LACUNA COIL, IN THIS MOMENT Singers Discuss OZZFEST, MySpace

In a new interview conducted by Greg Maki of Live-Metal.net, LACUNA COIL singer Cristina Scabbia and IN THIS MOMENT frontwoman Maria Brink discuss Ozzfest and more. IN THIS MOMENT will perform on the second stage on this year's Ozzfest, while LACUNA COIL played the second stage in 2004 and the main stage in 2006. Excerpts from the interview follow.

Live-Metal.net: IN THIS MOMENT is playing Ozzfest this summer. Are you looking forward to that?

Maria Brink: Yeah, of course. We're so excited. We can't wait.

Live-Metal.net: You have a two-time Ozzfest veteran here. Have you given them any advice?

Cristina Scabbia: Is it your first Ozzfest?

Maria Brink: Yeah, our first one.

Cristina Scabbia: Oh, you're gonna love it. You're gonna love it. It's like a summer camp.

Maria Brink: Yeah, that's what everybody was saying.

Cristina Scabbia: A lot of barbecues going on. It's great. And the crowds are always amazing, even if at you play at 9 in the morning, the people are right there already. It's unbelievable.

Maria Brink: We're so excited. We're still a new band. Our first album just came out in March, so we're really honored to be playing it and doing all these tours.

Live-Metal.net: Is there anyone you're really looking forward to meeting or seeing play?

Maria Brink: Of course, Ozzy every night, I can't wait. But I like LAMB OF GOD, HATEBREED. Yeah, there's a bunch.

Live-Metal.net: What was it like going to the main stage last year?

Cristina Scabbia: It was different. [laughs] Of course, it was more prestigious from one point of view. But from another point of view, it was a little less fun because on the second stage, it's definitely more rock. I mean, you definitely have a different relationship with the people in front of you. They can mosh, they can do whatever they want. On the main stage, there was always a big distance between you and the crowd. People are sitting. The majority of the fans are up in the lawn, so really, really far from you, and so it's kinda weird. I mean, it's not that I want the people to stay on me when I sing but definitely not that far.

Live-Metal.net: In the last couple years, one of the things that's been big in the music business has been MySpace. I know that was big for IN THIS MOMENT. How important do you see it being?

Cristina Scabbia: I just thought that it was growing constantly. I don't know how much it helped the band because we were already a little bit popular with the promotion and the magazines and stuff. But I definitely like the fact that you can find people that you haven't heard in a while and the connection you can have with fans. It's almost impossible to reply to every message you get 'cause every day it's getting bigger and bigger, but still you can post blogs, you have the chance to say whatever you've gotta say without any people in between you that can misunderstand what you're saying and write something completely different. So I think it's good because of that. I actually started it as a joke, my page.

Maria Brink: Really? That's crazy.

Cristina Scabbia: Yeah, and it's so out of control now.

Maria Brink: And I think for bands who aren't signed and who are trying to do things for us, it was good because before we were signed or had managers we actually could tour the whole country, just from MySpace. 'Cause there's no way that anyone in, like, Texas or Connecticut would have known who we are without it. So, for us, it helped us in the beginning like that. And, also, our managers wrote us on MySpace and said, "Hey, how are ya?" And then they wound up coming over to our house. So I think it's a cool tool for musicians if they can make the best of it.

Read the complete interview at www.live-metal.net.