LACUNA COIL Singer FERRO Wants To Focus On Songwriting For Next Album

Dan Barkasi of HMAS.org recently conducted an interview with LACUNA COIL male singer Andrea Ferro. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

HMAS.org: How did the idea of a tour with all of the bands consisting of female singers come along?

Andrea Ferro: Basically, there was this article in Revolver magazine. They've been putting it out for a couple of years — it's called "The Hottest Chicks In Metal". It's kind of a stupid title, but it's just for something different. It's just an excuse to catch some different attention, and I think this package is really different than any other metal package that you have around, with at least a female in the band or two. We've always got a European band with us. It was WITHIN TEMPTATION for the first part of the tour, and now THE GATHERING is on for another week, and then WITHIN TEMPTATION is coming back for the end of the tour in the West Coast. It was something completely different and it was a good idea. I think that's why it's interesting for the people because there's never been a tour like this. Plus, having Revolver promoting the dates was very important for us. We also had some TV ads, thanks to the magazine, so it was a good idea. It is a funny kind of title. [Laughs] It's just an excuse to catch some attention.

HMAS.org: The band has been doing a few acoustic shows here and there. How have those gone and what spurned the idea of doing something like that?

Andrea Ferro: Pretty well, actually. On the Jäger tour, we have done like 14 acoustic sets in music stores, instrument stores. It was sponsored all by Ovation Guitars, which is one of our endorsements for acoustic guitars. It's not like a clinic, because it's not to show people. But it is to show people that you can play the song in a stripped down version with just a guitar and two voices and still make it work. If it's a good song, it's going to sound different, of course, than the metal version, but it still can be a good song. So we were doing like three songs, and then we were doing some questions and answers with people who come out and ask whatever they want about the music business, the band, or the history. Then we did like a raffle for one of the acoustic guitars. It's also to encourage people to play and to just have fun with music. It's not that big of a promotion on one hand. It's not like you're doing it on the radio or in a record store — you sell records. That's more promotion. If you do it this way, together with Ovation, it's giving something extra for people. I really like it. It's more about the music than compared to doing it on the radio. On this tour, I think we have done one, I think so far. We still have two in Canada, and one in Fargo, here in America. Then it's done, three more.

HMAS.org: "Karmacode" has been out for a little over a year now. How successful has that album been in comparison to the rest of your catalogue?

Andrea Ferro: If you consider the year itself that has passed, it's been very successful. We never achieved such a high position on the charts. We never sold so many copies in one year. Not as much as "Comalies" yet, but it's almost there, and it's only one year. "Comalies" has been out for almost five years now. In terms of that, it's been much more successful in one year. But on the other hand, we can't keep going for another three years and make it the double of "Comalies". Just to show the people that if we do it for the same time, it's going to sell much more, but we don't want to do that. Because I think when we did "Comalies" and "Karmacode", we spent almost four years and that was way too much for the people. Now, finishing this tour, we're considering another possible tour in the States supporting. But, it's something very far away and very diverse. It's not like, strictly metal, because we have done all the metal tours already. I don't think it's going to happen, but if that comes, we might do it because it's something that exposes us to a completely different crowd. But otherwise, we are done with this album. With a few festivals that we have in Europe, and we are going to go for the songwriting and try to make it as fast as possible for the next album and even make it bigger. I mean, we are very happy with "Karmacode". But of course, the more you tour, the more you keep selling, the more you can push it. We don't feel like we have all this time to stay there. Before "Comalies" we were nobodies in the States. We were just an import band from Italy. So after one year of the release, they started to pick up the single, and the radio stations started to play "Heaven's a Lie", and MTV picked up the video and blah blah blah. So we restarted all the promotion from zero, and two years of promotion brings us a very good result. And then we had to work on the next album, and record it, and mix it. We don't have that kind of time right now, so we have to move forward to the next one.

HMAS.org: "Karmacode" feels to be a bit of a different direction for the band, with a lot of different kinds of inspirations and influences. Was this more of a natural progression?

Andrea Ferro: Yeah. We wanted to go different ways. We wanted to start from "Comalies", and then try to incorporate new elements. Well, try to. It's always a delicate process because you don't know how far you can go and not change your sound too much. When you have a new album out, a lot of people are going to hate it because it's changed too much. We even had fans that come to us and say that it didn't change that much. So it's always very personal, the way you take it. Somebody is very connected to the older material, so they don't want a louder bass sound, or more groovy sounds, or different kind of ballads. They want to listen to the same thing, but we're just not the same band. We just try to evolve every album. You can like it or not. You don't have to like it. Even the new album would be something different and probably will not be the same. Otherwise, it's pointless, because you're going to repeat yourself. You can do it, because some bands, they do it. They keep doing the same album and people still like it. It's not our cup of tea, basically. We want more people that want to evolve and change. We know that we would never turn into a pop band, but we want to be a heavy rock band. We want to also try to find new inspiration, different songwriting, different producers; to see where our music can go. It's very un-artistic to do always the same crap. You have to realize that you are here in this business, so you have to convince your fans that it's your music. You don't have to sell them you as a poppy band, or you as something you're not. But on the other hand, you also want to incorporate new elements in the music. So it's risky, but it's the only way we can do it.

Read the entire interview at HMAS.org.