LACUNA COIL's CRISTINA SCABBIA: 'I'm A Little Bit Of A Tomboy'

Singer Cristina Scabbia of Italian heavy rockers LACUNA COIL recently spoke to the Chicago Tribune about the band's participation in this year's "Hottest Chicks In Hard Rock" tour alongside SICK PUPPIES, EYES SET TO KILL and CILVER.

"This thing about the hottest chick, it's been following me around since 2007," she said. "That's when I was on the cover of Revolver [magazine] for the first time.

"In one way, it's frustrating, because I'm still a singer, I'm not a model ... but I can't deny it's flattering. It's not a bad thing that they consider you a good-looking woman. ... A lot of people stay there all the time, but when they hear me singing, the problem goes away."

She added: "I don't really look at myself as a hot chick at all. I really feel like a tomboy. I have a lot of doubts about what the word 'hot' means. It's so much more behind the look that's attractive to me. Just looking at a picture of someone hot, what does that mean? That they look hot naked? That I would have sex with this person? It's a question mark. ...

"(In photo shoots) they never showed my boobs. I never went out half naked. That means I can communicate hotness in a different way, and that makes me proud.

Asked what it's like being the only female on a tour bus, Cristina said: "I'm a little bit of a tomboy. I'm constantly with the guys in a tour bus, 24 hours a day for months.

"I never saw myself as a girlie girl; that might be the key...

"The only privacy you have is in your bunk.

"It's a tough one. You just need to have it in your blood as a lifestyle. It's much more than, 'Ooh, you're going out to play for a lot of people. Must be cool.' There's a lot of sacrifice, especially since we're not making millions. We're struggling, too."

LACUNA COIL's new studio album, "Broken Crown Halo", will be released in North America on April 1 (one day earlier internationally) via Century Media Records. The CD was recorded Italy by producer Jay Baumgardner (P.O.D., SEVENDUST, EVANESCENCE, PAPA ROACH) and engineer Kyle Hoffmann (P.O.D., BUSH, ZEBRAHEAD). The effort was mastered by Howie Weinberg, whose credits include RAMMSTEIN, SOUNDGARDEN, NIRVANA, DEFTONES and SHERYL CROW.

"Broken Crown Halo" is LACUNA COIL's seventh studio effort, and the highly-anticipated follow-up to "Dark Adrenaline", which was released in January 2012 and saw the band tour with acts including MEGADETH, MOTÖRHEAD, VOLBEAT and SEVENDUST after debuting at No. 15 on The Billboard 200 album chart.