2012 marks a special occasion for Italian metalers Lacuna Coil. This year marks the band’s 15th anniversary which is quite a milestone. To celebrate this monumental occasion, Lacuna Coil decided to thank their fans for 15 years of support by hitting the road for the “Dark Legacy” tour. This tour saw the band playing one of their most extensive US tours to date and for the shows delivered a marathon 2+ hour set made up of songs that span the bands career.
On their recent stop here in Atlanta, I had the pleasure to sitting down with singer Andrea “Andi” Ferro. Andi was really great and we had fun talking about the Dark Legacy tour, his feelings on the flack that their album Shallow Life received, and how Metallica’s Master of Puppets changed his life among other things. Andi was really fun to talk to and I hope you all will enjoy my conversation with Andi Ferro.
Welcome back to Atlanta and I have to say congratulations on the success of your tour and the new album Dark Adrenaline. Thank you so much for taking the time out to talk to me today.
Thank you so much. It’s good to be back here.
===================================
You guys just did Gigantour this year once again with Megadeth, Motorhead, and Volbeat. How was that tour for you guys?
It was really cool. We toured Australia in 2007 with Megadeth on Gigantour with Static X, Devil Driver and Bring Me The Horizon. We got to meet the guys back then and became good friends and now we’re doing this tour with Megadeth, Motorhead and Volbeat. It was great to come back. Dave welcomed us back with a bottle of champagne and sometimes he would just come talk to us and give us some advice about the show. It was cool. He’s been a cool guy with us. I know he has a reputation of being difficult sometimes but with us, probably because we’ve always treated him with respect 1we always got respect back. Doing Gigantour again was a good way to kick off the new. It was a great start for the album. It was a really good experience.
Lacuna Coil is currently on the Dark Legacy tour which has you performing songs that 
span your entire career. What influenced you to do this?
Really it’s because we are 15 years into the career of the band. We actually created the name of the band 15 years ago, signed a deal with Century Media, and released our first EP. It was just time to celebrate. This tour especially is specifically for the fans. This is not a big package of bands so we know that only our real, hardcore fans are going to come to the show. It’s a two hour show with an electric set, an acoustic set, and an electric set at the end spanning our career and all our albums. The fans are really enjoying it. We’ve never done such a long set. It’s the first time we’ve played over two hours and we’ve managed to go into it without too many troubles from the voice so it’s pretty good [laughs]. We’re actually getting a lot of requests from other places that are jealous because we’re doing this tour in the states [laughs]. Now South America wants it and Europe wants it. I think for this year we’re going to try and bring this tour to as many places as we can.
===================================
You really dipped deep into your past for some of the songs that appear on this tour. What was it like going back and learning these songs that haven’t been played live in years?
We just rehearsed the songs a little bit, made some different arrangements but more or less they’re the same way they were when we used to play them. It wasn’t really that difficult. If we bring this tour other places maybe we’re going to dig some different songs because for us as musicians we can get bored playing the same songs. We want to try and add different songs but the problem we have is that some of the very old material like from In a Reverie or Unleashed Memories was recorded in analog so we don’t have the keyboard tracks for those songs. For the live keyboards we usually go into the studio with the tape and transfer them to digital because we use a laptop for the keyboards. Maybe if we do that for the older songs we can bring some more songs back from the past. The ones that are not based on keyboards we don’t have problems with because we can just play them but the ones with a lot of keyboards like the ballads are the ones that we will need to go back into the studio and re-record the keyboards basically so some songs we can’t really play live right now.
===================================
Have you ever considered adding a full time keyboardist to make things like that a bit easier?
Well, it would make life easier on certain things [laughs]. If we had a keyboardist we wouldn’t have to be stuck with a click track since we have to play with keyboards on the computer. Our drummer has to play with a click because it has to be perfectly in time. We can’t really improvise a lot on the songs unless you program the keyboards in a way that allows you to do so. They aren’t really any solo keyboard parts or anything like a piano or so it doesn’t really take a pianist or a keyboardist to do it. It’s just more about using them to fill out the arrangements like using violins, lutes or cellos and what not. We’ve thought about it but there are already six people in the band and that is a lot of people on stage [laughs]. We could add a person that could control the sampler or something but still, it’s just another member and there are already enough people [laughs].
===================================
Lacuna Coil is a band that has grown with each album. Each album stands out on their own which is something I love. With Dark Adrenaline, the band has captured some key elements of your past albums to create something really special. Was it a more natural thing for the band to do?
It was a natural thing. You can also recognize that with a song like Kill The Light which could fit on Unleashed Memories or Comalies but also has a modern production and the lyrics are more straight forward like we do right now. I think that’s why the fans really like the album because they can recognize all of the different albums and moments but they have a fresh record with a modern approach to the lyrics, the arrangements, and the production. I think this was the best move for us and as you said, we’re a band that can’t really repeat ourselves. We could go into the studio and just re-record another Comalies but it wouldn’t be honest. It would probably be smarter for us because some believe that when you have a very successful album that maybe you should just try to repeat it. But it’s not the way we are. Maybe we’re just stupid [laughs]. We just can’t do it as artists or as people that live every day and experience new things in life.
===================================
You guys got a lot of shit for Shallow Life which I thought was an awesome album. It was way different from anything Lacuna Coil had done to that point and it was a risky move. The fans really seemed to hit you hard for that one.
I think with a record sometimes you have the right balance and sometimes you don’t. It’s that way for every band I think. I think they are great songs anyways. I can recognize that they are different and they’re not what you would expect from us but maybe we just fell in love with a certain sound at the time so we wanted to try and put it to our own style. We got really criticized for Shallow Life because it was a very different kind of record but I think there are great songs on Shallow Life. Maybe some songs we tried things that were just too different but if we don’t try something different, we can’t move to the next step and then do this new album. You just need to try. For Shallow Life we changed producers, we changed management, we changed a lot of things so it was a new record and a new life for the band in a way. That allowed us to find the motivation to go ahead as a band and to try something different and new.
===================================
That’s a really great attitude to have. Even artists like KISS took chances and made albums that may not have been the best for the fans but it was something they needed to do in order to move on. I felt like Shallow Life was a really cool album. I thought it was cool that you guys took a risk and tried something different.
Thanks. I think that it’s just that a lot of people don’t appreciate it. They don’t understand that just because you try something different doesn’t’ mean that you don’t like what you’ve done before. It’s just that you want to try and bring the music somewhere else and you need to experiment in order to find the right way to do it. I kind of see our career in cycles of three albums. I think when we started, we were just this gothic metal band from Europe inspired Paradise Lost, Tiamat, and Type O Negative. We were trying to sound like those bands because that’s what we liked back then in our 20’s. Then we did Unleashed Memories but I think we really found the right balance with Comalies. I think that album was a big success because it was the right balance of identity and the roots of where we come from as a band. With Karmacode we tried to go really heavy, detuned the guitars and went with a more metal sound. On Shallow Life we tried to be more rock with more open choruses and simpler, straightforward lyrics. Dark Adrenaline includes the heaviness of Karmacode, the simple approach of Shallow Life with the bigger choruses but also the heritage of the gothic sound. So for me, I see for some reason that every three albums we make our best album so I think Comalies and Dark Adrenaline are our best albums in my opinion.
===================================
Lacuna Coil has toured with bands like Megadeth, Motorhead, All That Remains, and Type O Negative just to name a few. What bands have you not toured with that you would love to do so with?
There are many bands that we would love to tour with for different reasons. It would be great to tour with Metallica because we could play for a lot of people or other bands because they can expose you to the right kind of audience. I think with touring, you really discover if you really enjoy a tour when you’re on the tour. That way you get to know the people you are touring with. If you just say, “I want to tour with “this” band just because I like them” but then you find out they are assholes you might not like them anymore [laughs]. You never really know until you actually tour with someone.
===================================
So of all the bands you have toured with, is there a particular band that stands out as being the most memorable for you?
We have had a lot of other great tours. Even if it wasn’t the biggest tour we had ever done, the Type O Negative tour is a tour we will always remember as the most fun and friendly tour we’ve been on. That tour was beyond the music. It was a brotherhood and we became really good friends on that tour. We are still friends with all of them and we even have a song on this album, “My Spirit”, that we wrote for Pete (Steele; Type O Negative bassist/vocalist who passed away). I saw Johnny (Kelly; former Type O Negative drummer) a few months ago with his band A Pale Horse Named Death in Italy. I drove a couple of hours to go see them play and it was like seeing a brother.
===================================
You guys are no strangers to touring the US. How do Lacuna Coil fans in the US seem to differ from your fans elsewhere in the world?
I think in America, they love music with a lot of passion. It’s a hard market right now because everybody’s on tour and there are so many bands out that it can be hard to get people to come out to the show. I understand that they also don’t have the money but the people who do come to the shows really appreciate it. We’ve done some little clubs in what they call the “B” markets here in the states and those kinds of places don’t have very many concerts. When you go there they are waiting for you and appreciating you 100%. If you go to London there is a concert every day. The same with Paris and Milan. They are more used to concerts and they are kind of bored in a way [laughs]. To be honest, the kids are good everywhere and it depends from show to show. When you go to South America, those places are crazier because they may have been waiting forever to see the band. We played India and that was really great because they were going out of their minds. It really depends from place to place and from city to city. The best on the road experience is definitely in the states. If I have to play festivals, I prefer Europe for sure. Festivals in Europe are so much better, bigger, and well organized. Festivals in the states are fun but they’re not as well organized as in Europe.
===================================
When visiting the US, what are your favorite kinds of American food to indulge in?
Oh that’s very easy. Burgers! [laughs] Burgers in Europe suck. As much as the Italian food sucks here, and the pizza, the burgers are the best [laughs]. Burgers in Italy suck. To be honest, we are really comfortable touring the states. It’s actually our favorite place to tour because you can always find a place to eat. You have sushi, Mexican, Burgers, steaks. You can always find something different. In Europe they don’t have the 24 hour culture that the US has. Not many places are open all night so after the show you have to get a kabob or maybe pizza. There aren’t many choices. In the states there is much more of a variety. We only have McDonald’s in Italy [laughs]. Our bass player in Boise, ID even did a 1lb burger challenge. They gave him this huge burger with fries and everything and he had to finish it in like ½ an hour and he did it. He got a t-shirt and his photo on the wall of fame [laughs].
===================================
Oh that is too awesome. It’s just like that TV show.
[laughs] Yeah. The Man vs. Food Challenge.
===================================
Andi, let’s go back in time a bit. At what point did you know that you wanted to be a musician?
It was never really a dream to become a professional musician. Coming from Milan there was not even the chance to be a professional musician there. You can to it if you do Italian music. You can be a pop star or whatever. Me and Marco (Coti Zelati; bassist) started a band because we were skateboarders who listened to hardcore and metal bands like Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Metallica, Slayer, and Iron Maiden every day. Our music was that kind of music so we never thought we could ever go anywhere with it because it’s just something to little for Italy. It’s not like here in America where there’s a history of rock music. In Italy, bands like Metallica and Slayer are big of course but there are no Italian metal bands that have ever reached that kind of level especially singing in English. When we started to play for fun, we never thought that we could sign a deal or anything like that.
===================================
How did Lacuna Coil end up getting signed to Century Media?
We did our demo and we sent it to the labels that put out the records we liked. In 1996, we would get the addresses from the back of the vinyl records and just send off the demo cassette with a little bio in English and a couple of pictures. We got a response from Century Media and Nuclear Blast and we were super surprised. It was amazing. We never thought that we could live playing music or tour the world and become an international band. It happened step by step and every day was a big surprise. We never expected it to possible even as much as we loved music. Also, we are the only artist that Century Media ever signed from a demo tape sent in by a band and that’s pretty cool.
===================================
Do you remember the first Lacuna Coil tour? If so can you relive it a little bit for us?
Our first EP hadn’t come out yet and we went on a promo tour for three weeks in Europe with Moonspell. We had never toured before and I didn’t even have a mobile phone then [laughs]. We were very stiff and rigid and we didn’t know how to really move or know what to say to the people. It wasn’t the best performances but it was a lot of fun because we learned a lot of things.
===================================
What was the first concert you ever attended?
My first rock concert was Primus in a little underground club in Milan with Limbomaniacs opening up. I think it was the first Primus tour. I wasn’t old enough to actually get into the club and I had to sneak in through the back door. I was probably 15 or so.
===================================
Did that show have any kind of an impact on you as far as wanting to do that?
It was the first time I had seen people with Mohawks and tattoos. I remember the crowd was so extreme to me. I had been listening to AC/DC and KISS but I never got to experience them. I was a skateboarder kid who went into this place seeing all these piercings and tattoos and weird colored hair. The bands were so heavy. It was very culturally shocking to me. I never knew that even existed so it really opened my mind. From there I started going regularly to concerts every weekend. I would go see American bands or local bands from Italy.
===================================
In your opinion, what is the one heavy metal album that everyone should own?
Metallica’s Master of Puppets. There are many great albums though. I mean, we can talk about Slayer. My first heavy metal album was Slayer Reign In Blood. I think AC/DC would be a good start too but that’s more rock. I think Metallica is the best way to go. Metallica was the thing that made me really love metal. I think that is the metal album. There are other albums that I love more than that one but Metallica’s Master of Puppets is what made me love this kind of music.
===================================
Lacuna Coil has released six albums to date. If you had to be remembered for one body of work that you’ve made, what would it be and why?
I would have to say Comalies and Dark Adrenaline. I think every record represents who you are in that particular moment so it’s always easy to love the new album more because it’s fresher.
===================================
Lacuna Coil has been together for nearly 15 years now. What is the secret behind your longevity?
I think maybe because we have been experiencing our success step by step. We haven’t exploded with just one album selling five million copies and then disappearing with the next album. We are mature enough to face every little step of the success that we have gained with the good and the bad. We’ve been lucky enough to have everyone willing to work in the same direction. We manage to work together and hopefully we will keep going for many years. The other thing is that you have to always be open to improve yourself. You need to have that mentality to say, “If I’m 35, 36, 40 or whatever I can still become a better person, a better artist, and a better musician. If you don’t think that than you better quit. If you think you have already achieved your goal than there’s no point in doing this job any longer.
===================================
Social Networking has really bridged the gap between fans and bands. Do you like being so accessible to your fans and how does it influence a lot of what you do as an artist?
You can keep an eye on it and you can review what they’re saying but I don’t think it should get too much in your way. You have to pay respect to the fans and hear their opinions. If you put yourself on display you need to be aware that it’s going be both positive and negative criticism. Sometimes the negative might be correct but most of the time it’s over exaggerated [laughs]. The internet allows everyone to just talk bullshit. If you go on to Blabbermouth, according to them nobody is a good band and nobody plays good music because they all suck [laughs]. I actually have a lot of fun reading the comments on the internet. Some people take it personally but I really don’t. I know what I do right and I know when I fuck up and like everybody else I have good and bad times. You need to be able to separate reality from the internet. They don’t always go together. I think the internet is a big help in promoting the band even in territories we couldn’t reach before. On the other hand, there’s the fact that there is no regulation to it at all and that can also do a lot of damage.
===================================
I spoke with Russell Allen of Symphony X once and he said that while the internet was this great invention, it didn’t come with a user’s manual or a rule book making it hard for people to control.
Exactly. It’s like everything in society. You need some rules. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not for censorship and I’m not for arresting somebody because they are downloading a record or something. I just think there needs to be regulation that allows everyone to have their own rights. Everybody was against Lars Ulrich when he went against Napster and he was the first person to point out this situation. I think he was right to be honest. He was right when he said that Metallica has the right to decide if they want to give away their music for free or not. I should be able to decide if I want to give away my music for free on the internet or not as well. There’s nothing wrong with it but I should be able to decide that as opposed to somebody else. Actually, it’s not even the people who download the music. It’s the people who run those sharing sites. These people are making money out of it because these sites put commercials, they put up banner ads, and they have the power to make money off of it. The companies who host these sites are making money off them those people so it’s really not just the kid who’s downloading the album that is stealing from the artists. I blame more the people behind these websites who are in control and running the machine that allows people to get these records for free.
===================================
Speaking of Blabbermouth. How do you feel when you go on to that site and you see some shitty, negative comments.
Oh man, it’s just funny. Some comments are really funny. Some people are smart with it and they have a fun way of saying something negative with a sense of humor. Some people just put some over the top insult on there and it’s just stupid. Its fun and you don’t have to take it too seriously. People can write whatever they want on the internet and that’s why people go there. It’s funny because that site is also promoting bands. People go there talking shit about a band but those negative comments are creating an audience.
===================================
It’s funny but it seems that the bands they hate the most get the most comments on that site.
[laughs] The best selling bands are the ones that get the worst comments. Like Five Finger Death Punch. They’ll get like 1,000 negative comments but yet they’re out there selling out arenas so it looks like it works [laughs].
===================================
Ok Andi, let’s lighten things up a bit. If you could sing or play for any band for just one night, who would it be and why?
I would love to sing for Faith No More. They have always been one of my favorite bands but I would never be able to fill the shoes of Mike Patton who is probably my favorite singer. We actually played a festival in Milan with Faith No More so it was a big pleasure to play with those guys. I grew up listing to them and I’ve always admired them. I actually saw them when I was a kid on the Angel Dust tour in the same arena we played with them at so that was a dream come true.
===================================
I could see that working. You’ve got that Mike Patton thing going on.
No. I don’t have a voice like Mike Patton [laughs]. I like to sing different styles and he’s a big inspiration but I would never be able to step into his shoes.
===================================
Some musicians have a little pre-show ritual that they do to get into the zone before taking the stage. What do you do to get yourself into that place?
Mostly, individually we warm up. I do some warm up exercises on the iPod and then we gather all together before the show and we huddle up like a football team and scream in Italian [laughs]. Nothing really special. Just that energy release right before we go out on stage and that’s about it. We don’t have many rituals at all before the show.
===================================
How about after a show? What do you do to come down from the high of playing an awesome live show?
After I show I like to stay on my own for a while. I like to chill out on the couch and just not talk. I just need to relax and recover some energy. Maybe after ½ an hour or so I’ll have a beer but nothing crazy. I just like to chill out and that’s the best thing for me.
===================================
If Hollywood was to make a movie about you, who would play you?
Oh man. I don’t know. There are so many good actors out there. I think it should be somebody who has an Italian look to them. Maybe Johnny Depp? {laughs] He has the right look with the long dark hair. He’s a bit cuter than me but hey, whatever [laughs]. He seems like a cool guy though.
===================================
There are still young people out there looking to make it in the music world. Do you have any advice for them?
I think if you love music I think you should of course try to have a musical career. It’s just that the music business has changed so much and probably in the next 5 years will change a lot more. Right now, you just have to get out there and tour and play everywhere you can. Just get out there and hope that something will happen. You have to be smart though. Get a lawyer and don’t sign a deal just to sign a deal. Be careful but also it’s the moment of transition. Maybe in a few years there will be a future for musicians. I’m sure things will change. The economical crisis that we’re experiencing in Europe and here in America will get better. Once you reach the bottom you can only go up. It will take time but for right now, all you can do is do your thing and try and survive. There is always a way out. We’ve been through the wars and way worse things than this so there will be a better day I’m sure of it.
===================================
Finish this sentence: If I wasn’t a musician I would be ____________.
I would be involved with something I love because that’s the way that I’ve been all my life. Before I was a musician I worked for a skateboarding magazine and I loved it. I spent a lot of my life skateboarding so that I really loved to do. If I wasn’t a musician I would be involved with something I love whether it be music or something else. It would have to be a passion. I would never waste my life doing something I don’t like even if it meant I could make more money. I see a lot of friends who have great jobs and make a lot of money but they are not happy. I make ½ the money they make but I get to tour the world and play music and sometimes they envy me for that.
===================================
Andi, thank you so much for taking the time out to talk to me today. Best of luck tonight and on the rest of the tour my friend.
Thank you very much Don. It was a pleasure.
About The Author
