In This Moment Artistfacts

2005-
Maria BrinkLead vocals, piano
Chris HoworthGuitar
Blake BunzelGuitar2005–2011
Jesse LandryBass2005–2009
Jeff FabbDrums2005–2011
Tom HaneDrums2011–2016
Travis JohnsonBass2010-
Randy WeitzelGuitar2011-
Kent DiimmelDrums2016-
Chris Howorth and Maria Brink formed In This Moment in 2005. Chris is from Topeka, Kansas, and Maria from Schenectady, New York. They came together in Los Angeles, where they both moved to get their music careers going. They wrote some songs together using a drum machine before adding three more members.
The band formed at the dawn of social media, and they dove in headlong, establishing a robust MySpace page they used to connect with fans and other bands (that's where Chris and Maria found guitarist Blake Bunzel). MySpace imploded, but they developed huge followings on Facebook and Instagram. Maria Brink also has personal accounts that are very popular, especially on Instagram, where she has more followers than the group.
Maria Brink writes the lyrics, which can be very bleak, especially in her visceral delivery. They have a positive motivation though. "A lot of our fans are tortured souls, and we can relate," she explained at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2018. "A lot of people have experienced the darkness and get stuck in that. We use it to turn that pain into power."
Early on, many fans discovered them through Ozzy Osbourne. Along with Rob Zombie, they were an opening act for Ozzy on his 2007 tour, including a show at Madison Square Garden on December 22, 2007. They also played Ozzfest that year and in 2008.
Brinks' son Davion was born when she was 15. She dropped out of high school in ninth grade when she had him.
They hit a wall after releasing their third album, A Star-Crossed Wasteland, in 2010. They were drawing only a few hundred people to shows and weren't making any money, so their manager dropped them and three members quit, leaving just Howorth and Brink. They found a new lineup but considered breaking up during the sessions for their next album, Blood, but the title track changed their fortunes. The song was very well received and moved the band in a new direction with a focus on visuals.
Following their Blood album in 2012, their stage shows became very theatrical, à la Alice Cooper. Brink switched to a wireless mic and they incorporated dancers known as "blood girls" (later known as "blood goddesses") to act out the storylines.
Howorth and Brink emerged as the band's primary songwriters early on, but it was a rough start. "When we started off, we didn't know what we were doing," Howorth said in a Songfacts interview. "We were just trying to figure it out. We used to butt heads a lot and have a lot of confrontation. Now, it feels like we flow like a river together. I think we're just more mature and we've grown with each other, and we've really learned what each other likes and how we work. It's definitely become a lot smoother."

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