![]() ![]() “I was watching Avatar the other day and got depressed because they’re all young and banging their heads like crazy and I’m never going to do that again. “I thought I was never going to be able to do this again,” he says. Although he’s better, he’s unable to move his neck much because it’s fused to his back. It’s something he’d been suffering from for years – and which had led to a painkiller addiction – but it had gone undiagnosed. In particular, in April 2016, the band were forced to cancel a UK tour after Chris was diagnosed with acute arthritis. Both Maria and Chris admit that the spectacle of the band’s live show leaves them physically drained, and it has caused their health to suffer. “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the most badass of them all?” (Image credit: Jeremy Saffer)īeing so invested in their art doesn’t come without its physical consequences, either. You can still pull off something magical without all the bells and whistles.” We don’t want to cheat anybody of the full experience of what it’s supposed to be, but we realise that we have to tone it down a little. But we’ve got to go there anyway in order to get this big there, in order to bring them that show. “What happens,” explains Maria, “is you can blow up here and have a certain budget for all these people that you have to pay for, but we can’t necessarily afford it where we’re not as big. We also want to take the show overseas, and we haven’t really got to that point either.” Maria has so many ideas that we’re not able to realise right now because of money and practicality. “We want to take this as far as we can go,” insists Chris, “and we want the show to get better and better. That ambitious vision has led to some logistical issues, not least when it comes to taking that gargantuan production abroad, where the band aren’t as high profile as they are in the States. It’s a constant learning process, and we’re learning every step of the way because things are always developing.” As this gets bigger and bigger, we’re going into places and things we’ve never done before. “She’s thinking about the show while she’s writing the songs. ”It’s much more than just making sure you play or sing everything right,” adds Chris. And if the music is great but we’re trying to do a performance that’s not quite working and we’re tripping and falling and it’s turning into Spinal Tap, that’s not great either.” If the performance is really amazing but the music sucks, it’s a flop. From there, it goes into the writing the songs and then working out how to bring it to life onstage. “Before we even go into the studio,” says Maria, “I come up with a storyboard for everyone. ![]() “’Cause if you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it…” (Image credit: Jeremy Saffer) Rather than devising the live show for the song after the fact, the two are pretty much interlinked from the beginning. So while pre-production for the live shows starts a month before a tour, the seed for the visuals is planted incredibly early on in the songwriting process. More than that, though, they need to work together as two sides of the same coin. ![]() But although the performance aspect is incredibly important – it’s not just at the centre of what the band do, but of who they are – they’re aware that they can’t only rely on the visuals. It’s an all-consuming experience for both the audience and the band, and Maria admits her ultimate dream is to have a Las Vegas residency. Equally inspired by the aesthetic of Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie and The Rocky Horror Show, an In This Moment gig is much more than just a concert. That developed into a love of Madonna and Michael Jackson, before settling on the more macabre imagery that dominates In This Moment’s stage show. Her fascination with the theatrical began as a young girl, when she’d put on plays for family and friends. By the end of this tour going into the next one I think we’ll be at 100%.” There are so many little details, and people behind the scenes working incredibly hard. There’s a bunch of new things in the show that we’re doing, and we’re still putting pieces together and figuring out some little things. But in my mind, with the show I want to create, it’s probably going to be double that. “Right now,” says the singer, “we have a crew of 20, including the drivers. Yet that doesn’t mean they’re close to where they actually want to be, even in terms of the seamless and polished show we see later tonight. After four albums on influential metal label Century Media, they signed to Atlantic Records for 2014’s Black Widow, something that brought the reality of achieving their vision closer than ever. Twelve years into their career, In This Moment are still reaching for the skies and pushing those limits. ![]() Ripe, sweaty crowds? Travis Johnson is prepared (Image credit: Jeremy Saffer) ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |