NYS Music 20​13

Tag: in this moment

  • Upstate’s own Maria Brink & In This Moment Headline the Best Buy Theater in NYC

    What do you get when you mix glam, sex, blonde bombshell Maria Brink, and perfect choreography with a drum beat that alters your heartbeat, screaming guitars, and voices full of power? You get heavy metal that’s not only awesome to listen to but one hell of a performance.

    On November 10th, the Best Buy Theater near Times Square welcomed a couple thousand metal-heads for The Hellpop Tour. The venue, originally the Astor Plaza movie theater, was designed to easily move people. The only lines that existed were those that were formed by the fans waiting for the doors to open – once inside, getting drinks, visiting the restroom, and even checking out merch were super easy. Oh, and it had some pretty classy features, like the glass chandeliers – check them out if you go.

    All Hail the Yeti stepped on stage first, offering intense and loud vocals, synchronized head banging, and drums that seemed to take control of my heartbeat. Up next was Kyng — although the vocals were harsh in the beginning, they sounded great in the end and the crowd was really impressed when they sincerely thanked their family for their support. Motionless in White was up next; this group, as always, drew tons of fans with their Gothic image and great sound. In addition to all three bands fitting perfectly into the typical heavy metal persona, they all noted, with surprise, how QUIET the NYC crowd was.

    That all changed once In This Moment appeared on stage – as it should have. The music was awesome; on top of the totally synced metal, the vocals were powerful, and the lyrics were pretty commanding too. Unlike the three bands before them, In This Moment, is NOT your typical metal band. Their show is all about their lead, Maria Brink, and her very theatrical production. It is REALLY hard see/hear past the performance though. When you have two sexy dancers writhing next to the super hot Brink for 75 minutes, you do not want to focus on anything else.

    The crowd loved the set list; most songs came from the last two albums, A Star Crossed Wasteland and Blood. But they were just as excited when the band performed their “old school” stuff from 2006. The Nine Inch Nails cover of “Closer” was pretty perfect. Seems appropriate to pair this song, which is all about raw animal sex, with the heavy metal band that is totally playing on the female sexy.  I only wonder why Brink kept the “Closer” lyrics PG-13? Why say “I wanna LOVE you like an animal” when “fuck” is used pretty loosely the rest of the night? That aside, it was a great cover.

    In This Moment finished their captivating performance with “Whore”, then “Blood” for their encore. After that, the 2,000 metal heads “quietly” (and without waiting in line) made their way above ground to the Times Square lights.

  • Maria Brink & In This Moment Headline the Best Buy Theater in NYC

    What do you get when you mix glam, sex, blonde bombshell, and perfect choreography with a drum beat that alters your heartbeat, screaming guitars, and voices full of power? You get heavy metal that’s not only awesome to listen to but one hell of a performance, particularly from Maria Brink of In This Moment

    Maria Brink In This MomentOn November 10th, the Best Buy Theater near Times Square welcomed a couple thousand metal-heads for The Hellpop Tour. The venue, originally the Astor Plaza movie theater, was designed to easily move people. The only lines that existed were those that were formed by the fans waiting for the doors to open – once inside, getting drinks, visiting the restroom, and even checking out merch were super easy.  It had some pretty classy features, like the glass chandeliers – check them out if you go.

    Maria Brink In This MomentAll Hail the Yeti stepped on stage first, offering intense and loud vocals, synchronized head banging, and drums that seemed to take control of my heartbeat. Up next was Kyng — although the vocals were harsh in the beginning, they sounded great in the end and the crowd was really impressed when they sincerely thanked their family for their support. Motionless in White was up next; this group, as always, drew tons of fans with their Gothic image and great sound. In addition to all three bands fitting perfectly into the typical heavy metal persona, they all noted, with surprise, how QUIET the NYC crowd was.

    That all changed once Maria Brink and In This Moment appeared on stage – as it should have. The music was awesome; on top of the totally synced metal, the vocals were powerful, and the lyrics were pretty commanding too. Unlike the three bands before them, In This Moment, is NOT your typical metal band. Their show is all about their lead, Maria Brink, and her very theatrical production. It is REALLY hard see/hear past the performance though. When you have two sexy dancers writhing next to the super hot Brink for 75 minutes, you do not want to focus on anything else.

    Maria Brink In This MomentThe crowd loved the set list; most songs came from the last two albums, A Star Crossed Wasteland and Blood. But they were just as excited when the band performed their “old school” stuff from 2006. The Nine Inch Nails cover of “Closer” was pretty perfect. Seems appropriate to pair this song, which is all about raw animal sex, with the heavy metal band that is totally playing on the female sexy.  I only wonder why Brink kept the “Closer” lyrics PG-13? Why say “I wanna LOVE you like an animal” when “fuck” is used pretty loosely the rest of the night? That aside, it was a great cover.

    Maria Brink In This MomentIn This Moment finished their captivating performance with “Whore”, then “Blood” for their encore. After that, the 2,000 metal heads “quietly” (and without waiting in line) made their way above ground to the Times Square lights.

    Words by Joy Houle, Photos by Jim Gilbert

  • Upstate’s Maria Brink of In This Moment headlining Hell Pop tour

    Maria Brink fronts In This Moment, and she’s a howler.

    That’s okay, man, ’cause what she and the boys are doing, they’re doing well.  And, they’re taking it home here in the next few days; home, being, Brink’s home. Yes, she’s a native of the Capital Region.  But, she high-tailed it out of “Smallbany” to go after her dreams in Los Angeles. (And, you so had a picture of Axl Rose walking off the bus ala Welcome to the Jungle.) But, that’s so nine years ago.

    This Saturday, November 9th, In This Moment will be rocking the set at Clifton Park’s Upstate Concert Hall, as they continue on their leg of the Hell Pop Tour. They’ll only wake up to do it all again down in New York City’s Best Buy Theater on Sunday, November 10th.

    The band is still riding the high from the 2012 release of their fourth studio album, Blood, which reached No 1 on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart, and No. 15 on the overall Top 200, back in February.  It’s the band’s biggest success, which came shortly after the band nearly fell apart, which Upstate Metal’s Kate Drexel asked Brink in her June interview.

    “We (Brink and Chris Howorth) really just rallied together,” she said.  “We cannot let other people’s disbeliefs in our band and everything we’ve created, everything we’ve worked for, we’ve strived for, we’ve sacrificed for, hinder us from moving forward.”

    It was after the release of their third album in 2012 that founding members Jeff Fabb and Blake Bunzel quit the band. The nation was just taking notice.  Just the previous summer they had played alongside Korn, Rob Zombie, Five Finder Death Punch, and Hatebreed at the annual Mayhem Festival. This was followed up by the Hell Hath No Fury Tour.  Brink had also received personal recognition as she was named the Hottest Chick in metal by Revolver magazine.

    “This is our moment. (Pause).  No pun intended.  And we’re going to take everything and we’re going to take it into the next level, we’re going to take our live show, our songs, every single thing that has to do with us, we’re bringing it to the next level and we’re going to do this hard.”

    Despite their confidence, they ran into tough times.  With Fabb and Buzel gone, few managers wanted to give them the time of day, said Brink.  But, their producer, Kevin Churko, kept his patience and Brink said his commitment helped the band survive.

    “We went into the studio and we wrote the song Blood,” she said. “And right when we heard it back, we knew that everything was going to change right when we heard that song. We felt it, we knew it and we started setting it up with managers and we started having managers fly out from everywhere and everything shifted from then.” The band now consists of Tom Hane on drums, Travis Johnson on bass and Randy Weitzel on rhythm guitar, in addition to Brink’s vocals and Howorth’s lead guitar.

    The hardship inspired their song material, Brink said. And, In This Moment has been a soaring Phoenix ever since.

    “So kind of everything falling apart and then building it brand new, and all of these beautiful new things, is where all the inspirations from the album came from.”

    Oh, one more thing. You’d be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t check out the acoustic version of Blood on YouTube. Just listen to Brink’s soulful vocals and you’ll see why, among other things, we like these guys.

  • Featured Band: In This Moment

    Maria Brink fronts In This Moment, and she’s a howler.

    That’s okay, man, ’cause what she and the boys are doing, they’re doing well.  And, they’re taking it home here in the next few days; home, being, Brink’s home. Yes, she’s a native of the Capital Region.  But, she high-tailed it out of “Smallbany” to go after her dreams in Los Angeles. (And, you so had a picture of Axl Rose walking off the bus ala Welcome to the Jungle.) But, that’s so nine years ago.

    This Saturday, November 9th, In This Moment will be rocking the set at Clifton Park’s Upstate Concert Hall, as they continue on their leg of the Hell Pop Tour. They’ll only wake up to do it all again down in New York City’s Best Buy Theater on Sunday, November 10th.

    The band is still riding the high from the 2012 release of their fourth studio album, Blood, which reached No 1 on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart, and No. 15 on the overall Top 200, back in February.  It’s the band’s biggest success, which came shortly after the band nearly fell apart, which Upstatemetal’s Kate Drexel asked Brink in her June interview.

    “We (Brink and Chris Howorth) really just rallied together,” she said.  “We cannot let other people’s disbeliefs in our band and everything we’ve created, everything we’ve worked for, we’ve strived for, we’ve sacrificed for, hinder us from moving forward.”

    It was after the release of their third album in 2012 that founding members Jeff Fabb and Blake Bunzel quit the band. The nation was just taking notice.  Just the previous summer they had played alongside Korn, Rob Zombie, Five Finder Death Punch, and Hatebreed at the annual Mayhem Festival. This was followed up by the Hell Hath No Fury Tour.  Brink had also received personal recognition as she was named the Hottest Chick in metal by Revolver magazine.

    “This is our moment. (Pause).  No pun intended.  And we’re going to take everything and we’re going to take it into the next level, we’re going to take our live show, our songs, every single thing that has to do with us, we’re bringing it to the next level and we’re going to do this hard.”

    Despite their confidence, they ran into tough times.  With Fabb and Buzel gone, few managers wanted to give them the time of day, said Brink.  But, their producer, Kevin Churko, kept his patience and Brink said his commitment helped the band survive.

    “We went into the studio and we wrote the song Blood,” she said. “And right when we heard it back, we knew that everything was going to change right when we heard that song. We felt it, we knew it and we started setting it up with managers and we started having managers fly out from everywhere and everything shifted from then.” The band now consists of Tom Hane on drums, Travis Johnson on bass and Randy Weitzel on rhythm guitar, in addition to Brink’s vocals and Howorth’s lead guitar.

    The hardship inspired their song material, Brink said. And, In This Moment has been a soaring Phoenix ever since.

    “So kind of everything falling apart and then building it brand new, and all of these beautiful new things, is where all the inspirations from the album came from.”