Cristina Scabbia and Cristiano Migliore from Lacuna Coil interview

talking about Shallow Life, and the band's new sonic direction on Sat 1st Aug 2009

Earlier this year a photo of Italian rockers Lacuna Coil surfaced online. A promotion for their forthcoming album 'Shallow Life, it depicted vocalists Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro as an airhead diva and her pimp, preening on a billboard while the rest of the band, clad in black, looked on below.

Naturally, fans of the Coil's gothic metal graces were irate and concerned. Already with 2006's 'Karmacode', the band's ethereal sound had taken a turn for the rock mainstream and now it seemed they were moving even further away from their metal roots.

"Some people didn't get it," sighs Cristina referring to the offending picture. "They were writing emails like 'why did you guys change so much?' I said it's just a picture fitting with the name of the album, we're not going to be dressed like that! Then when they listened to the songs they were like, 'OK you didn't change that much'."

Lacuna Coil

eGigs is sitting with Cristina and guitarist Cristiano Migliore on the band's swanky tour bus (rented – Cristiano tells us, "It costs far too much to maintain a bus permanently") parked up outside the Liverpool Barfly where they will be taking to the stage in just over an hour. Two of the friendliest people you could ever wish to meet despite being jet-lagged and tired, Cristina greets us enthusiastically, one of those sickening women who look stunning despite being dressed simply with minimal make-up, (eGigs feels utterly diminished by comparison) while Cristiano is as pleasant and charming an interviewee as you could possibly hope for.

They are currently on a whistle-stop UK tour consisting only of four dates - playing London, Liverpool, and Glasgow before returning to London for this year's Kerrang Awards. Tonight will only be the fourth time they've had the chance to play new material in the UK since the release of 'Shallow Life' in April. An unmitigated success for the band, it entered the US Billboard chart at number 16, the singles 'Spellbound' and 'I Like It' receiving airplay on MTV2, taking them into the realms of success uncharted before.

"We were expecting an improvement," admits Cristina, "With the previous album 'Karmacode' we entered at 28th place so we were expecting an improvement and thank God we've been lucky. Sixteenth place on the Billboard chart, especially now with the crisis of the record companies and record sales, is a great result."

As well as the pimp/diva picture, fears were sparked by the band's choice of producer for the album – Don Gilmore, who had worked on albums by Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne and Good Charlotte. It certainly appeared the band were aiming for a more commercial sound.

Lacuna Coil

"Don was the one who really believed in the album. He totally loved the songs, he understood the potential of the album so he kind of convinced us to work with him," says Cristina in defence of their choice of producer. "He came to Milan, he came to the practice room, we went out for dinner because we wanted a person who could be good for the human side as well and we found he was a great guy. He had a great portfolio, he was a perfectionist, he gave us great advice about the songs... He didn't really change them because they were already written but he helped us to make them that little bit better."

"People were afraid it might sound like Avril Lavigne or Linkin Park when they heard we were working with Dom," says Cristiano. "But if you listen to the album, it doesn't sound anything like that. He just tried to get the best out of us."

Whilst it's true 'Shallow Life' may not contain anything as openly directed at the rock mainstream as say 'My Happy Ending' or 'In the End', not even the band can deny that there's been one hell of a sonic shift. Based on pop hooks, big choruses and watered-down undemanding rock rather than heavy riffs, it's more to the point literally as well as lyrically - there's not one song over four minutes long - with simple musical structures and few discernible solos. However, it's also some of the catchiest work they've done. Opener 'I Survive', despite it's brawny style, is one of the heaviest things they've recorded while the positively dancey 'I Like It' and the irrepressible 'I'm Not Afraid' fizz with playful energy. "Music-wise we didn't really plan to go in certain direction," says Cristiano when quizzed about their new tack. "We love metal music but at the same time as we grow older our tastes have changed – that doesn't mean we want to play pop music or anything like that as you can hear on the album there are songs that are still quite heavy, it's not like it's a pop pop album."

"This album is an evolution of the music, of Lacuna Coil," agrees Cristina firmly. "It wouldn't have been honest of us to put out an album that sounded exactly like 'Karmacode' or 'Comalies' because it's not creative. Every artist with a new album can win over new fans and lose fans. That's natural for any kind of band. We just felt that we wanted to be honest. If you listen to the old stuff there's nothing as extreme, that 'oh my God', we went from Brutal Truth, or Carcass to today. We always had a lot of melody in our music."

'Shallow Life' is the band's fifth full-length album and although tonight the queue beginning to snake around the venue is made up almost exclusively of fans of the metal persuasion, since the album's release the band have noticed a definite change in their clientèle.

"You can totally see the difference now," enthuses Cristiano. "Especially yesterday in London we saw a lot of young kids who probably saw the songs on MTV. When we played 'Spellbound' they obviously knew it as well as they know 'Our Truth' or 'Heaven's A Lie' which are our biggest hits so far. It's great, it means people are finding out about the band every day. We've had a long time to get to where we are, we didn't get popular overnight."

The band have been together, albeit with varying line-ups, for over ten years, releasing their eponymous EP in 1998. The success they're suddenly experiencing on a wider scale is something that no-one would begrudge them and fast forwarding an hour, as they take to the stage this crowd of devotees seem as welcoming of the new material as the old. Watching them belt out a set including tracks from only their last three albums it's saddening to think they might be leaving their old style behind forever and of how easy it seems for them to do so, but tonight's show is nothing short of exciting and more importantly, fun.

"To define Lacuna Coil as a metal band I don't think is right any more," Cristiano had told us earlier on the bus. "We're still attached to the old songs, to the old albums. But what Lacuna Coil is today is what you can hear from listening to 'Shallow Life'."

Lacuna Coil

article by: Dannii Leivers

photos by: Sophie Maughan

published: 12/08/2009 09:52



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