by Sean Bennedict
Congratulations on the Grammy nomination for “The In-Between”. Can you talk about what this means to you as a musician and as a band?
Thank you so much! Honestly, this isnʼt something that we even had on our radar. When it was announced we all were super surprised, but really stoked! Itʼs amazing to be recognized in the main arena after years and years of grinding it out and working our way through the ranks. You always hear people say “Itʼs an honor just to be nominated”, but it really, really is!!! We are so grateful and blessed and this nomination has just been the cherry on top. The song is one that I got to co-write so itʼs personally very special as well.
Tell us how the song came together and the writing process for the song and the rest of the album.
The Mother album, like most In This Moment albums, was written and recorded in Las Vegas. We thought that the album was finished, but then I got a call from management asking me to bring my Pro Tools rig out on the road with me because the label was asking for one more song. “The In-Between” was essentially written in random hotel rooms and on a tour bus while we were on tour. After we had the basic song structure and scratch vocals written and recorded, we met with our producer in a studio somewhere in Chicago and finished the song. It was the quintessential, classic rock and roll way to write a song, which makes it even cooler that it became the first single and video from the album as well as the first ITM song ever to be nominated for a Grammy. We canʼt wait to perform it live.
Live performances have always been huge for the band. How has COVID affected you and the rest of the band, especially since In This Moment is known for their live shows.
Today (March 12) is exactly one year to the day since my wife and I first quarantined. I was literally packing my suitcase for tour last year when everything was shutting down. At that time, no one was sure what was going to happen next, but looking back itʼs kind of incredible that we have been able to drop a new album, release the music video for “As Above, So Below”, and to have been nominated for a Grammy – all during a global pandemic. We have been so fortunate during a time where there was very little control over much of anything, but now there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel. In This Moment performs each song both musically and visually so we are eagerly awaiting the green light to put on our full live show again.
Have you been working on anything during the COVID lockdowns.
Iʼve been keeping busy with a few projects, including designing and releasing a series of personalized horror movie posters. I created 6 of them, based on fictional horror movies that I came up with, as an homage to my favorite genre of movie, but using my alter ego The War Machine as the main character. They were so much fun to make!But my main focus has been working on creating a music library for film and television. A number of years ago, I composed some music for a couple of full-length feature films and I absolutely loved the process. I put that aside and chose to focus on In This Moment, but the shutdown seemed like the perfect time to start organizing and creating new stuff. I have hard drive after hard drive of original ideas ranging from current and classic rock and metal songs, to electronic and orchestral cinematic pieces. I am really looking forward to shopping this music and sharing it with the film industry.
What are you looking forward to most once we are back to a somewhat normal space.
My wife and I just got our first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and are on the road to healing the mind, body and soul. I am definitely looking forward to getting back on tour and getting in front of all of our awesome fans, but first Iʼd like to visit my family and eventually get to another Steeler game!
Randy Weitzel is a Grammy nominated songwriter, graphic designer, recording engineer, video editor, and guitarist for the multi-Gold selling band In This Moment. Randy also writes, records, and performs original music for tv, film, and multimedia.