco’s home studio. We listen to the ideas and we pick out what’s best for the songs. We don’t have to be 50/50 or “This is more my idea”. We really don’t care about that. We throw a lot of stuff on the table, then we start the writing and rework it. It’s very open with the three of us. We learn how to balance it and work with everybody. It’s very democratic process. Everybody brings ideas. Whatever works best for the songs. Sometimes Christina can modify a part that I wrote and sing it or the other way around. We are very open in this process.

E: I know you have done a few Italian songs on the records. Have you ever thought to doing a full album in Italian or maybe even half?

A: No, we never thought about it, because Italian is a very good language for melodic music but it’s hard to fit into the heavy stuff. So when it fits it’s great, but if it doesn’t, we don’t want to force it. People have asked us in Italy to do 2 versions of the album. One version completely in Italian and one in English, but so far we really haven’t thought about it. Maybe one day, I don’t want to say no, never. We don’t have any preconception about doing it. We just don’t want to force it, because we are Italian. If it works great. If it doesn’t, like on this record then there’s none. On the last album it had had one italian song, maybe the next one will too. It’s not easy to let the language feed the atmosphere.

E: Do you guys have any plans to do more covers?

A: There is one on this album, but it’s not. It’s a bonus track. It’s a cover of Madonna’s “Live to Tell”. Another song from the 80s, this is almost a doom version of the song. It’s very dark and atmospheric with heavy guitars. It’s very cool, very different, and a lot less poppy.

E: Is there any bands you would like Lacuna Coil to do a cover of but just haven’t had the chance?

A: There is a lot. It would be kind of weird but Depeche Mode would be one for sure with all the electronic stuff or something more country. There is a guy on YouTube that did a version of “Heavens a Lie”. Lady Gaga would be great. We love to do a tour with Lady Gaga, because it such a mix and she’s the only pop star that is so metal oriented, even if her music isn’t. Shes the only pop artist we would like to tour with.

E: I know that you guys are huge Dario Argento fans being from Italy and from that generation of movies. How do you feel about his daughter Asia?

A: I think, because you’re the daughter of somebody doesn’t mean you have the same talent. She’s always tried to do stuff that wasn’t so ordinary, that I can appreciate for sure. To me her dad is the genius. She is a nice girl and does interesting stuff, but it’s not on the same level. She does cool stuff too, but because your dad is a genius [doesn’t mean] that you will be too.

E: Have you heard that Suspiria is being remade?

A: I’ve heard about it, but don’t know when it was being done. I usually don’t like remakes a lot. You can’t recreate the atmosphere of the movies from the 70s or 80s. It was all about the history or political moment of the country. Plus they always worry about CG, when those movies were more about the thrilling and the right music at the right moment. American horror was always Freddy Kruger, Jason, Pinhead, where in Italian movies the characteristics were the atmosphere not the one character.

E: You have a lot of Goblin influence in your music, with the styling and eeriness?

A: Ya, especially for the keyboards. We are actually friends with Claudio Simonetti. He is the main man from Goblin. We have talked about doing something together. Maybe in the future doing something special together. There is surely an influence.

E: Anything else you like to say to the fans?

A: We just want to thank everybody who’s been listening to us so far and will check out the new album. Hopefully they like it. For us it’s a great return to form. It’s a heavy album but has a lot of interesting melodies. Hopefully they like it and come see us next time we coming around.

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Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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