Lacuna Coil axman Cristiano Migliore (Photo: Clay Patrick McBride)

++Each week Cristiano “Pizza” Migliore’s, guitarist for Lacuna Coil, will be checking in with Guitar World with updates from Lacuna Coil’s headlining U.S. tour for their new release, Shallow Life.++

July, Sunday, 26th - Chico, CA

Chico seems like a pretty nice town. When I wake up and have my morning (ok, afternoon...) espresso, I look outside the tour bus windows and we’re parked by a park. There are trees everywhere and today’s venue is a theatre. Everybody’s out for a walk or looking for a bite to eat and, after snacking something, I decide to wander inside.

The crew’s been hard at work already and the stage’s almost set. CriZ, our drummer has had some problems with his wrist and he’s looking for a physiotheraphist in town but, but because it’s Sunday he can’t find anyone so decides to go to a nearby hospital instead.

Unfortunately, the ER is full of people and he can’t stay because it’s getting late and he comes back to the venue right in time for soundcheck. Hopefully he’ll be able to play tonight. His wrist really hurts and we’re even considering canceling the show, which is something we never had to do before. It’s a tough decision because, for one, we don’t wanna disappoint our fans and, for two, because it would mean losing a lot of money that we need to make sure the expenses for the tour stay as low as possible!

After a long discussion, and a few painkillers, it’s decided that we’re gonna play. It’s a gamble but we’re ready to at least try. We only have two more shows before we head back to Europe for 10 days and the other bands are all talking about pranks that would happen onstage. It’s kind of a ritual that when a tour ends all the bands play jokes to the one another and since we’ve been friends with Seventh Void’s Johnny and Kenny we know we should expect the worst...

And sure enough while we’re on, here they come! They walk onstage while we play “Heaven’s a Lie,” in their underwear, with pillows and start hitting everybody. It’s hard to play when somebody beats the crap outta you and you laugh so hard you actually have tears coming outta your eyes! It’s a lot of fun though: they even bring an armchair onstage and Cristina and Marco sit on it while playing the final part of “Enjoy the Silence” while Johnny “helps” CriZ playing drums.

Lacuna Coil getting comfy

The show’s great but some people, seeing this crazy stuff going on, decide to walk onstage as well and our crew have to take ‘em off the stage right during the encore... Crazy night indeed!

Lacuna Coil axman Cristiano Migliore (photo: Tom Couture)

++Each week Cristiano “Pizza” Migliore’s, guitarist for Lacuna Coil, will be checking in with Guitar World with updates from Lacuna Coil’s headlining U.S. tour for their new release, Shallow Life.++

July, Sunday, 12th - Seattle, WA

Today we're in Seattle, we haven't been here in a couple of years (since when we played the Blackest of the Black with Danzig.) The venue's small but nice and we find out that there's an Italian restaurant just right around the corner. We decide to give it a try and, actually, we find out it's really good! The manager and one of the waitresses are Italian, from Naples and, as always when Italians meet around the world, we start talking super loud, waving our hands in the air... yes, it's true: we do that a lot.

After dinner (and a few glasses of Limoncello, a pretty strong liquor made with lemons) we head back to the bus and have a couple of hours to relax before the show.

When it's finally time to get ready I can barely move: I'm so full! While walking towards the stage I regret eating so much but it's not like I really had a choice; Good Italian food—NOT Olive Garden—isn't easy to find and missing out would've been a crime.

Once again the show goes great. It's interesting to see how well “Spellbound” (the first single off of our latest album Shallow Life) does every night. People freak out when we start playing it and it gets the same kind of reaction that our older classics like “Heaven's a Lie” or “Our Truth” get.

After the show some people decide to go to a nearby bar: this is the last night of Seventh Void's guitarist, Jo Porfido (who plays with Agnostic Front and is only filling in for SV's original guitarist for a few shows) and everybody's out to party with him. Good times!

Lacuna Coil axman Cristiano Migliore

++Each week Cristiano “Pizza” Migliore’s, guitarist for Lacuna Coil, will be checking in with Guitar World with updates from Lacuna Coil’s headlining U.S. tour for their new release, Shallow Life.++

July, Saturday, 11th - Milwaukee, WI
After travelling all night I wake up and, slowly, get up and walk to the front lounge. Most people are already up and there’s fresh coffee made! I put some clothes on and have a cup; it definitely helps in waking up. Outside the bus there are already some fans waiting and I sign a few autographs while I walk to the venue. It’s awesome to witness the dedication of our fans. It always amazes me.

The venue is the Rave, we played here many times before but we’re in for a nice surprise: they completely restored it and there are new dressing rooms right by the underground “haunted pool.” Apparently, many years ago, two girls drowned in this pool and it’s been closed ever since. Obviously every band that’s been there has somehow sneakily had the chance to walk into the basement and see it. I must admit that it used to be quite spooky. Now it’s all cleaned up and you can actually walk through the room to go to the stage. But no matter how clean and bright it is now, it still retains its mysterious aura.

We have a meet-and-greet tonight and it’s a pretty quick one. Pre-sales are looking good and when we walk onstage the room is pretty full. The show goes great once again although the sound onstage is a little weird. It doesn’t matter though, people are here to have fun and we do too.

Then I take a nice, hot shower and bring my stuff back to the bus. There are several people waiting there and we hang out with them for a while before it’s finally time to leave. I better go to bed, tomorrow’s a pretty important day: I gotta meet the parents!
 

Lacuna Coil axman Cristiano Migliore

++Each week Cristiano “Pizza” Migliore’s, guitarist for Lacuna Coil, will be checking in with Guitar World with updates from Lacuna Coil’s headlining U.S. tour for their new release, Shallow Life.++

July, Friday, 3rd - Italy Six AM, the alarm goes off and I slowly get up and get dressed. I gotta be at the airport by 8:30 and it'll take me about 1 hour and a half to get there (hopefully traffic won't be horrible). My wife and I leave the house at 7, after drinking a huge cup of coffee (man, I'm so slow in the morning) and we leave the little town where we live to go meet the rest of the band at Milan-Malpensa airport.

Luckily, we get there perfectly on time and after having a quick breakfast at the bar (cappuccino and croissants: the typical Italian breakfast) we proceed to the check-in area where we stood for ages before we get our boarding passes and, as usual, they charge us with over-weight (I don't know why but we always manage to pay extra every time we travel.).

After saying goodbye to our wives/girlfriends/family, we walk to the gate and get on the plane, which, upon leaving the hangar and getting onto the runaway, completely shuts off, leaving everybody on board with a slight sense of panic! This is when you really don't want to be on a freakin' plane! What if it turns off while we're flying over the ocean! Hell, I don't even wanna think about it...