IN THIS MOMENT Guitarist: 'Our Diehard Fans Are The Most Loyal And Dedicated Fans'

Ruben Mosqueda of Oregon Music News recently conducted an interview with guitarist Chris Howorth of Southern California's IN THIS MOMENT. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Oregon Music News: The last time you guys were in the area was in 2009 when you guys played the Warped Tour. I was an interesting place to see you guys since IN THIS MOMENT was clearly one of the heaviest bands on that tour. Comments amongst the crowd like, "Dude, they have a chick singer" were overheard. That show was no different. However, by the end of that brief five-song set you won them over and the kids were saying, "Dude, they have a killer chick singer!" That dust tornado that Maria (Brink) started in the mosh pit was a winner.

Howorth: We get both sides of that. We gets people saying stuff like, "They got a chick singer, let's check them out" because that's what caught their eye. Other times there's comments like , "They've got a chick singer I don't care about that at all." I will say that those people that are skeptical of the chick singer are pleasantly surprised when they actually hear the band because the music speaks for itself. Let's face it: Maria has a powerful voice and people don't expect that. I think it works out both ways for us. I think with this band everyone wants to hate us. We've done tours with MEGADETH; their fans really wanted to hate us. They see this girl walk out on stage in a dress it wasn't what they expected. We were able to win over a lot of their fans with the music and the power of the show. Maria really gives them hell. What you said really has been the story of our career so far.

Oregon Music News: IN THIS MOMENT has been fortunate to have secured high-profile opening spots with OZZY OSBOURNE, MEGADETH, Warped Tour, among others. Has there been a backlash by some of the diehard fans. The reason I ask is that at times some of the fans perceive this as selling out.

Howorth: I know what you mean. I've found that our diehard fans are the most loyal and dedicated fans. They support us and follow us everywhere. I haven't felt any backlash from doing any of the high-profile tours. I think the reason is that majority of them have been metal-based; I think even with us supporting Ozzy, which was arena-based, it was still Ozzy. He's the godfather of metal. You'd have to be crazy not to do that tour. The Ozzfest and Mayhem tour were on the heavier side and they were great for us. I think those two particular tours gave us a lot of news fans. We really caught on those two particular tours it was very beneficially and it heightened our profile.

Oregon Music News: You used the same producer, Kevin Churko, on the new album, "A Star-Crossed Wasteland", as you did on the last album, "The Dream". As you mentioned, the last album was slick and this one is heavier and grittier. What was his take on you wanting to go back in a heavier direction?

Howorth: You're right; he's definitely made some slick-sounding albums in the past; one of them being "The Dream". He wasn't at all concerned in the heavier direction. Kevin was more concerned with being known as the guy that commercialized IN THIS MOMENT. We were all in agreement that we wanted the new album to be heavy. You know, part of what we do and what we are about is a mixture of the melody and the heavy. Kevin helped us to keep it organic and heavy. I think we pulled it off on the new album. Like I said, we went into the recording of this album knowing that all parties wanted to get heavy. We wanted to define the band; a balance mix of the "Beautiful Tragedy" and "The Dream".

Read the entire interview from Oregon Music News.

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