Nature counts the black widow spider amongst its most fascinating and dangerous anomalies. The female arachnid often devours its mate after copulation. It's both a delicate and dangerous predator. In This Moment isn't all that different from this enigmatic beast. Led by frontwoman Maria Brink, the Los Angeles hard rock outfit strikes with a seductive metallic bite on their aptly titled fifth full-length album, Black Widow.

"Black Widow is a metaphor for this innocent young girl who gets infected with life, traumas, experiences, and the balance of light and darkness," explains Maria. "She becomes this poised and powerful creature. That's the album."

"We went into this with the title Black Widow," says lead guitarist Chris Howorth. "It fits the image of Maria as this powerful heroine. If you think of the boys in the audience watching our stage show, she's like the black widow pulling them all in."

The record, the first for the band on Atlantic Records, picks up where the group's 2012 breakthrough, Blood, left off. That album saw In This Moment debut at #15 on the Billboard Top 200, their highest chart position to date, and eventually sold over 250,000 units in the U.S. alone. It also spawned the single "Blood," which rose to #9 on the Mainstream Rock and Active Rock Songs charts. A sold out headline tour, HELLPOP, followed, as well as appearances at the Uproar Festival and Rock On The Range, and jaunts with Shinedown and Papa Roach. After the whirlwind of Blood subsided, Maria and Chris retreated to Las Vegas in February 2014 to begin working on what would become Black Widow with longtime producer Kevin Churko [Ozzy Osbourne, Five Finger Death Punch].

“We got tremendous support on the last album from fans and media. This incredible buzz started getting ramped up and show attendance started to sky rocket. People really latched on to it.” Everybody loves a good “rags-to-riches” story. Nothing seems to inspire the masses quite as well as the story about the underdog with the larger-than-life dream that finds the path of opportunity and emerges triumphant against the odds. Sam Riggs has just such a story, and in his version, it was his move from his native Florida to Austin, Texas that was the dream. It was his innate ability for songwriting and his passion for performance that provided the opportunity. And it was his first album “Outrun The Sun” that brought Sam up directly into high music society with stellar national reviews, hit singles, hit music videos, national television music placement, elite invitations to perform at renown events, sold out crowds, 2.2 million total streams on Spotify, 600,000 plus views on YouTube, over 30,000 followers on his social media pages, and, most recently, a spotlight feature in Rolling Stone Country. An impressive story? Most definitely, yet Sam Riggs has only just begun.

In the life of a working musician, everything hinges on the connection made with fans, and Sam’s ability to draw his listeners completely into his world comes as naturally to him as breathing. He describes that synergy with his faithfuls as “rabid,” and their die-hard support is a fire and gasoline concoction that fuels his songwriting. He has accomplished this bond with his fans because, in a nut shell, Sam writes the stories of the people. In just a little over a year’s time he has watched his attendance numbers swell like gale force winds.

He has seen his crowds go from 50 people to thousands, and has stood amazed to see fans singing every word to brand new songs that haven’t even been released. Now, it’s one thing to see your audience grow exponentially around your own stomping grounds, but it is quite another thing to walk out on stage in a faraway land where you have never played before and see a sold out crowd. Music travels fast, and Sam’s steady pursuit on the heels of his own widely proceeding reputation is a marathon that he admits leaves him breathless. And so, the story continues with the release of his brand new album “Breathless” on February 19, 2016.

Produced by Erik Herbst and Sam Riggs, “Breathless” is a sincere, unfiltered look into the person Sam has become. The album’s first single “The Lucky Ones” represents the first leg of his journey, a story told through 20/20 hindsight about the fortunes of struggle with a cameo performance from the University of North Texas Drum Line. “Gravity” is a true anchor on the album depicting that specific period in life between when you have to get out, and when you actually can. Well throughout the album you get a real sense of Sam’s more vulnerable side, and the way he writes about a man’s response to a women’s spell is the stuff of bestselling novels. Considering lyrics like “Just one kiss from your novocaine lips and you take all my pain away” (“Breathless”), “One more  kiss is all I need to get through. I guess you’re just a habit I can’t
break” (“Second Hand Smoke”), and “The fire in your touch, it’s like a needle in my veins” (“One More Chance To Stay”), you see a man who has warred with the dangerous addictions of love, but also one that has not been afraid to wave the white flag of surrender. All this is not to say that the album is without muscle. “Wake The Dead” feels like pure adrenaline, a heart racing ride in honky tonk rap style. And finally, “High On A Country Song” is the Sam Riggs live show experience coming through the speakers, where the energy is so thick you can cut it with a knife. In total, “Breathless” is the sound you hear clearly above the racket of mediocrity, and it signals that a new age of “artist” has arrived.

you can  find my  work in The top 100 on The Indie Charts, and in the top 5 Nationally and the top 5 World Wide  on Reverbnation, I am also an Actor, and A Producer  both  in the music business and in Film and video , As well as a Soundman who provides sound all over the U.S   I also do Cinematography and Music Video and  am the Owner  of Red Barn Productions [us] With  numerous credits on IMDB

"A little bit of soulful rock n roll, mixed with some Americana, and shaken and stirred with who-knows-what-the-fuck. The Soap Boxers are one of those bands that surprise you and then take you by storm. With the mysterious vocals of the keyboard player, to the heartfelt story telling behind the lead guitar, The Soap Boxers are worth every penny at the door." - William Tompkins (Live Music in Austin)

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