"Mainstream Domination" would have been words that Italian Metal Band Lacuna Coil would have never dreamed of back in 1996 when they put out there first two-track demo. The demo which the band recorded as a joke, have helped Lacuna Coil become one of the best known and respected heavy metal bands in the world today. The group initially left their mark on the metal scene in 2004 with their acclaimed album, "Comalies", which featured the smash hit singles "Swamped" and "Heavens A Lie". "Comalies" opened several opportunities for Lacuna Coil most noted is of course the bands breakthrough Ozzfest appearance resulting in sales for "Comalies" reaching over 500,000 copies worldwide with a quarter of a million in the U.S. alone. The bands latest album "Karmacode" has pushed Lacuna Coil's popularity to all time highs and has seen them touring with the likes of Rob Zombie, Slipknot and Korn to name just a few and has kept Lacuna Coil on the front covers on many of the worlds biggest selling rock and metal magazines. In just over a decade Lacuna Coil have released four full length albums and two e.p.'s which have won them an army of loyal fans across the globe. Lacuna Coil will be in Australia this week for the very first time as part of the successful heavy metal festival Gigantour which also features Devildriver, Static-X and Megadeth. I caught up with Lacuna Coil vocalist Andrea Ferro last week to speak about the bands first ever-Australian tour, the success of the bands latest album "Karmacode", being part of Guitar Hero 3 and much more. Kick back as we chat with Andrea Ferro "In Visible Light". Metal Fanatix: Hi Andrea, how are things going? Andrea Ferro: I'm good man, just havin' a coffee! Metal Fanatix: Firstly mate, I want to thank you for takin' the time out to speak with us today, Australian fans are extremely excited to see that you are finally touring here. What expectations do you hold for the Australian leg of the tour? Andrea Ferro: It’s very hard to say because it’s our trip to Australia. Everything is very new and fresh. I think we are going to be surrounded by so many new events, it’s going to be very funny and very weird. A lot of new places and faces, a new language, it’s very interesting. We are all very excited about coming over there. Metal Fanatix: You have a remarkable fan base here in Australia, why has it taken so long for you to tour down here? Andrea Ferro: [Laughs] That’s an interesting question! Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] You cat give me the “the promoters didn’t think anyone wanted to see us” line either okay! [Laughs] Andrea Ferro: We have had the same problem also with other countries such as South America or Russia, which we have never played. We have fans write to us, asking us to go there, but the problem is that mostly we have been focusing a lot on the North American market. It’s the place that we actually sell more cd’s. So I guess it’s more for economical reasons. Metal Fanatix: No doubt it would be stupid not to try and break into the American market over Australia being such a smaller country! Andrea Ferro: Considering that we are from Italy, it’s really a miracle that we can even tour in America and sell records there. It’s a unique chance that we had to take. For the past four or five years now, we have been constantly touring North America and Europe and that’s why we never really focused on other territories. Now we have a little bit more time and we are more organized compared to the past [laughs].
Andrea Ferro: I think we have some days off between gigs. I assume there will be a lot of traveling between the gigs, but I hope that we are going to have some time to visit. We have had some offers from fans to go and see different places. There is one guy who has a kangaroo reserve that he has invited to go and see. Hopefully we can see as much as we can while we are there. Metal Fanatix: Awesome! On this recent tour you have been including mini-acoustic sets at your instore appearances, do you know if anything like that has been planned for Australia? Andrea Ferro: Not that I'm aware of. It might be possible. It depends on the time schedule mostly, it does take some time to organize everything. In America, we were doing that in a music store where they were selling instruments. It was a clinic where we would show fans how we would arrange songs in a more simple way with just two guitars and the two voices, very basic, showing the fans that if you have a good song it will still sound good in a stripped down environment. Those clinics were for Ovation guitar in America but I don’t know if we have the same support in Australia, I hope so. Metal Fanatix: Awesome, there’s been a lot of talk that you are open to doing an all-acoustic E.P. and or full album. Is it possible that once you finally get back home that you will start penning ideas for that? Andrea Ferro: Yeah, yeah, the idea is basically to keep the song writing going between the Japanese shows and the Australian tour and then come home and keep going into next year. Then we will be meeting up with our management and label to see what is expected, when the possibility of a release will be etc. At the moment we are a bit slow on the song writing, we are collecting ideas mostly. This month we have been mostly arranging our private lives, we have been away for so long touring, we have been busy moving houses, or somebody is getting married. There are a lot of personal things going on! We have been collecting ideas for the next album though. Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] Have you got any working titles that you can share with us. Andrea Ferro: No basically it’s a lot of musical ideas but very rough. We are trying to change the way we have been writing. In the past we have always written the music using a computer program. We were sharing it with everybody and everyone would add vocals or lyrics, but this time we want some songs to be created more naturally. This way we can have some more spontaneous songs created from the jamming room. We would like the next album to be a bit different and fresh. When you listen to it you will go “oh is this Lacuna Coil”? But not in a bad way [laughs]. I think its time for us to grow with a more mature album! Metal Fanatix: I do want to congratulate you on the massive success you have received since the release of ‘Karmacode’, it’s a fantastic album. Looking back on the recording process now, is there anything you would have changed? Andrea Ferro: Ah, we would have worked more on the production side. We would have spent a little more time on the recording and the sound. Not so much on the songs themselves, but in general on the production. Some songs could have been a little more direct probably? I think an album is a picture of the moment, and for that moment it was perfect. ‘Karmacode’ was a very weird album, we were coming off a big success with ‘Comalies’ and we didn’t know which direction to take. It was very hard for us to be 100% satisfied with everything cause we were under pressure to decide what we wanted to do. We were very happy with ‘Karmacode’, it bought us to different levels in terms of popularity, but I think we still have time to improve as a band and make an even better album.
Andrea Ferro: No, no never in a million years. When we started we just did the demo for ourselves and tried to send it out for a laugh to the labels and the magazines [laughs]. Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] Andrea Ferro: We never expected to become professional musicians or this to become our job. We were just a bunch of friends that were hanging out in the same metal pubs. There was no history of other bands from Italy doing the same thing, making a career out of playing metal. We were really the first example of this kind. It really was a unique experience and we never ever thought we would push it to this level, never in a million years! Metal Fanatix: It’s funny, when you say that you did the demo as a joke! I guess, when you then sign on with Century Media, it must really hit home. I would imagine that it would be a strange feeling to have gone from just hanging out in pubs to “boom”, this is now your full time job! Andrea Ferro: Most of the time especially in rock history, a lot of the bands never expected what had happened to them. I have been to the rock ‘n’ roll museum in Cleveland, Ohio and there was this letter from a record label. The label was refusing this band, saying that they were not commercial enough, that they were not good enough and the band was U2. Can you imagine being the label that didn’t sign U2 [laughs]. Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] Yeah dude that’s insane [laughs]. Andrea, over the years you have shared the stage with so many great bands such as In flames, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Megadeth to name just a few. Who have you enjoyed touring with the most and can you share a funny story from the road with us? Andrea Ferro: Luckily we always have very good experiences and keep good relationships with all the bands, well most of the bands that we have toured with. I think that the tour we did with Rob Zombie was one of the best in the United States. He’s a legend, and he was treating us so nicely. At the end of the tour everyone didn’t want to leave. We cooked some Italian pasta for him and the crew at the last gig, and we got dressed up like zombies and walked on stage during one of the songs. Metal Fanatix: [laughs] Andrea Ferro: Rob was very friendly; he grabbed us during the song and threw us on the floor. We filmed everything, it was great! Ozzfest is very cool too. It’s like a summer camp for metal bands. There is a lot of hanging out, a lot of drinking and smoking together. It’s a big party traveling around America. Ozzfest is always a very funny experience.
Andrea Ferro: Yeah, yeah sure! I’m a game addict. It’s always a pleasure to be apart of something like this. We loved the game before we were even contacted to be a part of it. It’s always weird to see your song on a game that you know so well. It’s going to be a really good way to promote us and it’s going to be funny to play along to our own songs. Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] Yeah, you get to relearn it by pressing red, blue and green buttons [laughs]. Andrea Ferro: [Laughs] yeah. Next week we start the promotion for the guitar hero game and we will be giving some interviews specifically for the video game market. We had another song on a motorbike racing game in the past. This time it’s for a game that we really love and play all the time. When we were touring the states with In flames from Sweden we used to have guitar hero challenges. They were very addicted to the game also and we would be playing it all the time. Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] Andrea there is no doubt that you are a fantastic vocalist. Before a performance do you do anything specific to warm up? Andrea Ferro: I go through some breathing techniques. I’m studying vocals now, I started a few months back and I’m learning some techniques to make my vocals better. I have to scream a lot, especially on the old songs. So I try to warm up before every show. Metal Fanatix: Before you hit Australia you played the loud park festival in Japan! Do you still get nervous when you play with legendary bands such as Sabbath and Saxon at festivals such as loud park and Ozzfest? Andrea Ferro: Not really. I think it’s more when you’re going onstage. When you are behind the curtain, that’s when you become nervous and your adrenaline is pumping. Metal Fanatix: Mate there is no doubt that Cristina is also a fantastic vocalist and gets a hell of a lot of attention in the band. Does the situation sometimes feel a little more uncomfortable rather than a blessing having two vocalists sharing the work up onstage or in the studio? Andrea Ferro: No, not onstage or on the records. Personally I think we’re used to working together and know the difference between the female and male vocals compliments each other. Of course there is a lot more attention in the pictures. It focuses more on the female, as women are more unique in this kind of music. You could have the most beautiful man in the world in the band and they will still focus on the girl [laughs]. Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] This is true! Andrea Ferro: For many years now we have been dealing with the press and we have learnt how to manage all of this. I think onstage, if you come to one of the shows you will see that we have a lot of experience and we interact a lot. When I’m not singing I’m trying to get the people going and when Cristina’s not singing she’s doing the same in her different way. We’ve learned how to balance the duality on stage.
Andrea Ferro: Oh, there were some weird stories going around. I don’t know who bought them out but people were saying that we were all showering together naked with Cristina after the show [laughs]. Sometimes people say that me and Cristina are married and that’s not true. Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] you have to love the rumors! Andrea Ferro: There’s always weird stories like that coming out. Metal Fanatix: [Laughs] Andrea, unfortunately we have to leave it there as we are out of time. I want to thank you again for taking the time to speak with me today! I hope you enjoy all that Australia has to offer while you are here. Do you have any last words for our readers? Andrea Ferro: We are ready for Australia. I can’t wait to rock onstage. I want to thank you also for your time. "Karmacode" is out now on Century Media, grab your copy today! To keep up with all the latest news on Lacuna Coil, be sure to check out the following websites.: http://www.lacunacoil.it/ - Official Lacuna Coil Site http://www.myspace.com/lacunacoil - Lacuna Coil MySpace Site http://www.myspace.com/insideout666ints - Inside Out 666 © Cameron Edney November, December 2007 Not to be re-printed in any form without written permission. |
