By Sarah Andrews,
The first song I ever heard by Lacuna Coil was "purify" and since then I have been addicted to this band, their combination of mellow female+male vocals and their goth sound is truly amazing, plus Cristina’s voice is one of the most beautiful voices I’ve heard in a long time. The great thing about Lacuna Coil is you can listen to them when you’re happy, sad, angry or excited. This is a band that will truly blow you away, so if you haven’t heard them already make sure you do! And I had the GREAT pleasure in interviewing their gorgeous front woman....Cristina Scabbia!
Sarah Andrews: How did Lacuna Coil begin? and Where did the name come from?
Cristina Scabbia: We created the name in "97, combining Lacuna that is an Italian word that means "a lack of somethins" and coil, spiral in English.
The same year we produced a promo tape with two songs and we send it to some labels we were interested in. We got soon some replies and we decided to sign with Century Media in the end of "97. In December we were already on tour with Moonspell.
Sarah: Why did you decide to use male and female vocals?
Cristina: It just happened. In the beginning the band had just Andrea as a singer, but then they asked me to do some choruses for the promo I told you before. They really liked the result and they asked me immediately to join them. Then we continued on this way also because it was interesting to have two different voices , to use every note of the musical spectrum. It"s like we are other two instruments that can be helpful in the songs.
Sarah: How would you describe the sort of music Lacuna Coil makes?
Cristina: We have never been able to describe our music. Some people classify us as a gothic band, because we are always dressed in black, a colour we love. The fact is that we are a mixture between gothic, metal, rock with modern influences. We think that is not useful to close yourself in a cliché because we decided to become musician to express an art, not for business. In this way you have to be free to mix different influences and musical cultures. This is exactly the thing we do: Lacuna coil music.
Sarah: Who are your main influences?
Cristina: Nobody, excluding ourselves and our deepest feelings. We don"t have idols but we respect too many musician to consider one of them as an inspiration. Life is our inspiration.
Sarah: How long did it take before you started to get noticed by the media?
Cristina: Well, immediately after the release of our first ep, "Lacuna coil"!
Sarah: What do you think about being described as a "sex symbol"?
Cristina: To me it sounds funny because this perfectly show you how much the image is important for the people that doesn"t know you personally, even if you are not exactly as the "sex symbol" in the picture. Some people think about me as a "femme fatale" even if I"m a really normal girl who is in a good relationship with herself. I"m proud to be a woman and I like to play with my femininity. I would like to give a good example to all the girls that are not tall as top models or they have some chilos more on their legs. They can be incredibly beautiful, if they love themselves.
Sarah: What other bands have you played with?
Cristina: Too many! Moonspell, The gathering, Theatre of tragedy, Samael, Lacrimosa, in Flames, Dimmu Borgir, Nevermore, Amorphis, Susperia, Grip inc., Skyclad...plus several other bands and a lot of festivals.
Sarah: Where has been the best gig you’ve played so far?
Cristina: The three gigs we"ll never forget are at the Dynamo open air festival in 1999 in front of about 15000 persons, in Mexico city in December 2000 with the incredible Mexican fans, and definitely the Wacken open air 2001 in front of 20000 screaming kids. We spent all our energies that day.
Sarah: What has been the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you onstage?
Cristina: Nothing special, luckily!!!!!!
Sarah: If you could do a duet with anyone else in the world who would it be?
Cristina: Sting is an artist that I love. Probably i would like to work with him.
Sarah: What do you think of bands like "my ruin" "kittie" and "snake river conspiracy"?
Cristina: I know kittie and My ruin just for their names and image, i don"t know their music. I don"t think anything special, even if I"m not that aggressive to perform like that. I personally prefer to preserve my femininity, even in metal.
Sarah: What would be your advice to other people who want to be in a successful band?
Cristina: never forget that the goal is not to get a deal. After the deal there are a lot of sacrifices: money to spend, relationship really difficult to keep with boyfriend or girlfriend. Touring is wonderful but is not always easy and you really have to work hard. The advice I can give is be sure of yourself and your band and believe in what you can do, but be always respectful with the people, fans, non fans and musician who has different ides from your.
Sarah: What’s the BEST thing about being in Lacuna Coil?
Cristina: That we are doing what we want to do. How many people can say that they do the work they desired for years? A beautiful thing is also that you can visit a lot of countries and present your music worldwide.
Sarah: What’s the worst?
Cristina: The showers in some venues...
Sarah: If you could swap places with anyone for the day, who would it be?
Cristina: Not a person, but a bird. I really would like to fly. It has to be wonderful.
Sarah: What is your all time favorite Lacuna Coil song and why?
Cristina: Every song means a lot to me, it"s like to ask a mother which is her favourite son. If I have to choose just one I would say "Falling" because I wrote this song together with Marco Coti Zelati (my boyfriend) during a special period. But at the moment my favourite songs are the ones included in "Comalies" our new album that will be out the 23 of September.
Sarah: Which album would you describe as a "life changing album"?
Cristina: "Comalies" our new work. I"m sure that it will be THE album .
Sarah: Last but not least...give us three reasons why the world should listen to Lacuna Coil!!?
Cristina: Because we do free rock metal gothic modern music that nobody else does, because you can feel the good vibe during the listening and because we write beautiful songs.
Thank-you for taking the time to do this Cristina!! Lots of Love and respect, Sarah xxx
