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LACUNA COIL frontwoman Cristina Scabbia recently spoke to the web site of the group's official worldwide fan club, EmptySpiral.net, about the band's upcoming studio album and her work with Italian superstar Franco Battiato, among other topics. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow:
EmptySpiral.net: So, how’s the new album coming on, tell me all about it.
Cristina Scabbia: "The new album? Well, I cannot tell you that much, because we have a lot of ideas, and are still collecting ideas. We actually have so far, a couple of songs ninety percent done, not really, even less because we have to do all the arrangements, good sounds, it's sort of like pre-production with a couple of songs and they sound really, really good. I cannot really tell you how they sound [laughs] because…it’s definitely an evolution of 'Comalies' but it will not be so much different either way that you will find like a lot of aggressive parts and a lot of melody at the same time, so not totally far, but it will be something new."
EmptySpiral.net: So it's not going to be any kind of new direction or…?
Cristina Scabbia: "It will be a new direction, but I cannot really explain the kind of direction it would be because it will be a rock album…probably, the aggressivity will come out more from the music than from the voice, because in the voice there will be a lot of melody and a lot of variations, I'll be singing like monotone — there will be a good work on the vocal melodies too."
EmptySpiral.net: Any Italian songs?
Cristina Scabbia: "Not so far. We still have to find a lot of lyrics, maybe if it fits, if it will sound good, it will come natural, we don't want to do an Italian song just because hey, people like 'Senzafine'. We never worked it for the people directly, we worked it for ourselves because it's the best way to be sincere with yourself and with your fans. We don't want to make asses…"
EmptySpiral.net: You worked with Franco Battiato. How did that come about?
Cristina Scabbia: "Well, it just happened that, I was doing the Ozzfest and I got mail from…No, actually, I was doing the P.O.D. tour before Ozzfest and I got a mail from his manager, he told me that he was interested in working with me. And I totally admire this guy, I saw some stuff in Italy that said he's a pop artist. He's everything but pop. He's pop in the way he's popular, but he's the antithesis of the pop artist. He's like a poet, if you read his lyrics it's really weird, he works with a poet, and they're really cryptic. So I just realized that he's probably the only artist I wanted to work with, because he was really far from other artists like Ramazzotti — really commercial ones. I found a lot of stuff in common with this artist, I spoke with him, I found a lot points in common. I mean, it's different from the LACUNA COIL style, I realize, but I really wanted to work with him."
EmptySpiral.net: So, how’s the new album coming on, tell me all about it.
Cristina Scabbia: "The new album? Well, I cannot tell you that much, because we have a lot of ideas, and are still collecting ideas. We actually have so far, a couple of songs ninety percent done, not really, even less because we have to do all the arrangements, good sounds, it's sort of like pre-production with a couple of songs and they sound really, really good. I cannot really tell you how they sound [laughs] because…it’s definitely an evolution of 'Comalies' but it will not be so much different either way that you will find like a lot of aggressive parts and a lot of melody at the same time, so not totally far, but it will be something new."
EmptySpiral.net: So it's not going to be any kind of new direction or…?
Cristina Scabbia: "It will be a new direction, but I cannot really explain the kind of direction it would be because it will be a rock album…probably, the aggressivity will come out more from the music than from the voice, because in the voice there will be a lot of melody and a lot of variations, I'll be singing like monotone — there will be a good work on the vocal melodies too."
EmptySpiral.net: Any Italian songs?
Cristina Scabbia: "Not so far. We still have to find a lot of lyrics, maybe if it fits, if it will sound good, it will come natural, we don't want to do an Italian song just because hey, people like 'Senzafine'. We never worked it for the people directly, we worked it for ourselves because it's the best way to be sincere with yourself and with your fans. We don't want to make asses…"
EmptySpiral.net: You worked with Franco Battiato. How did that come about?
Cristina Scabbia: "Well, it just happened that, I was doing the Ozzfest and I got mail from…No, actually, I was doing the P.O.D. tour before Ozzfest and I got a mail from his manager, he told me that he was interested in working with me. And I totally admire this guy, I saw some stuff in Italy that said he's a pop artist. He's everything but pop. He's pop in the way he's popular, but he's the antithesis of the pop artist. He's like a poet, if you read his lyrics it's really weird, he works with a poet, and they're really cryptic. So I just realized that he's probably the only artist I wanted to work with, because he was really far from other artists like Ramazzotti — really commercial ones. I found a lot of stuff in common with this artist, I spoke with him, I found a lot points in common. I mean, it's different from the LACUNA COIL style, I realize, but I really wanted to work with him."