Severals days before the release of the new album “Delirium”, RockUrLife met Andrea Ferro, singer of Italian metal band Lacuna Coil. The opportunity to speak about the new members and the evolution of the band.
Hi Andrea, how are you today?
Andrea Ferro (vocals): I’m good, a little bit tired because we were in London so we’ve just came this morning. They picked us up at 4:30 so we didn’t sleep. I drunk coffee and coca cola to wake up and stay awake. (laughs)
Your album gonna be avaibable soon, how do you feel a few weeks before the release?
Andrea: We’re excited cause we’ve been working on it for a while so now it gets out, just today we released right now the lyrics video for the first track of the album “The House Of Shame” so everybody can take a look to the lyrics and listen to it. And then maybe another month, we’ll start promoting live. We going to Asia , we have a festival in Philippines, this is the first show to introduce some new songs of the album. And then China, Shanghai, for another festival. Then we go to North America, for a few weeks. We have some shows just to talk about the album and then we have some show with Halestorm, an American band. And back to Europe, to Italy. We’ll come in july in France for festivals we gonna do soon. So it’s about to start.
Your guitarist Marco Biazzi have left the band at the beginning of this year. Some medias announced Daniel Sahagun as the new guitarist but we are a little lost about it. Can you explain who is Lacuna Coil actually?
Andrea: In the band now, from the original line: me, Cristina & Marco bass player, the main song writer, the guy who write all the songs. And now, Ryan who is the drummer. He is there since 8 years but he was the drum tech before and he became the drummer when Cristiano left 3 years ago. So he is in the band since 2 years. And we just lost one guitar player right now (Marco Biazzi), before we record the album. Daniel Sahagun, actually is a friend of us, who play with us several times cause he can play guitare and sing. It’s a very good musician from Los Angeles. He substitute Marco when he was sick. So he did a couple of tour with us, he plays guitar for us on the recent crews, and he’s a friend. He could be easily our guitar player but the problem is in L.A. (USA) and he has already an American band. So it was too complicated, it’s expensive. So we decided to have an Italian guitar player who he’s trying right now. He gonna start in Philippines, but it will take a while before we decide that he gonna be the permanent member. We don’t want to annonce somebody and then in 6 months. We want to see how he feels to work together, and then we will decide.
How did you organise the band with all this departure and new members?
Andrea: Usually, we try to pick up people that we were really like to be around with, not just good musicians but also people. You now, we spend a lot of time together on the road, on the same bus so we want to have friend, not obviously somebody who can play the song, but also somebody we really like to interact and stay together. So that’s one of the criteria. Both equal: a good musician and a good person we like to be. Not somebody who take drugs too much, not heavy drugs, or drink too much. Somebody we can handle with on the road for a long time.
In 2014, two members left the band, Cristiano Migliore et Cristiano Mozzati. How they are now?
Andrea: They’re great, I mean, Pizza, we call Migliore Pizza, he lives in America now, in Minnesota, he married with an American woman so he decided to change his life, so he’s not playing in any band. He’s just doing something else in America. And the other guy, the drummer, he’s living in countryside in Italy, so he’s still following us. We still talk to them, but we don’t see them very often. The last time Pizza came (Cristiano Migliore) it was for Christmas, he visited his family. So we don’t see each other very often, but when we play in Minnesota, he’s coming. We use to skype. But we can’t often see each other.
All this departure were like a whiplash to give your best on this album?
Andrea: Yeah it was intense album to record cause it was a kind of surprise to ourselves, and try to suprise the listener, so we decided to, when we have a heavy material, we decide to do full on the heavyness. So it was a heavy guitar and we had some heavy vocal as well. It’s really important for us to keep things fresh. We’ve been doing this for few years now, so it’s important it’s not boring for us and not boring for the people. We want they be surprised about the record. So we’ve put a very heavy song to the beginning to say “it’s Lacuna Coil or not ?” . We want to make the people think about it. I mean there‘re songs a little bit similar of our classic songs and others new. We wanna be challenge ourselves.
You’ve introduced your album as mystic and dark. When we’re looking to your visual and pictures, It’s a kind of psychatric hospital atmosphere right?
Andrea: Basically, when we were driving the song “Delirium”, not the album, just the song, we were looking for words to use because the melody was construct with this word, so we came out with “Delirium”, kind of start all the process of the record. Before that, we’re actually visiting abandonned sanatorium near Milan, just for curiosity, we didnt think about the record yet. But we had this feeling seing all this empty rooms, and think about how many people being there, all different cases of problems, a lot of suffering. So then, we’ve coming back connect it to the lyrics, we tried to create our own sanatorium, a kind of Lacuna Coil sanatorium, wich is the record actually, so you have to imagine this huge building like rooms, and every rooms have different song that touch different problems, mental problem. We’re not doing a medical diagnostic we’re just talking about the crazyness about our lives, we’re living details compared to the biggest health problems. I give an exemple to understand: the song “You Love Me Cause I Hate You” it’s a song thinking about Stockholm’s Syndrom which is a syndrom when you get kidnapped by somebody and then you fall in love of the person who kidnapped you. I’ve never been kidnapped (laughs) but we’re talking about relationship when you feel in prison and you know this relationship is toxic for you. It’s negative but you can’t get out cause you think it’s the right person. And so we wanted to do this parallel between the biggest topics and the smallest topics. Something we’ve experienced in real life, we didn’t want to invent something. So we studied the sentence of the illness and use some of the words, but talking more about personnal experience, so every song have this kind of story, some are more personal, like I went through depression for a while, not the heavy depression but some depression. I had some panic attack while i was driving: my hands couldn’t hold, I just stop and then. But I tried, tried and tried and get through to it and not suffer from that anymore. And so I introduced it also in two songs.
What a change for Lacuna Coil to hear solo guitar on tracks!
Andrea: Yeah, it’s funny enough, but this is the record without our own guitar player because Marco, the bass player, record all the guitar rythmics. So, officially we don’t have our proper guitar player but this is the record with more guitar solo in the history of the band. When we finish the record, we decided to invite some friends, to replace our lead guitar and so we called Myles (Kennedy) from Alter Bridge because Cristina did a song with him a few years ago (ed: “Watch Over You”) so they stay in touch and he came every time we played in America, he came out with his wife, we hanged out, he stayed for the show, we met each other in festivals, so we are very friendly. We just asked him to play and he said “yes of course, give me some song”, so he choose between 3 differents songs and choose one to make a solo guitar. The same for Mark Vollelunga from Nothing More, they opened for us in America, they made the first national opening tour in America, and then we stayed in touch, when they have days off in Italy, they come for pizzas, and beers. We keep relationship growing and then we ask him because he is such a unique and great guitar player. So he did the lead guitar. And then we are some italians friends playing on the guitar with Marco, some engineers who played in previous record like “Karmacode”. And also 2 friends from Milan, friends from local bands. So they gave a little different touch, different style, different vibes.
It seems like you took some risk on this album, something we can be boring doing the same thing? Are you kind of afraid to always do the same things like other bands?
Andrea: Boring for us but also boring for people. I think it’s good for us to challenge ourselves and don’t be forced to stick Lacuna Coil stereotypes. After you do some years touring and making record, you create your own stereotypes. So we didn’t think a lot, we said “OK this is our style” but why can’t we just add something to our style make it bigger. It always gonna sound like Lacuna Coil cause they always gonna be some things will never change, like cristina voice, some characterics always gonna be there. We didn’t want to be stunk in prison and in our own stereotypes. That’s the way we are. Some people gonna love it, some people gonna hate it.
Are you not afraid that fans couldn’t recognise Lacuna coil now?
Andrea: No because, I think there’re a lot of songs which sound like Lacuna Coil songs like “Delirium”. This song sounds like Lacuna Coil. Maybe in the first time you listen to the album you can be surprised, but after 2 or 3 times, you recognise the band and I think it’s the way we are. The next record might be different again. We don’t wanna be stunk in prison even if there still dark vibes or vocal. It’s different but not as much as everybody could think.
To be honest with you, we were waiting for a beautiful ballad song like Lacuna Coil used to do. Like “Purify”, “Wide Awake”. We didn’t find this anymore.
Andrea: I think “Downfall” it’s this kind of song, maybe not as epic like the others. I mean, Marco didn’t write song like that one of the borders tracks that is closer to that. But we’ve done so many songs like that but to repeat it again. Some people love it. But I mean, “Downfall” have this kind of vibes.
“Claustrophobia” and “Delirium” were our favorite songs on this album. Do you have one?
Andrea: I don’t know cause we havn’t play this anymore. But I think “Delirium” is the most catchy song on the record. But there’re not one song that I would say it represent fully the album because there’re such a varied songs on this album, lyrics are very different. You know I see the album as a one thing, not just one song.
What do you listen as music in this moment?
Andrea: Right now, I’m checking a lot of new albums from bands like Bring Me The Horizon. Actually I hold all this albums but I have to listen it when i will be home. I have a lot of CD in my suitcase, a lot of staff to listen but I didn’t have time. The lastest album I have listen it’s probably Bring Me the Horizon, I think it’s a good album, maybe a little bit pop for me, but I like it.
To finish, our website is called “RockUrLife”, so what rocks your life?
Andrea: Probably, it doesn’t be something cause I’m so tired. I more looking for sleeping (laughs), so Coca Cola is rocking my life and keeping me awake. Coffee and coca cola! (laughs) It would be different in some months, the tour gonna be more enjoy. But actually we have a lot of things to care like Visas, we have to prepare everything so it’s more work actually. In 3 weeks, we gonna be more relax.
Thank you Andrea!
Andrea: Thank you too.
Website: lacunacoil.it
