Lacuna Coil’s Andrea Ferro Dishes on New Album, Touring and Italian Coffee

Italian metal act Lacuna Coil have been on the road diligently in support of their latest album ‘Dark Adrenaline.’ Fresh off their trek with Megadeth, Motorhead and Volbeat for Gigantour 2012, the group is also set to team up with Megadeth again on an upcoming tour with Rob Zombie.

In addition, Lacuna Coil recently announced a headlining U.S. trek of their own -- ‘The Dark Legacy Tour’ -- which will include a full two hour performance of tracks spanning all of their albums.

Loudwire had the privilege of catching up with the band's co-singer Andrea Ferro, who shared his thoughts about the new album, the secret to their vigorous performances onstage and more.

Congrats on the release of ‘Dark Adrenaline.’ What does the title of the album mean to you?

Basically when we started the songwriting for the album we were in a dark place because we have some personal issues. Some of the band members went through things in their personal life, nothing crazy but something negative like friends passing away or broken relationships. So we wanted to use this negativity and transform it in a more powerful outcome which was the music, the songs and the lyrics of the new album. The title represents the fact that from darkness something very energetic can be born and released in a positive way.

How are fans reacting to this new album?

So far it’s being received really well by the fans, the reviews have been very positive and I think it’s a more mature album that represents the essence of our sound. We got back to the darker melodies from the band as well as some of the new sound, the more modern production. It’s a good compromise between our classic style and the new direction of Lacuna Coil, it’s a well balanced album.

Can you describe the debut single ‘Trip the Darkness’ musically and lyrically?

I think it was a good choice as our first single because it has a little bit of the traditional sound of Lacuna Coil but also very aggressive riffs. In the beginning we have the mandolin that can recall a bit of our Italian heritage and also the very heavy riffs and then the very epic chorus with the darker message so it is a dynamic song that features the darker more theatrical Lacuna Coil way.

Is there a contender for the next single off of the album?

We don’t know yet because ‘Trip the Darkness’ is still working well especially in North America and the media still has it in rotation so at the moment we don’t know yet because for us all the songs can be singles in a different way. It’s more of a label thing, if a radio station request for this or that song. For us we don’t really care, we know that we need singles to help promote the band for us every song is cool, it’s just more of a promotional thing so we don’t think about it that much.

Lacuna Coil have toured with so many bands, is there one band you would love to go on the road with that you haven’t gotten a chance to tour with yet?

You can say a big name because it’s good exposure and you can play in front of a lot of people every night but sometimes it’s cool to tour with new people, bands you don’t expect because you don’t know them personally then they turn out to be great friends like Rob Zombie or Type O Negative. Whatever brings a good amount of people and we get along with people that are touring it’s fine, maybe Faith No More because we love their music so much.

You guys have done covers of songs by Depeche Mode and R.E.M. What are some other bands you would consider covering?

The most challenging thing is to pull a song that is not from a metal band, being a metal band ourselves it doesn’t make sense for us to do a metal version of a metal song. When it comes time to do a cover we try to pick something that is very different and more challenging and fun like we did with ‘Enjoy the Silence’ and ‘Losing My Religion.’ Maybe it could be a song from the Cure. That could be a good choice or some other '80s song from the electronic, dark era that would be fun.

The band is set to perform on the massive Rock on the Range concert, how would you compare a large festival like Rock on the Range versus Gigantour?

It’s very different because we get to see a lot of friends, a lot of people that you met on the road. Gigantour is more of a tour just on a bigger scale but the festivals are just more fun because you meet a lot of people and just have a good time you just go out and play. There’s no soundcheck, so technically it’s not the best situation but the people they just have a great time so it’s a lot of fun to play and see all the friends. It’s going to be fun, it’s a very mixed up lineup and it’s a lot of different kinds of bands.

Not many bands are lucky enough to have two lead vocalists, how would you describe your musical relationship with Cristina Scabbia?

I think we’ve been developing a lot of our style album after album and make it better and more balanced, more useful for the music. We try to use our vocals like another couple of instruments to add. It’s always about the best result for the song and for the type of song whether it needs a more heavy chorus or a more powerful chorus. So we just try to use our vocal strength to add something more to the music and they allow us a variety of sounds we can have a very deep ballad song as much as a very heavy powerful song.

Vocally, how do you and Cristina decide who sings what?

Basically we collect our own ideas separately and then we see which ideas fit better with the song and we exchange parts. The part that Cristina wrote, I’m going to sing it, or the other way around, it’s just about the best feeling for the song and what sounds better to the song.

Lacuna Coil have been making music for well over a decade in a very tough industry. What’s the secret to your longevity?

I think the secret is just sticking together and to put the ego aside. For example we share all of our income equally so we never get somebody who say “I’m worth more so I need more money” we are always a band and we share everything in the same way, the duties and the pleasures. There is always a balance in the band a everybody is working for the band in the way we write music or we do something for the Internet or when we do interviews, everybody has their role in the band, it’s still a unit. I think that’s the best secret, to gather and to work as a unit for the better for everybody.

With all of this touring, what is one thing you need to have on the road with you? No electronics!

No electronics? [Laughs] I was going to say iPad because I just got one and it’s great, I have everything in it, books, magazines, film. If it had to be something else I would say we always bring Italian coffee because we have a machine to make our own espresso, so we bring our own brand of coffee. That’s something we always bring from Italy.