Lacuna Coil, the band’s name means empty spiral but their career has been anything but. It could be said that the band has, or is, abbondanza di souno (abundance of sound). That is what was witnessed tonight at the band’s show in Towson, Maryland tonight, an abundance of sound. Lacuna Coil have defined the niche in Rock and Roll with their heavy, dark, ethereal, bombastic music while developing or progressing along the way adding some industrial or electronic elements. That combined with the powerful vocals of Christina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro, this pair could have been known as Goth Rock’s answer to Evanescence, now deemed the Metal’s Dynamic Duo by Shockwave Magazine. Lacuna Coil is poised to break even more records and win over new fans as they continue touring relentlessly, a year after their record was released. Not bad for this little band from Milan. Vocalist Andrea Ferro sat down with Shockwave to talk candidly about the band’s tour, his guilty pleasure and more.

Vince Anderson: Why the intimate show tonight, cause you guys are caught up in a larger tour right now?
Andrea Ferro: Actually we just finished a larger tour. We started some shows with Five Finger Death Punch and Drowning Pool. And now we are jumping in and out of the Seether tour, with Hell Yeah and Five Finger and Drowning Pool. And we’ve done also some radio festivals, one with Three Days Grace, one with Godsmack and Zombie; a bunch of festivals, and we still got one more to do next week, so it is not like a proper tour. It is more like changing everyday. Yesterday we co-headlined a show with Ten Years. And now we got one with Sevendust. Next week, one with Flyleaf. So we basically change everyday. Today we headline, tomorrow we do Canada; Toronto and Montreal the next day. Then we finish in Seattle and we fly to South America, to headline South America.

Vince: So an intimate setting like this to…
Andrea: From arena to clubs (everyone laughs).

Vince: What is your preference?
Andrea: I think it’s very different. Like arena is better for the promotion of the band cause most of the people is not gonna know your band; so they, they’re not familiar with you and maybe your hardcore fans they will not spend the money if they’re not interested in all the other bands. You know, they know you will only play 25 minutes so if they’re not really hardcore fans they will not spend the money to see other bands that they don’t care. While when you play places like here, you know, people is just here for you. It’s a different vibe. A promotional gig anymore is more for your fans. It’s more for yourself and your fans. But we need both.

Vince: Absolutely. That’s what introduced me to you guys. I mean I had heard about ya and heard about ya and then I saw you with uh, Killswitch, and I guess…
Andrea: Chimaira

Vince: Chimaira, yes. And now I’m a fan. But how would you describe your fans? Who are they? I mean, typically…
Andrea: It’s very hard to tell cause when we started we more categorized as a “Gothic Metal” band. And we were cause we were coming from Europe, we were on a label that used to have a lot of the classic acts that inspire our music, and we grew up listening to; bands like Type O-Negative, all that kind of darker bands. So when we started we were definitely coming from that place. But then the more we developed our sound, the more we’ve been contaminated by rock bands, metal bands. So now it’s really hard to tell. And when we have a show we have people which is more uh, even older than us and they like more the classic rock, but they still dig our stuff. And then with the kids, the skaters. It’s a very wide range of people. It’s not just metal heads or just the rock people. It’s a good mix of everybody.

Vince: You’re songs have definitely evolved. You covered a, you know, a Depeche Mode song. And before even thinking about that consciously, it seems to me your musical direction is almost taking an electronic, um, you know, headed in an alternative direction. Influenced by them? Is that accurate?
Andrea: No, I mean, Depeche Mode is more of a classic band for us. Like we’ve been growing with them. And when we were kids they were already popular in Europe. And in Europe they are still more popular than here, so Depeche Mode’s like still a classic act in Europe. So, we, that was a natural influence, but it’s not really something new for us. I think in general we’ve been working a little differently on the last album. We’ve been focusing a lot on the vocals. So we have more simple structure for the songs and sometimes more electronic arrangement, as you said. But I think (the) next album may be different again. So we kinda been in; we have our style but we never really do exactly the same record. So the next one we put out can be even heavier on some songs maybe.

Vince: Right, well I mean I was watching some of the videos like “I Won’t Tell You” and it was actually, it still had a dark edge to it, but it was fun and people were like kinda, I wouldn’t say it was dancing, but it was as close as your fans can do to dance.
Andrea: Yeah, yeah that’s true. We’ve got some more melancholic songs, more heavy songs, more sing-a-long songs, more wide spectrum of music in general. Justus Steel: When you guys started out as kind of a local band in Milan, even before you were Ethereal and everything, did you ever sing in Italian or has it always been in English? Andrea: No, we started in English because we were always listening to bands that were from the UK or America, like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer; so we never even thought to sing in Italian. Because Italian it a very melodic language, so it fits really well if you do the melodic, acoustic sound. But when you go to play a rock song it's not really the right kind of language. It’s very mellow and doesn’t really fit the harsh parts. So we have a couple of songs in Italian but they are kind of different songs. Like if we wrote a special song that might fit the vocals in Italian why not?

Justus: Right.
Andrea: But it is very hard for us to actually start writing in Italian.

Justus: I gotcha. Now I know in some countries like, uh, I want to say Poland and that whole region, English is definitely like taught throughout school for everybody. Is that the same in Italy or…?
Andrea: You can take, um, your English or Spanish or French or German, those four languages. So you have to pick out one and most of the people actually take English cause it’s the most, you know, the most common, the most useful language you can have. So it is quite common. But then we developed a lot of our English by touring, by having to deal with American people, English people. But in Europe you have to learn at least another language because you travel. Like where we’re from, when you travel forty five (45) minutes north and you’re in Switzerland, and those people only speak three different languages and that’s French, German, and Italian, so you need another language to communicate with people. If you travel, if you fly a couple of hours, you’re in the UK so it’s like you need to know another language to communicate.

Justus: Right…
Andrea: That’s the main difference with here that the reason why here not so many people actually speak another language. Unless it’s Spanish maybe. Cause they are…

Justus: We’re getting there.(Everyone laughs)
Andrea: Yeah I mean it’s the second most common language.

Justus: Right, right, absolutely. Um, I’m curious because I know for me, like I always have a song that really doesn’t fit anything that I sound like or anything that I usually listen to - that’s really kinda like my guilty pleasure. I kinda hide it away, don’t let people know. What song do you have now, or band, that you listen to that really doesn’t really fit in with everything else?
Andrea: We’ve been listening to some Lady Gaga.

Justus: Okay. (chuckling in agreement)
Andrea: Also because you are kind of forced…

Justus: Right, right
Andrea: But it is a good distraction, but it’s not really the music I love. It’s okay and if I go to a disco you play some dance music it’s fine. I like it when it’s in a disco or some 70’s music whatever. But it’s not the music I grew up with. I still like better rock and metal music.

Vince: Like what?
Andrea: Whatever, I mean I love the Doors, like as a more old school music. The Doors, or America, or Kansas, or the classic bands, or Johnny Cash. Yesterday, I was at Wal-mart yesterday night, walking around and I bought some Stevie Ray Vaughn, Skynyrd, those guys. Neil Young.

Vince: Yes (when referring to Neil young)
Andrea: Some classics that you can always listen on the road and they’re always nice to hear. But I also listen to more newer bands, like I don’t know, Breaking Benjamin, or whatever metal band. I like to listen to all kind of rock music.

Justus: You and me both.
Andrea: We are very open on the bus, we can have a dance party as well as a hardcore party. Just depends on the mood of the night.

Vince: Okay, um. Referring to some of the Italian stuff…Are you familiar with Mike Patton’s new project?
Andrea: Yeah, actually I just bought tickets. (Everyone laughs)He is going to play in the arena, we have in Milan, we got a Romance Arena, and he’ll do the Mondo Cane project, which is him singing our classics from the 60’s. Italian traditional music, in Italian, with an orchestra. so I got tickets for concert already. (Everyone laughs) Its July so…

Justus: That’s so funny to hear that you’re buying tickets. I mean you could probably write him and get them for free.
Vince: I know that’s what I was thinking.
Andrea: I know I could get tickets for free, but I wanted the really good ones. The seats are like fourth row. I want to be there and enjoy. You know like, uh, go to the theater, it’s not really a rock show, it is more in between jazz and classic music and so I want to be there in a good spot and with my girl so we can see.

Vince: Awesome.
Justus: That’s great.

Vince: Yeah he’s also going to be, uh, there’s talk about Faith No More coming back. Are you a fan of that as well, or…?
Andrea: Yeah, I mean we actually played last year in a festival in Italy with them. They were the headliners. There was Limp Bizkit, and us, and then other bands. And, uh, it was big festival. Like a arena festival.

Vince: I don’t see how Limp Bizkit fits in the equation. But…(Everyone laughs)
Andrea: Actually they were pretty big at the time. They are not as big anymore even in Italy, but, uh, actually a funny thing was that I see Faith No More back in the Angel Dust era when I was a kid in the same arena where we played with them.

Vince: Wow.
Andrea: Like twenty years after you know something like that.

Vince: What is that like?
Andrea: It was really a dream come true because you know I’ve always love Faith No More since their first albums. Even with the other singer they had and then to play with them was like one of a dream come true. Because they were like not existing anymore.

Justus: Right.
Andrea: But Mike had some special relationship with Italy because he was married to an Italian woman. So he lived in Italy for a while that’s why he speaks really fluent Italian. Actually, and uh, and that’s why he loved the music from Italy from the 60’s. Which is the best music we ever had in Italy actually. Even the music we have today is not really great. But that cla…that not pop because it was not even pop, it was more in between. Jazzy, Swingy, kinda music, it was the best era for Italian pop music ever. That’s what you fall in love with.

Justus: When you saw them the first time, what job were you working?
Andrea: I think I was still in school, I think I was like 14 or something. So I was still in high school. And, uh, they were with L7 opening.

Justus: Oh, wow.
Andrea: In 93 and it was a sold out show. Really cool. Really cool.

Vince: So from school, did you actually have to go out and work at a job, or did you….?
Andrea: I went home from school. I was just in school and then I started working jobs. After….

Vince: What type of jobs would you work?
Andrea: I did a lot of different stuff. Because when we started the band, we couldn’t have like, um, proper jobs. You know, so we just take whatever. Drove a van around the city, delivering stuff. I did uh, I worked in warehouses. Like a guy in the warehouse, I actually worked for also, for a skateboard magazine. Cause I used to skate and me and Marc, the bass player, we started the band because we were skateboarders and in the winter we couldn’t skate cause of the weather.

Vince: Right, right. (alright Justus, you’re influencing me)
Andrea: And just played music. So I worked for the skateboard magazine for many years. And sometimes work for the record label on promotional stuff.

Vince: Shawn Crahan, you guys are doing a tour with…
Andrea: Yep.

Vince: His project...
Andrea: Yeah the Dirty Little Rabbits.

Vince: Yeah, um, I’m not really familiar with them, but what’s it like to work with Shawn Crahan? I mean I’m amazed at everything I’ve ever seen him do.
Andrea: He’s a true artist. He’s really creative on his every project, and he’s a guy which is a lot about the music especially. Especially with that project, it’s more of an alternative rock band, with female vocalists but it’s kinda crazy stuff. (Everyone laughs) It’s not like poppy. It’s more like weird. And, uh they opened for us in the UK, on the UK part of the European tour. It was like, just five or six shows, not that many. But he’s a cool guy, we know Shawn already because we toured with Slipknot a lot. So we know Shawn already so it was just letting a friend on board for a while.

Vince: Where you a fan of Dio?
Andrea: Yes of course. I met him actually once in Milan, in our home town, cause a friend of ours, is our tour manager in America, in the first tour we ever did, he was also working with Dio so he invited me to the show and I went to see the sound check for his solo project and it was I just met him and shake his hand introduce myself just briefly, you know I never really get to know him for real but he was very kind and very polite person, very respectful and in the sound check the voice was amazing. And it was so loud, it was louder than everything else (Everyone laughs). I never heard such a loud voice on stage. But he was amazing. And really special I think. He wasn’t like just a singer, he was more of a deeper voice and I swear it was a gift of nature.

Vince: Yeah pretty much every band that he was in was just amazing. Rainbow…
Andrea: Yeah. He was a classic. I think the most classic heavy metal singer, but I think he was also the most talented. Out of all the classic singers you can take I don’t know uh, Bruce Dickenson, or Rob Halford.

Vince: Those three right there…
Andrea: But Dio was the best.

Vince: That’s my argument with some other people.
Andrea: Then you can say Iron Maiden wrote better songs, or (Judas) Priest a different type of vocals, or AC/DC a different style, but Dio was technically the best.

 Here's a link to the review of the show http://www.shockwavemagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75:lacuna-coil&catid=41:live-shows&Itemid=86