IN THIS MOMENT Singer: 'To Me, There's Nothing More Vulnerable Than Being Nude'

Bob Zerull of Zoiks! Online recently conducted an interview with vocalist Maria Brink of Southern California metallers IN THIS MOMENT.

Zoiks! Online: Your new single off the "Blood" album is "Whore" but you've kind of redefined the word with the song. Can you tell us a little bit about what your intent was with the song?

Maria: Oh yeah, absolutely. The song represents, basically, anybody. You know, everyone keeps thinking it's just for women; it's actually not just for women, it's just anybody in general who has felt like they were, whether or not it's publicly humiliated or put down or I think that a lot of us for some reason we let other people's opinions of us or other people's words towards us, we give them that power, so if somebody were to call you something degrading, we let their words have so much power over us, and so the song is about letting go of that. The song is about self-empowerment and understanding our self-love and who we are and not letting anyone or anything have power over us anymore.

Zoiks! Online: When you perform it live, you wear a dunce cap and you recently posed nude with the dunce cap on as a promotion for the video. Is that what the dunce cap symbolizes? Kind of the humiliation?

Maria: Yeah, kind of, like, well, you know punishment. The reason why I did that is because, to me, there's nothing more vulnerable than being nude. You know what I mean? It's a scary thought, and everybody has their own insecurities, and to place myself in kind of that being punished place with the dunce cap on the stool and a degrading word written down me, I wanted to kind of place myself in that vulnerable thing to really kind of have a visual, strong message to go with the song. I wanted something that people were going to pay attention to because I think it's a really important message and I think it's an important song to inspire people to learn about self-love and to learn about strength within ourselves, and to learn about not letting other people, whether or not it's young teenagers being bullied or whether or not, no matter who you are or what you are, I just wanted to have a strong message attached to it and a strong visual attached to it.

Zoiks! Online: How different is the Maria on stage from the one I'm talking to now?

Maria: You're so funny. She is different. My Maria on stage definitely is a real natural part of who I am, but obviously I can't walk around as that girl. You know what I mean? It's definitely an alter ego, but it is part of who I am, it is who I am, it is my life. The Maria, what I look like in real life and how I am, I'm a super flower child. I wear all flower child '60s dresses. I don't wear makeup. I wear like lip gloss and my hair is always really natural, and I'm a really kind of natural free spirit in my everyday life who has crystals and I burn sage, and I think I find a lot of calming beauty in that stuff. I am such a fiery woman and I am a real passionate woman and I get so much stuff built up inside of me that I can release all that on stage, and I kind of counterbalance it with the normal Maria that I am because with the real calming, natural kind of earthy spirit stuff and it kind of balances me out so I don't go too crazy.

Zoiks! Online: I feel like within the rock and metal communities there is as much negativity as there is positivity which, I think, is what's holding rock music back from getting more popular. Why are we afraid of our favorite bands to get popular and two how do you handle negativity thrown in your direction?

Maria: I think that where that stems from, I believe, people love something, and I think that it's special to them, and everybody doesn't know about it, so it feels more intimate, I think, and it feels more like it's your special thing and not everybody has already grasped it, but I don't think people should be afraid of it, because as long as whatever it is that that band is, and whatever it is that they represent, as long as they stay true to that and they stay true to their message and who they are and what they are and how they represent themselves, it's okay for it to be spread out there for other people to experience, and I don't think it lessens how special it is, but some people find it hard to share with everyone else. They want to keep it all to themselves. I think the second thing you said, what was the second one?

Zoiks! Online: How do you handle negativity that is thrown your way?

Maria: What I've done, I don't read anything. I don't look at anything. I don't let myself be pulled into it, because I am kind of, I think no matter who you are, if you're reading things like that and you're doing all that, I don't want to subject myself to it anymore. And I've learned to really grow into that power of what, again referring back to "Whore", knowing and learning who I am, and kind of embracing what it is I want to represent, and being free as an artist and letting go of other people's expectations of what they think I should be, what shouldn't I be, what should I do, what shouldn't I do, should I scream, should I sing, I shouldn't pose nude, I should. That's all their perceptions. That's their own business, and there are millions of people out there and I have millions of people's opinions coming at me, so I kind of just try to keep it sacred to myself. Do it and then not read all of the yucky stuff. Now if people choose to at shows, when they share their positive feedback with me, or I get to experience the crowd and their beautiful energy, that's what I want to experience, and that's what I choose to experience, and I try to just not even go to the negativity. And if somebody brings the negativity to my face or is cruel to me or mean to me, I obviously will just get out of the situation and let them know that that's unacceptable and I'm not going to let anybody degrade or put me down or treat me mean.

Check out the entire interview in text and audio formats at Zoiks! Online.