BraveWords' ongoing coverage of this year’s 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise (which sailed on February 4th aboard the Royal Caribbean Independence Of The Seas from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale near Miami, FL, to Falmouth, Jamaica and returned to the real world on February 8th) continues with one of the female-fronted highlights, Lacuna Coil, fronted by the lovely and talented Cristina Scabbia. The Italian Gothfathers are gearing up for their eighth studio album called Delirium, which is set for a worldwide release on May 27th via Century Media Records. We dig deep into the world of heavy metal cruising, musical inspirations, the branding of Lacuna Coil and of course Italian staples; food and wine!

Eat, drink and be metal!

BraveWords: So tell me about the cruise experience? How many have you been on.

Cristina: "So far, so good. This is our third one. We have done 70000 once before a couple of years ago. It's fun. It's a great environment and everyone wants to have fun. Even if they are not into your genre, they still come to check it out and have fun. It's interesting, because you can get new fans and hangout with the fans.”

BraveWords: You are comfortable with that?

Cristina: "Yeah, it's nice. Everyone is really laid-back... no one is stalking or anything like that at all. I mean, it's a vacation for fans as well, so everyone is in just a really chill mood. Yesterday went amazingly. Everyone was complimenting us and everything.”

BraveWords: I've done some of the best interviews of my career on this cruise as everyone is just so laid back, and no one can leave (laughs)! In terms of preparing professionally for something like this, anything different with that?”

Cristina: "Well, I think the biggest difference is that you don't really prepare at all... this is not the classic environment for metal shows, and you are prepared for issues. Coming in, we were jet-lagged, and we played at 9 - Italian time is six hours ahead. We were sleepy and not fully rested, but totally determined to put on the best show possible, even knowing there were going to be technical issues, but who cares?”

BraveWords: In what ways does being tired affect you?

Cristina: "When you are tired there is no other way to save yourself. You kinda have to give it all and wait to rest a bit before the show. The only thing you can do is drink a lot of water and some special remedies that help the voice out. But you can't really do much and you just have to feed off the energy of the crowd. Yesterday was really amazing - it was easy for all of us to absorb that energy and project it back to the crowd. I loved it. Everyone stayed until the end... everybody was happy about it.”

BraveWords: Yeah, the business concept is just amazing... it's very surreal. Going home and trying to explain this whole journey to those who have never experienced it is impossible! So your career path continues onward and upward.

Cristina: "Yeah, it's been great, especially for an Italian band.”

BraveWords: So, what fuels the soul?

Cristina: "We just love what we do. I think that's the easiest explanation. When I was younger I never had a dream of being a singer. But, when I found the right people, it became more apparent that this is something that I could maybe do. In the early days, we could never have imagined that we could live off of our music - thinking back to those early demos and such. So, it has been a totally amazing ride.”

BraveWords: If you look at the history of heavy metal it's amazing to see how female-fronted bands have really come to the forefront.

Cristina: "Everything has changed, but not too much. I get it, whether we like it or not, metal is male-dominated genre. I am happy that more females are coming on board and coming out to shows . Definitely women are more accepted now - it's no longer a weird thing. So, things have changed for the better in this way.

BraveWords: Do you hear from females that you have inspired?

Cristina: "All the time - which is very cool. I mean, I don't look at myself as a role model, but I am happy because I have paid my dues and have made no compromises. I love what I do, so I am happy if someone can become inspired by that.

BraveWords: Tell me about your other ventures too, the modelling and jewelry.

Cristina: "Modelling is a big word... apparently they like taking pictures of me (laughs). It's not really modelling...

BraveWords: Well, you are blessed with a great voice and great looks.

Cristina: "Well, thank you make-up (laughs)! I'm lucky I have friends who are great photographers and make me look good. I have fun with it, but I definitely don't consider myself a model at all. The jewelry thing started when I met this guy from England who is an amazing silver artisan and he suggested we work together in designing a ring. It wasn't planned. I like to go with the flow and not worry too much about the future.

BraveWords: Do you have any other branding ideas for Lacuna Coil?

Cristina: "We have thought about it - something such as a clothing line. But, it's not that easy. We would want to do it right - with the right people who we can give the ideas who will do it in a professional way. But, really, it just comes down to time.”

BraveWords: There is a long list of bands branding themselves on items like beverages and given your heritage, wine seems like a good fit!

Cristina: "We actually have a lot of ideas, but being Italian, if we do something food related it has to be good! We have definitely thought about it. We might do something like that in the future.”

BraveWords: BraveWords has a column called called Eat, Drink & Be Metal that talks about all of our favourite fetishes. Tell me about your heritage and what you like, as it relates to food.

Cristina: "We are obsessed - OBSESSED - with food (laughs). It's very typical of Italians to be talking about something completely unrelated to food, but then the conversation always ends up at food. Our bass player has a YouTube channel with his own food series, where he breaks down the Italian way of cooking and cuisine. I mean, this guy is dedicated - he has the words 'Food Core' tattooed on his knuckles... this is how intense he is with it.”

BraveWords: How about your family?

Cristina: "It was the typical family where the mother and grandmother would cook the huge festive meals for Christmas and New Years Eve. It was all about eating. Every wedding we would sit around eating for nine hours (laughs)!”

BraveWords: So, tell me about the dishes you would make for your family?

Cristina: "The first thing would be lasagna. I come to the states quite often, as my boyfriend lives here. Every time I come, we have friends coming to the house and I'll make something like handmade lasagna - the pasta and béchamel - everything is from scratch. Everybody loves it. So, I would say this is a classic in my family. I can pretty much make anything when it comes to pasta and sauces- things such as focaccia pizza.”

BraveWords: How is your gnocchi?

Christian:  The gnocchi is really good, but it's tough. It totally depends on the potatoes. You can be a master at making gnocchi, but if you don't have the right potatoes, which you might not even know til the end, it's not gonna be good.”

BraveWords: How about meats?

Cristina: "I'm not very good with the meats. That would be my low point. But, as I mentioned, I am really good with pasta sauces and focaccia pizza!”

BraveWords: How about wine?

Cristina: "I'm not a big drinker, but I can appreciate a good wine.”

BraveWords: Does your family back in Italy produce wine?

Cristina: "No no. We are from the North, where it's harder. It's easier if you are from around Tuscany and further south. You need the Vineyards. Where I live in Milano it would be polluted wine (laughs).”

BraveWords: Let's switch tracks for a moment to rock n' roll deaths. How do you handle the deaths of such people as Lemmy and David Bowie and others that have passed?

Cristina: "Lemmy was the hardest one to take because we had a chance to tour with Motörhead on Gigantour a few years back, which I believe to be around the beginning of his sickness. They had to cancel the last few shows because he wasn't feeling well. So, that was the one that hit me the hardest. I understand that he wasn't young, and lead an intense lifestyle, but it's always weird when a legend dies because you look at them as immortal. I was very saddened. These days we find out about these things in the worst ways, through texting and such, so it's kind of brutal. David Bowie was so out of nowhere - no one knew he was even sick.”

BraveWords: He was very private.

Cristina: "Very private. So, yeah, his death hit me too.”

BraveWords: We are all at the age that it's not going to stop, right?

Cristina: "My brother says it best; he said these people lived your life times 1000 - you had a beer, they had 1000. You had a woman, they had 1000. You traveled the world, they traveled the world 1000 times.”

BraveWords: ... and for Lemmy to get to 70 - just incredible!

Cristina: "He definitely had a good time!”