Metal Anarchy

During a recent interview with Metal Hammer, Lacuna Coil singer Cristina Scabbia opened up about stalkers. According to her, the situation got so bad that she once had to have FBI agents check on her “for one complete tour.”

Scabbia said the following while talking about a fan who tried to give her his wedding ring:

“That was to tell me he had ended a toxic relationship and to thank me for somehow saving him from something bad with my voice.

That was peculiar, but I did have actual stalkers that were potentially dangerous and would follow me around. I remember them sending me weird pictures of me covered in blood or sending me pictures of a foetus.

I reported it, and for one complete tour I had an FBI agent in every town checking on me. It was not only disturbing, it was also boring for me because I had to be confined on a tour bus every day.

Despite this, she says she doesn’t regret participating in things like Revolver’s “Hottest Chicks In Metal” issues:

“I don’t see the negativity [in those lists] at all. I know a lot of people are against this because they see it as sexism, but I thought it was just a way to say ‘beautiful’. I didn’t see it as something that objectified me.”

She also added the following during a separate interview with Belgian Jasper [via Blabbermouth]:

“The thing is that I never saw the malice in it. I always thought that it’s actually a very powerful thing for a woman to be feminine. I love women power. I love to be empowered by who I am, and I don’t want to hide myself because I’m a woman and if I show my legs that means I’m worth less. That’s not my problem. So when I actually went on that cover of Revolver magazine, because I was the very first woman to to actually appear on that cover, for me, it was just the biggest honor because it was the first time that a magazine, an American magazine, would give a woman the pleasure of being on a cover. So for me, it was something that blew my mind back then.”

“I was just happy if more women could come on board of this women-fronted, the female-fronted band [movement], stuff like that, even if that’s a definition that I never liked. Maybe because I was coming from a different world before Lacuna Coil — I was listening to a lot of dance and R&B music, so, for me, it was already normal to see women playing music and singing. It was nothing new. Metal was predominantly followed by guys because it was a more aggressive and heavy sound, but I never looked at myself as the different element or I am different or I’m worth less because I’m a woman.

So it was never my personal problem. It is true that perception of people — you have to deal with it. You have to expect a reaction. Everything you do, everything you say, you have to expect a reaction. And I would never go over the line, showing myself, but that’s because I don’t want to do it. But I don’t care about what other persons want to do, other women want to do with their body — it’s up to them, and I’m not going to judge them, but for sure you have to prepare to a reaction as soon as you do something.

It’s discouraging that they only see the look of it, but I’m also sure that every woman included in those Revolver magazine ‘Hottest Chicks In Metal’ were talented as well. So at least we got attention back then. And I mean, it happened to ladies as well to look at a singer because he was hot or considered sexy a singer. So whatever. If you can use it as a tool to get attention and you’re okay with it, as long as it’s your decision, you can do whatever you want.”