IN THIS MOMENT's CHRIS HOWORTH: 'Now That We're More Popular, More People Hate Us'

Rock Made Of Metal recently conducted an interview with IN THIS MOMENT guitarist Chris Howorth. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On what comes first for IN THIS MOMENT: music or the show:

Chris: "We've always, since the beginning of the band… 'Cause people have always talked about how we're just a hot chick with nice boobs. They always go that first. And we've always said, we're a real band, and we're about the music first. And so, when we go in the studio, we're not thinking of the show; we're thinking of writing the best songs we can, [making] the coolest album, and making it awesome, so when people are listening to it, they are going through, in their minds, they are visually things and they are having emotions and feeling it. And then we want to add on top of that an amazing show. So if you were deaf and you couldn't even hear the album, but you could see what's happening on stage, it would invoke some kind of emotion. Combining the two is like a one-two punch. And that was the plan. But the music is always first; the song is always first."

On having a "sexy" stage show:

Chris: "Maria's [Brink, vocals], she's the sexy one in the band. And I've never heard say, 'I wanna do this because it's gonna be really sexy.' She comes up with these outfits and what she wears and stuff out of her own mind. And I know she's sexy. And she knows that she looks good… She wouldn't wear it if she didn't look good in it. But it's never about trying to be sexy just to be sexy. And that's kind of like with the song we have, 'Sex Metal Barbie'. It's a joke; it's flipping it around, kind of like the song 'Whore', where we're taking everybody's… 'Cause [people were calling us] 'sex metal' and [saying that] we're trying to use sex to sell. We took that and basically flipped that around in that song. 'Cause it's like a joke. It's really who we are, and what we are, and we're just doing it. And she comes up with these ideas for her outfits and for the girls' outfits and the choreography and stuff like that. And it just is what it is. But it's definitely not thought of, like, 'Let's just try to be sexy to be sexy and create a sexy show.' We want to evoke emotions, you know.

On balancing a theatrical stage show with IN THE MOMENT's music:

Chris: "It's not really hard. We don't even think about it. Because we're not trying to tread any line; we're just doing what we're doing. Some people are gonna like it; some people aren't gonna like it. And it's funny, the more popular that we get, the more people that don't like it are more vocal about how much they don't like it. And all that does is help us become more known and talked about. So it's a funny thing that we've noticed, now that we're more popular, more people hate us. But that's really awesome, 'cause that means you're doing good, if people are hating you. But we're not trying to be careful either way. We're just kind of doing what we're doing and letting the chips fall where they may."

IN THIS MOMENT's new album, "Black Widow", sold around 36,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 8 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD arrived in stores on November 17, 2014.

"Black Widow" was once again helmed by Kevin Churko (OZZY OSBOURNE, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, HELLYEAH, PAPA ROACH) at his The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada.

IN THIS MOMENT in 2013 inked a new deal with Atlantic Records, a division of Warner Music Group, following the completion of its contract with Century Media Records.

IN THIS MOMENT released all four of its previous studio efforts through Century Media, including "Blood".