Lacuna Coil vocalist Andrea Ferro checked in with Loudwire before the band's set at this year’s Rock on the Range Festival in Columbus, Ohio.

The band has been touring in support of their 2012 album 'Dark Adrenaline,' and Ferro talked all about the band’s musical influences, how Lacuna Coil came together and being homesick for Italy while away on tour. Check out our interview with the band's co-vocalist below:

What is the songwriting process for you guys?

Ninety percent of the time it’s the music first -- Marco [Coti Zelati] our bass player writes most of the music, he’s kind of the inner producer of the band, the guy who actually turns every riff into a Lacuna Coil sounding song. Then me and Cristina [Scabbia] work on the vocals separately, then we meet together and exchange all the ideas and sometimes we end like me singing some of Cristina’s parts or her singing something I wrote, then we all work the lyrics together with the producer.

How did you guys all meet each other?

Basically me and Marco grew up together, we were skateboarders when we were kids. He’s like two years younger than me so I literally took him to school the first day in high school. We’ve known each other for like 20 years.

Do you guys still skateboard?

I still have a board but I just cruise around now because I injured myself, I spent like 10 years working for a skateboard magazine and doing it almost professionally. We were really serious about skateboarding and that’s how we got passionate through music as well. We started with all the skate bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Flag, Metallica and Slayer that’s how we got into music.

So Metallica and Slayer are some of your influences, what other bands influence you guys?

For this band when we started this particular sound, more dark for this band we were into bands like Paradise Lost and Type O Negative a lot. Those were the two bands that we really wanted to sound like when we started. Then we incorporated so many different elements from the metal and hardcore background to the rock oriented sound that we have now so there’s a lot of bands that we could name as an influence.

With all those different countries that you’re hitting is there any discernible difference between the fans and the crowds? What sticks out in your mind?

Overall, the places we tour the most are North America and Europe, of course. So the main difference between those two is the fact that maybe in America the crowd is more mixed so you got the skater guys as well as the old rocker or the metal guy or the alternative guy while in Europe it’s more a metal guy or a goth guy - so it’s more separate. When you got to South American, India or Australia they’re more crazy just about the fact that you are there, so they’re very enthusiastic and they go crazy.

What in your career has been cool so far, as far as being on the same bill as an artist that really meant something to you?

I think the tour we did with Type O Negative was the one where we really felt we were really playing with our idols. Also a couple of years ago we had the chance to play Milan with Faith No More on their reunion tour. It was Limp Bizkit and Faith No More and I saw Faith No More on the ‘Angel Dust’ tour in the same arena where we played, so like 10 years after to open for them at the same place it was just a dream come true. Faith No More is one of my all time favorite bands.

Did you get to hang out with Mike Patton a lot?

A little bit, he speaks Italian very fluently actually because he used to be married to an Italian woman, so it’s fun to hang out with him.

Do you guy get homesick for Italy; if so what do you miss?

Of course because – for example in January we released the album, we’ve been on Gigantour with Megadeth and Motorhead, then three weeks home, then another two months away ‘til now and we’re gonna be in another five days. So of course after a while you get homesick, you miss your bed, you miss your girlfriend, you miss you food, but overall we love touring otherwise we wouldn’t do this job since 15 years.

Interview by Andy Green.

More From Loudwire