Lacuna Coil

I have easily listened to “Shallow Life,” the newest release from Milano, Italy born phenoms Lacuna Coil more times than any other release this year. With each play I am swept away by the dynamic interplay between the band’s two vocalists Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro and the bands infectious riffs n beats.  Whatever it took to capture the magic created on “Shadow Life” was well worth the effort.

Lacuna Coil has repeatedly been introduced to the US market over the past decade plus and while garnered increasing success, they have not yet attained what they are certainly capable of. “Shallow Life” may just contain the critical combination of elements needed to propel the band to substantial success. In 2006 their release Karmacode, peaked at number 28 on the Billboard 200, but the highly anticipated “Shallow Life” which was released on April 21, 2009 in the US, debuted at number 16 on the Billboard charts. While their early releases contained a heavier gothic rock element, the latest effort has softened some musical edges to produce a more accessible and straight forward hard rock release. Thanks to producer Don Gilmore, who has worked with pop artists like Avril Lavigne and Good Charlotte, their sound has never been more polished or vivid while maintaining the key elements that continue to set the band apart from others. Subtle bits of industrial and electronica can even be found infiltrating these infectious new metal anthems.  Outside of the vocalists, Lacuna Coil contains Cristiano “Pizza” Migliore (guitar) , Marco “Maus” Biazzi (guitar), Marco Coti Zelati (bass, keyboards) and Cristiano “Criz” Mozzati (drums, percussion)

In July of 2004 I interviewed Lacuna Coil for the first time. I recently was again fortunate enough to exchange a few questions with the band as they were gearing up for their next big gig, The HardDriveLive tour. Vocalist Andrea Ferro took the time to answer my questions.

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Lance Lopez

Louisiana native Lance Lopez has been playing professionally since he first started playing bars in New Orleans at the age of 14. He lived in Dallas for a short time as a child, and when his family moved back there while he was 17 he was hired to tour for six months with soul legend Johnnie Taylor. At 18 he was working with modern blues great Lucky Peterson, where he later became band leader at the age of 21. His first solo album First Things First was released in 1998. Lance has opened for such artists as Steve Vai, Jeff Beck, B.B King, Joe Bonamassa, and ZZ Top. His newest offering Salvation From Sundown is available now.

Maximum Ink: What was it like growing up in Louisiana and Texas? What were you like as a kid?
Lance Lopez: My parents split up when I was 5 so that was kinda rough and it gave me the Blues almost immediately. But other than that I had a good
ole Southern Boy upbringing. I played out in swamps and the woods. When I wasn’t in my bedroom practicing on my guitar, I was fishing and trying to catch Crawfish in the Bayou and going with my older brother to hunt Alligators and all kinds of crazy stuff like that. My mom could never find me if I wasn’t in my room playing guitar, I was either out in the woods or the swamp. I got bit by snakes and chased raccoons and did all kinds of crazy stuff like that. When we moved from Louisiana to Texas we moved to Dallas, and it’s a major big city. It was a big culture shock for me. I didn’t have any woods to run around in and no swamps to catch Crawfish and snakes in anymore. So I spent a lot more time playing guitar in my room. By that time I was 12 and I was obsessed with playing my guitar anyway. I would sit in school and literally fiend for my guitar, I couldn’t wait to get back home to play it.  I would play it first thing in the morning and as soon as I got home. And when I moved from Dallas to New Orleans to live with my Dad all I did was play, every waking second of the day. My Dad started taking me out to Bars in New Orleans and that is when I first started playing real gigs and then it was on (laughs)

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Kasey Lansdale

Native Texan Kasey Lansdale is not just the daughter of legendary author Joe R. Lansdale (she herself was published at Random House by the age of 8, the story which has been formed into a screenplay) she is also a well established country artist who can be found on the road most of the time. When not touring internationally, she works as the newest staff writer at Music Row Publishing House. Her third EP is tentatively titled ‘Never Say Never” and was produced by Mike Clute who has worked with artists like Faith Hill and Diamond Rio. Some of the best writers in Nashville show up for the tracks on this one with Bob DiPiero, Roxie Dean, and Victoria Banks lending their various styles to the mix. Lansdale joins forces co-writing with Arlos Smith and Clute on one of the five tracks as well.

Maximum Ink: What was it like growing up in Texas in the Lansdale household? Do you think some of the determination you have now is the result of your supportive upbringing? Did you look up to your father as writer growing up? What about your mother Karen do you find it helpful to have had such a strong female role model?
Kasey Lansdale: I think growing up in Texas at the Lansdale house was like growing up at any house. Normal, except the artwork depicting dead people on the walls. I do think my determination is from seeing my parents create and build their own business in a sense. I also think though, that you can’t teach that, you either have it or you don’t. But you have to learn the idea from somewhere. I know I couldn’t do this if I didn’t have their support. You get knocked down too many times to not have a support system of some sort. I look up still to both my parents. To me, dad wasn’t a writer, he was dad, and mom was mom. And they did their roles as such above and beyond.

MI: Have you always enjoyed country music? If you are like most of us who were raised country you remember your first favorite country song very well. What would you say was yours? Why do you think the roots of country music run so deep for most people with many favorite artists being passed from generation to generation?
KL: I have always enjoyed country music. I don’t remember my first CD, but I remember the two I would listen to over and over again was Reba, the greatest hits album with Fancy on it, Track 3, I think, and a Loretta/Patsy CD. I would play them on repeat and walk in circles around the fireplace with my dog on my heels. (He also likes country music.) I think country runs deep because the songs are about people. People in life, love, happiness, hardship. Things that everyone can relate to.

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Last Crack - Sinister Funkhouse Reunion

It started as a dream… to make it to the top. The formula is easy. Start a band, write some songs, get a singer, record a demo, get signed by a major label, put out an album, tour the world. Success.

And that’s exactly the way it started. Last Crack’s rise out of the local music scene in Madison is the thing of legend. Almost every band starts with the same credo in mind, but not many break through. For Last Crack, it was a given.

Many bands make their start from a garage or basement, but for Last Crack it would be a storage facility in Madison on Stoughton Road just off the beltline, and answering a classified ad from the Good n Loud billboard for a singer named Buddo in 1987.

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The Last Vegas

When you mix glam rock, gritty sound, and a few guys that look like they belong on Hollywood Boulevard you get THE LAST VEGAS. This Chicago based rock group will give you a “brutal appreciation of rock music… that’s gritty, sleazy, and dangerous,” according to vocalist Chad Cherry. Coming off their recent tour with their long time heroes and fellow glam rockers, Mötley Crüe, the band finds themselves headlining in a more intimate atmosphere.

Growing up on arena rockers like Aerosmith and The Doors, this quintet found themselves living a dream when they went on a stadium tour with the Crüe. After the dream tour THE LAST VEGAS are happy to play for smaller crowds in a more intimate atmosphere

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The Last Vegas

Michigan native Chad Cherry and his band The Last Vegas were awarded the iTunes “Rock Song of the Year” in 2009 for the song “I’m Bad off of the album “Whatever Gets You Off”.

The Last Vegas were then hand picked by Motley Crue as a part of Guitar Center’s “On-Stage” Program, and later signed and are managed by the Crue.

The band came together when some of the group were living in the small town of Normal, Illinois playing house parties and decided to take the act to Chicago where they met and where joined by Chad and his childhood friend Danny Smash.
 
Before being signed to Eleven Seven Music, they had independently sold well over 10,000 records, toured in over 17 countries and were designated the official music of Kyle Busch Motor Sports.

Maximum Ink: At what age did you first know you wanted to become a singer? What did you want to do before then?
Chad Cherry: I have always been guided and driven by music. At a very early age I crossed over to the dark side via rock-n-roll and sold my soul. I would say around the age of 14 or 15 I dove into writing and singing songs as more of something I took serious then just for the sake of me not being bored in a small town with nothing to do and nowhere to go. There was only one path that I have been on my whole life. I’ve always wanted to be a part of rock-n-roll chaos.

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Josiah Leming

Josiah Leming is likely most well known from his appearance on the seventh season of American Idol(he was cut right before the semifinals). The Idol stage is a long way from his hometown of Morristown in East Tennessee. He began writing his own music by the age of 16. Josiah has four previously released EP’s and his newest album Come On Kid is out now on Reprise Records. He is set to play the Loft in Madison, WI on October 22nd with Tyler Hilton.

Maximum Ink: I have read that would you rather end up dead in a ditch somewhere than to not be able to make music. Is that true? What do you think you’d end up doing for a living if not for the music? When did you first know you had to be a musician?
Josiah Lemming: Music is my thing and it makes me feel alive; it’s the only thing that does that and it’s the only thing I can do successfully. The statement stands strong, just maybe not quite as dramatic. If I did anything else it would still be music-related. I knew I wanted to pursue music around age 15.

MI: What was it like to come from East TN and end up playing for millions on American Idol? What did you learn from that?
JL: For me that wasn’t a dream come true because the ultimate dream is being on stage playing my own songs, so that was just a quick taste of what I’m going for. I’ve learned so much since then; I’m in a completely different mindset now.

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