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reprint or license thisLacuna Coil in the loop
By KEVIN KAZOKAS kkazokas@leader.net
Things are a little tougher for Lacuna Coil on this Ozzfest go-around, group co-vocalist Andrea Ferro said.
But that’s a good thing.
Ferro and his bandmates have graduated from the metal festival’s secondary stage to the main stage, where they join a lineup of some of rock’s hardest hitters, including Disturbed, Hatebreed and System of a Down.
“It’s a very different feeling,” Ferro said last week from Oklahoma City. “Because of course it’s a big upgrade for the band. It is also more difficult.”
As one of the festival’s main draws, Lacuna Coil now plays to a crowd filling thousands of seats as opposed to playing to the more free-flowing and wiry type of throng found at the second stage. While the new scenario might pose the added challenge of getting sedentary-minded spectators pumped up and going wild, it also shows how far the group has come in a short time.
Characterized by crunching guitars, celestial melodies and the dueling vocal interplay between Ferro and Cristina Scabbia, Coil has emerged from a relatively quiet Italian metal scene to gain a worldwide following. The group’s 2002 release, “Comalies,” put the band on the map in the United States, though Coil had been around since the mid 1990s. Then, a breakthrough Ozzfest effort in 2004 helped solidify Coil’s presence.
Ferro said many bands try the group’s two-vocalist philosophy. But Coil has two things others might lack: depth and melody.
“There has been, for sure, an overload of screaming bands,” the soft-spoken but powerfully voiced Italian singer said. “If you don’t put some melody in the music, I don’t think people are going to enjoy it anymore.”
In their spare time, Lacuna Coil members try to divert their thoughts from the road grind by focusing on normal-life activities, Ferro said, such as weightlifting, playing video games, going online, even barbecuing.
“We try to cook as much as we can because, since we’re from Italy, food is like a religion for us.”
The singer explained his band has cooked several kinds of pasta for rocker Rob Zombie, with whom Lacuna Coil recently toured. Ferro has his own specialty.
“I do carbonara. It’s a type of pasta that you do with eggs, bacon, pepper and Parmigiano cheese. It’s simple. It’s a very ancient recipe actually.”
Back on stage, Lacuna Coil, part of Wednesday’s Ozzfest lineup at the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain, has a growing catalogue from which to select. The group, whose name means “empty spiral,” has two EPs and four full-length albums, including the 2006 release “Karmacode,” which blends the heavy with the ethereal.
And it’s no wonder it does. Members have an ever-growing array of influences to shape their playing and songwriting.
“When we started the band, basically we were metal kids,” Ferro said, naming inspirations such as Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Slayer and Sepultura. Now the list has grown to include everything from Korn to Johnny Cash to reggae, Ferro said.
“I think we have achieved a point where we are influenced by a lot of different things.”
