LACUNA COIL’s ANDREA FERRO Speaks About the New Album ‘Black Anima,’ Future Plans, and Italian Food in the U.S. [w/ Audio]

As formed in Milan, Italy in 1994, Lacuna Coil is arguably the most famous Italian band to both Americans and Canadians alike. With over 70 million streams in the U.S. alone, Lacuna Coil has had six Billboard Top 200-charting albums and five Top 10 charting rock radio hits. The group was the first female-fronted band to co-headline Ozzfest and has taken home awards and/or nomination honours from the MTV Europe Music Awards, Revolver Golden Gods Awards and Metal Hammer Awards alike.

Black Anima is the latest full-length from Lacuna Coil, as slated for an October 11th release via Century Media Records (pre-order/save here). While he was in New York City, I had the pleasure of speaking with vocalist Andrea Ferro by phone about the past, present and future of the band; co-vocalist Cristina Scabbia, who notably was a judge on The Voice Italy, is scheduled to be an upcoming guest on the Paltrocast with Darren Paltrowitz podcast.

More on Lacuna Coil, which also includes bassist/keyboardist Marco Coti Zelati, guitarist Diego Cavallotti and drummer Richard Meiz, can be found at www.lacunacoil.com.

I’ve had the pleasure of listening to a bit this afternoon of Black Anima but it’s not coming out for a few months. Is it fully mastered? Is the artwork done?
Andrea Ferro: Yeah, we just actually finished the mastering like ten days ago so I don’t know what kind of version they sent you yet…

“Layers Of Time” is the first single and music video from Lacuna Coil’s ninth studio album Black Anima:

The first song on the album is a prologue. It’s an instrumental piece, it’s almost like an overture. When in the process of making the album did you write that?
Ferro: We had this piece of music that Marco came up with and we thought it could have been a good intro for the live show actually… But then Cristina had this idea. She really liked the melody so she came up with the melody for the vocals and it sounded so good, it’s almost like a short mini-song. So we decided to do use it as the intro, to do something a little different… We’ve never had a proper intro like that… So we decided to try and work some lyrics for it and it fits very well the mood…

It is quite a heavy record overall, so it was good to have some good songs to start with that are dark to create the atmosphere, to set the mood, and then blasting some more heavy songs right after. We thought it was a good idea…

Is it going to be the same lead single for everywhere in the world? Or does that change from country to country?
Ferro: I think the first single, “Layers Of Time,” is going to be the same everywhere… America usually does more marching towards the radio because usually you still have a lot of radio for rock and metal music.

You now have done the “world tour” thing, I believe, six or seven times now. Does it get old? Or is it still as fun as it always was?
Ferro: No, it’s still fun. Otherwise, we wouldn’t do another record with all of the effort it takes to try and record and promote, you know? So if we do that it’s because we really want to be out here playing for the fans and meeting the people all over the place. Every time you discover something new and you play some new places that you haven’t before… We haven’t been in Asia… Maybe South Africa… So it’s always interesting and nice to see and meet friends all over.

Lacuna Coil’s ninth studio album Anima is due out October 11th, via Century Media and RED Music. Check out the rad artwork:

Very early into your career you guys were winning awards at the MTV Europe Music Awards and the Revolver Golden Gods Awards and all that. Is that your proudest accomplishment those sorts of awards? Or is there something else that you’re most proud of?
Ferro: Obviously it’s always nice to win an award and it’s a pleasure. Obviously, it’s sort of recognition of the hard work for many years. So yes it’s important… But I think what’s really important is the legacy that you create with the fans. That’s going to stay forever in your heart. As much as we have them with our music, they also help us by coming to the show and supporting the band. So when we think about our career we cannot avoid (thinking) about the fans. So I think the legacy with the fans is the main thing and the awards are also nice… but it’s not the most important thing for us.

Do any of the awards mean more than the others? Or really it is just all about the fans and the music for you?
Ferro: It’s always a pleasure if somebody is rewarding you for your work… Your will to do something positive and something creative, so it’s always important… The UK, for example, it’s been such an iconic place for rock music. We were born between the UK and America. When we got an award from these places, it always means a lot because they’re kind of the birthplace of our kind of music and it’s also great to be recognized. What a difference made, you know?

And who were some of the bands that made you want to pick up a guitar in the first place?
Ferro: Broadly I would say… Early ‘90s bands like Paradise Lost…

Were there a lot of Italian bands that were especially influential? Or did you have to look outside of Italy to find great hard rock?
Ferro: There were a few bands on the underground level that were playing around, but mostly we were looking out to American or English bands or something Swedish or German because Italy has always been a place more for melodic music. So there’s not such a great history of bands coming out of Italy playing rock and metal… It’s always been a bit of a struggle for us to bring it in our own country. So I have to say that (in) recent times we’ve been growing and growing… Germany, for example, they’ve got bands from the ‘80s like Helloween or Scorpions or bands nowadays like Rammstein that always made it internationally.

“Blood, Tears, Dust” was the fourth and final single off of the band’s previous record, Delirium:

When you come to New York City, where so many people are of Italian heritage but they’re mispronouncing the names of great Italian food, does it make you laugh all these years later?
Ferro: No, it’s ok, it’s funny… It’s great that they try to keep the legacy going…

Looking ahead at your new album, does anything have to happen in particular for it to feel successful for you? Or is just getting it out into the world success into itself?
Ferro: There’s always some ambition behind it… It’s better than the one before. In times where it’s so hard to get better, because of the changing of the way music is perceived by people, we’ve sold more copies than the albums before. So I was really gonna make it even better, going a bit against the trend that people are not supporting music anymore… It has been possible.

So in closing, Andrea, any last words for the kids?
Ferro: Yeah, I hope everybody checks out our website, www.lacunacoil.com, you can find all the tour dates. We’re coming in back (to North America) in September with All That Remains, then back to Europe and then we come back again either in the spring or the summer. Also keep an eye open and listen to Black Anima; give it a chance!

Disease Of The Anima Tour (w/ All That Remains):

September 15 – New York, NY – Webster Hall
September 17 – Greenville SC – The Firmament
September 18 – Knoxville, TN – Jackson Terminal
September 19 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
September 20 – Dothan, AL – The Plant
September 21 – Mobile, AL – Soul Kitchen
September 23 – Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Live
September 24 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music
September 27 – Phoenix, AZ – The Pressroom
September 28 – Las Vegas, NV – Hard Rock Live*
September 30 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues*
October 1 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater*
October 2 – Berkley, CA – The UC Theatre
October 3 – Sacramento, CA – Ace Of Spades
October 5 – Spokane, WA – The Knitting Factory*
October 6 – Calgary, AB – Palace Theatre
October 7 – Edmonton, AB – Starlite Room
October 9 – Winnipeg, MB – Park Theatre
October 10 – Minot, ND – The ‘O’ Riginal Bar
(w/ Bad Omens, Eximious, and Uncured):
October 11 – Minneapolis, MN – The Cabooze
October 12 – Columbia, MO – The Blue Note
October 13 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave II
October 15 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverfront Live
October 16 – Chicago, IL – House Of Blues*
October 17 – Cleveland, OH – House Of Blues
October 18 – Toronto, ON – Opera House
October 19 – Baltimore, MD – Ram’s Head Live
*no Bad Omens