Cristina and dalia  -                   pic taken by Stefan  

Dalia: We are here with Cristina of Lacuna Coil. The first question to you is, what are your impressions about this tour with Sentenced?
Cristina: It is going excellent, because every gig is sold out or near to, for example in the UK we had about 1600 people coming for the show, in France we had about 1000 people in the show.... it's going incredibly good!...probably it depends of the package , because Sentenced and Lacuna Coil is a very good package, because Sentenced did a very good album , Lacuna Coil too and Blackshine is a very intresting band, so i think that this one is maybe one of the best package at the moment talking about tours. So, we are very satisfied and the relationship between the bands is perfect ..., yeah! everything is going excellent!

We think that the Lacuna Coil winning formula is a good vocal duett aswell as very good and ballnced guitar duo, but with this new album finally also the melodic aspect, the melodic parts has fully exploded and be emphasided to the past albums, which were the musical inspirations for this evolution?
Well, to be honest, we didnt planned anything before we wright that album, it's just something that we discovered after the recording, it's something that came out really spontaniously , naturally.... of corse year by year you listen to your stuff and grow up as person as well as an artist, and so you learn to work on your own songs. This album is definitely haevier and more mature than everybody sayed, but it's like this: that it is more dynamic, more various, you can find a lot of different aspects and athmospheres on it, ... it ranges from more melodic and sad stuff to more heavy and aggressive stuff, yeah, and probably the winning formula of Lacuna Coil is that we are able to mix a good image to good music, you know, it's a good combination, but we learn to work on every aspect to be complete artists and not just to be musicians. 

Lacuna Coil are playing a seven string guitar too.....
yeah...

is that to get a better quality of the sound.....
...and also to get lower tones...

Do you think to use this guitar in the future too?
Yeah, definitely! I mean, it's something we have more, something we can add to our music because you can use different notes, because with a seven string guitar you can reach different notes, and we will continue to use both.

But is it maybe also a trendy aspect to use guitars with more strings than six strings?
Well, it is like if you can play on a piano with more keys, .. you can do much more with that, you can add more notes to your music.... 

...so it is more effective...
... well, it is not only more effective, it is much more than a trend. I mean, it is not enough to say "i have a seven string guitar", you must be able to play it, and i think it is something what permits you to add something more to the songs.

I have to say that i'm a little bit disappointed about Andrea Ferro's vocals on the new album.
i'm totaly satisfied with his new way, because fact is that it is to easy for many singers just to scream, and i think that the impact of the music is not only due to the strong voice, but of the total of instruments and vocals . I think that one is only ableto recognize a good singer when he is able to sing in a clear way, because sometimes it is too easy just to scream. In some parts he screams too, but for most of the songs i think it is better to make them with a clear voice, but that doesn't mean that in the future he don't use his screaming voice, because still we love distorted guitars and heavy music.

Your vocals seam to come out of technical engagement and a lot of practice. So the question is, how much spontanuos and natural is your way of singing?
100% , because i never took lessons, so i can not really say that i improve because i took lessons or whatever, it is something that came spontaneously, which just that kind of music  had done, and this is the resoult. We definitly tried to experiment something with the boys. 

Congratulations....
... probably i improved singing during the tours, maybe it is that the point...

In your new album, There are dark themes, expressed by titles like ... The Ghostwoman and the Hunter...or... Daylight Dancer..... so, are you melancholic Dreamers or melancholic Vampires?
well.... , probably both and none of them, i think that when you are a little bit more closer to yourself, doing an inner research of yourself it's easyer to be more inspired, because when you are happy, you just want to go out with your friends and have fun; but when you are, i wouldnt say melancholic or sad, but relaxed, alone with yourself, then you can find really good lyrics,.... they are more intense compared with the happy and positive passages of your life

You are one of the few Italian bands really internationally known and respected from labels too..
... (laughing)...

 ....how is the situation in Italy, you are well known in Italy and maybe someone expects more...
... not really, because in Italy is not a big market for rock or metal however, because in Italy we don't have roots, we dont have roots in Metal or Rock as for example in Germany. The main music in Italy is still the commercial sound or the typical Italian singers like Eros Ramazzotti, so at the moment there is not enough space for the Metal or Rock scene, but i can say that, even if just in the underground, the situation is changing, thanks to bands like Lacuna Coil or Rapsody or Labyrinth... they change the opinion of the people outside of Italy,.... because in the past they where thinking "ok, they try to be clones of other bands" and now they know that there is something positive in countries without a big Rock or Metal history....

All the bands whith are coming from Italy, underground or not, are full of ideas...
... yeah!, but due to the lack of support from Italy itself, most of the bands try to get the success out of Italy, just because there is not enough space in italy, even if there is a quiet big scene in Italy, ... it is really complicated in Italy...


You have songs with lyrics  in Italian, and we personally think that this is a very cool aspect, but paradoxally some Italians i was talking about didnt understand that much these lyrics......
... (laughing)... That's really weird, i also did a translation in english, but if the Italians dont understand Italian they can have a look to our website. Maybe thats because we dont use all that silly words most of the italian artists use, the fact is that ... i like Italian language , it's a really warm and beautiful language but i prefer to sing in English you can give a very intense meaning with just a few and simple words, in Italian you need to do a bigger research, because the most Italian words used in lyrics are sun or love and stuff like that and we didn't really want to use this kind of stuff, so we probably wrote a sort of lyric very hermetic but the meaning you can easily understand, at least if you read it! 
Maybe everyone can give another meaning , but it is very easy to understand what we say .

How much important is your producer Waldemar Sorychta for your success?
Well, at the very beginning he's been very very important, because of corse we were newcomers and we didnt really know anything about the studio and the way to recording an album. Talking about Comalies, it's a co- production so we cause our own sounds... especially of guitars and drums, we really want to have guitars in the front this time, because in the past we were more concentrated to put the voice in the front, and i have to say that Waldemar is the perfect person to work with, because he is really open, he is open to learn something new 

Who are the "coilers"?
The "coilers" are all the persons that are supporting us during these years. We know that our success depends from them and we'll always be grateful for that.
 
Would you please describe with only one word each of your full length albums? 

In a Reverie: innocent.  Unleashed memories: melancholic.  Comalies: elegant.

Which Italian town do you consider the more "gothic"? Venice, Rom, Milan or others??

Is really hard to say. In Italy there's not a city with a "real" gothic scene, but a lot of people who love and respect this kind of music and the attitude.
Just looking at the people coming to our gigs this November I would say Milano or Rome, but it's too reductive to judge the scene from a couple of gigs!

Cristina you said that the English audience is one of the best ones you have met so far. Why?

Because at the Astoria in London last 31 of October we saw 1600 people going crazy, singing our songs and giving us a lot of energy. Sometimes people don't realize how big is the importance of an energetic reaction from an audience, during a gig. The artist can recharge himself getting good vibes and give more on stage. 

And finally our last typical gryphonmetal question we are proposing to every band we interview for the first time: we call it The Game of the Tower: there is a very high tower and on this tower three bands are waiting for you, and you can save only one, the other two you have to push down to let them fall. For you Lacuna Coil  the 3 bands are: Meshuggah, Linkin Park, Slipknot.

Uh, very, very difficult question, as soon as I love the three bands... I will say Messhuggah stay on the tower, but just because they are better technically, that's not fair, anyway!
 
Thank you so much Cristina!