When grunge and alternative rock ruled the rock mainstreem in 1994, Lacuna Coil were formed by lead vocalist Andrea Ferro and bassist/keyboardist Marco Coti Zelati. In the boot-shaped country known as Italy, Lacuna Coil were destined to bring their gothic imagery and heavy-smooth rock sound to the people of their country and all over the world. Every instrument matters in this group, whether they are counter pointing melodies of keyboards, or roaring bass lines, Lacuna Coil's orchestrated eminence generates beautiful harmonies.

As of fall 2009, Lacuna Coil heads for an all-embracing forty-three day North American tour titled "HardDrive Live Tour." The group will be showcasing their live act at the Music Farm on Monday. With their distinctive male-female lead vocals by Cristina Scabbia and Ferro, the band has continued to venture for an inimitable contribution to their genre.

But first, where did the band come up with their name?

"It's a name we created right before we signed the deal with our label," singer Cristina Scabbia. "It is translated as "empty spiral" just as "Lacuna" in Italian and English means something like a moment of a lack of memory, and "coil" obviously means "spiral."

The songwriting process in a band with two lead singers may take more endurance and tolerance than a band with one singer, but Lacuna Coil seems to exemplify closely how easy and trouble-free they are as a team.

"We all write our stuff together as a band, although Marco, our bass player is the one that coordinates and arranges the songs," said Scabbia. "The ideas come from everybody and me and Andrea are responsible for the vocal lines and lyrics. We love to be inspired by everything around us: movie soundtracks, books, LIFE. We let the inspiration flow from the inside."

Although Lacuna Coil is well known around their home continent of Europe, especially Italy, they feel the United States is really the region where their fans appreciate their style and involvement in the Goth/hard rock manner of music they perform.

"The United states is really receptive with newcomer bands, and the different crowds are always willing to give you a chance," said Scabbia. "We definitely love to play here and it's become our biggest market, we tour a lot in the U.S. Definitely more than in Italy, because even if we toured Europe several times, Italy is not exactly a place where rock and metal are really popular. We are the biggest export Italy has ever had in hard rock, so we can be happy."

If there's one aspect of their music and image they are proud of and can claim distinguishable, it's the fact they have two vocalists surrounding the heavy tones, thunderous drums, and eighties-esque synth-driving keyboards.

"We're not, in fact, being the 'beauty and the beast' but we're interacting a lot,"

said Scabbia. "Getting aggressive or mellow whenever we want despite of our masculine and feminine voices, plus the combination of our European roots,

combined with the modern American sound and some middle-eastern

influences a time, makes Lacuna coil's music special and unique."

This will be Lacuna Coil's first ever appearance in Charleston.

"We are totally excited," said Scabbia. "It's going to be fun!"

If you go

Who: Lacuna Coil, All That Remains, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster and Taking Dawn.

When: Monday 8 p.m.

Where: The Music Farm, 32 Ann St., downtown.

Cost: $18 in advance at www.etix.com, all Cat's Music and Monster Music locations. $20 the day of the show.

Hear the Music: www.myspace.com/lacunacoil.

Info: 577-6989, www.musicfarm.com.

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