BW&BK; caught up with SCARLET SINS guitarist Cristina Bishop prior to the band's March 8th Canadian Music Week showcase in Toronto to discuss the band's self-titled debut album and their plans for 2008.

“I think I’m the only person that isn’t quite sure what to call our style of music,” Bishop laughs. “It seems that all the non-metal people call us metal and all the really hard-core metal fans think of us as hard rock. I’m kind of torn because I love metal and I’ve always known it to be a genre of music that has a lot of virtuosity and amazing, talented players. So, when I compare the complexity of albums that I like to our album I would say we’re progressive on the rock side, but I don’t know that I’d call it metal. I’d call it Part Metal (laughs). I can’t fit our CD into any genre. I think the problem with metal is that the fans love it so much that they’re afraid of it changing. Maybe we’re a new type of metal band. I’d love to sit down with Sam Dunn (director of Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey) and ask him where Scarlet Sins would fit in on his charts of metal categories (laughs).”

Bishop blames Vai’s ‘The Audience Is Listening’ for her gradual descent into heavy metal hell. Listening to her talk about her other influences, the next Scarlet Sins record promises to put an end to the whole “metal or not?” debate.

“I have a lot of influences, like Metallica, and lately I’ve been getting into a lot of Lamb Of God and Trivium, so I’m really interested and excited to see how the next album is going to turn out. I definitely want to go in a heavier direction. I like the way Trivium has a lot of poppiness and hooks in their choruses. At the same time I like Lamb Of God’s straight ahead aggressive riffs, so who knows where we’re going to end up. I’ve been taking guitar lessons because I decided that I need to become a shred goddess (laughs). I need to play like my idols, Yngwie (Malmsteen) and Zakk (Wylde). I’ve always been into melody because of my classical music background, but you can still have melody and play fast, which is why I like Yngwie. Some shredders bore me to death and I don’t want to name names, but Yngwie’s been able to accomplish shredding with lots of melody.”

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