CRYPT MAGAZINE: sex. horror. rocknroll.

by J.J.2.NUTS!

Photos by: Janee'

Lacuna Coil is by all means an interesting band whom is presently touring on the Jagermiester Music Tour along with Shadows Fall and Stone Sour. Despite their hectic schedule and chaotic pre and post show happenings at the sold out Boston venue I was able to sit down with guitarist Cristiano Migliore, and find out just what Lacuna Coil is about. Thanks in full to their tour manager Gus. You’re a solid dude and run a tight ship Bro!
The pre show backstage was chill, as me and my wife sat at a table with Cris and observed the spread of buffet style food and none other than the Lizard Man himself sparkin a bowl in the corner, as he was the host for the tour. Since I have seen his stage show at the Boston tattoo convention and was a witness to the horror of him having a cement block smashed apart by a sledge hammer over his ballsack, I felt the need to advise him that there had to be a better way to make a buck.
Lacuna Coil call Italy home, so bear that in mind as I talk to Cris. His Italian accent and broken English made communication a little difficult but his chill down to earth persona and genuine desire to state his point, for the love of what he does made my time with him nothing short of a good time.

J.J.2. - So Cris, How long have you been with Lacuna Coil?

CM- Since the beginning, seven no I’m sorry almost ten years.

J.J.2. - Now it was founded in Italy, correct?

CM- Yeah!

J.J.2. Now your fan base in Italy compared to your fan base in the States

CM- It’s much more small.

J.J.2. - Is it smaller because Italy is smaller?

CM- No it’s smaller because there are lot less people.

J.J.2. - Strictly population Ratio!

CM- It’s going quite well but mostly are fan base is here it kinda start spreadin out and like it become so big, so it reflective then also in Italy and the rest of Europe.

J.J.2. - Is there a difference between Italy, Europe, and the States on how the audience receives you attitude or energy wise?

CM- I wouldn’t say it’s different in terms of energy or like the people or anything its pretty much the same thing to be honest. In Europe its like you go from one country to another in relatively short time and you have like a completely different culture and language and everything you can probably tell a little more when you play, but I mean its almost the same here. When you play in Massachusetts and you go to Texas it’s a completely different thing HAHAHA!

J.J.2. - HAHAHA! Now that’s a completely different country!

CM. But there’s not a huge difference, it’s like wherever we play it’s always a very good experience. And people are enjoying are music and even people who don’t know us you know. Especially on this tour were getting new fans every night and which is great you know it’s the same thing happens in Europe.

J.J.2, - Ozzfest or Blackest of the Black, Which was better for ya?

CM- Well Ozzfest is like the ultimate goal a band that plays this type of music, like when we where first asked in 2004 we where like what where like a band from Italy and it’s like us not really that big you know and got actually asked to play there it was really cool, it was one of the best tours we ever done. When we played in 2004 we were rotating on the second stage so it was a different kind of atmosphere you know like second stage is more like the new bands, people can mosh like a whatever there’s a lot more energy. When you play a main stage like we did this year it’s a lot tougher because a lot of people especially in the front are sitting down, so you have to play in front of people like this ((folds arms and makes angry face)) HAHA!

J.J.2. - HAHAHA! That sucks!

CM- And like all your fans are like back, all the way back you cant even see them.
But it’s been great both times especially because this year we had the chance to play
In front of a huge audience everyday.

J.J.2. - So Blackest of the Black sucked? HAHAHAHA!

CM- HAHAHA! No no I mean it didn’t of course I mean it’s two different things I mean a when we did Blackest it was like a real tour other than a huge festival its two completely different atmospheres!

J.J.2. Where you trained formally as a guitar player or

CM- yeah!

J.J.2. - So did you go to music school or anything?

CM- I didn’t go to any music school I didn’t study ever I just like picked up the guitar when I was fourteen or something

J.J.2. And never put it down?

CM- Just tried to figure it out that’s all I did.

J.J.2. - Yeah I’m a player to, that’s how I roll bro!

J.J.2. - Do you consider yourself political in anyway or are active with a cause you hold true?

CM- I wouldn’t say I’m actively political or anything I mean of course I have my thoughts and thing that I like and don’t but I’m definitely not someone who doesn’t care about what’s going on but I’m not either like someone who goes and I do this you know I try to do whatever I can when I have time, being all the time on tour all my time is like nine ten months on the road you get home and you just want to lay on the couch HAHAHA! And like stay there.

J.J.2. Do you write any of the lyrics?

CM- No Andrea and Cristina write all the lyrics

J.J.2. - Do you have a song that Lacuna Coil plays that’s a personal song to you or that you relate to the most?

CM-It’s hard to say because you know, I can like songs different songs then what they would do because of the lyrics they wrote, because for them probably the lyrics would have a special meaning and for me I read the lyrics and I don’t know what was going on in there mind so you know, so I have songs that I like because of the music I did, so there really isn’t one for me personally.

J.J.2. - Now musically is there a riff or a song that you wrote and have said to yourself that ones it, that’s the one that I fuckin nailed?

CM- AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! It’s not really like that especially on this album we worked a lot together but usually on all of our previous albums Marco wrote most of the music for the songs. This album we just started working more as a band, you know trying to bring ideas like everybody will bring something in. So there are songs where Marco did something or I did something and then we switched around with parts in the songs so theres a little bit of something that I of me personally in every song. So I would say there are a couple of songs that are my favorite like What I see and To the edge and Within me for example but I mean
I just really happy with the whole album and the way it turned out.

J.J.2. each song is like one of your kids huh! Can’t pick favorites.

CM- yeah!

J.J.2. – What are the best and worst things about having two vocalists and stage presences in one band?

CM- Well its really hard because the voice is one of the most, how would you say like delicate parts of the music because if a singer gets sick they cant sing if a guitar player gets sick he can sit in a chair or something so having two vocalists actually doubles the problems and sensitivity of the band.

J.J.2. That’s true I never thought of it like that.

CM- The good thing is that we have more options when it comes down to music something work more with Cristinas voice and some work more with Andrea. And sometimes we just switch around to see what sounds better so it gives you a lot of options to lay around with and stuff. I don’t really think there are any worst things except the fact that if they both get sick and that’s a problem.

J.J.2. - What’s the next step or goal for Lacuna Coil?

CM- Just keep like playing and recording music and everything that surrounds it. Being here after all this time it’s like a great goal for us already its like to keep on doing what we love is probably the best thing we could hope for.

J.J.2. Is there any one underlying influence that either you personally or the band as a whole feed off of?

CM- There are a real lot of influences in are music we are six people in the band so everybody pretty much listens to whatever he likes and a it can be anything from a punk rock to deathmetal to classical music. I think that more or less everything that we listen to influences our music there are some things that probably we would not use like country music but something when you play them a little different and adapt it to a song and your like wow.

J.J.2. What has been the most profound change in your life as a result of the success Lacuna Coil has achieved?

CM- Well now I can finally survive and play music, I don’t have to work anymore which is something that is probably the best thing for a musician. You know I remember since we started the band it was like ten years ago as I said earlier, for about seven, eight years we all had to work other than be on tour and like record and write music, which sucks because you don’t really have enough time to do that you know you have to work and when you stop working you have to rehearse. But definitely the biggest change in all our lives is we can finally live with the music we play.

J.J.2. - Is there anything you would like to say to our readers or a statement you would like to go out on?

CM- Well if you wanna check us out you have two chances either this Jagermeister music tour or a right after we are gonna headline for the first time in early May. On tour with Within Temptation, In This Moment, and Stolen Babies. It’s gonna be a long tour so we have the opportunity to play long sets and it’s gonna be good so hopefully we will see a lot of you there.