Sometimes music needs an artist in the right place at the right time with the right sound to progress. Kittie were instrumental in moving heavy metal forward in the late 90s. The impact they had following the release of their debut album ‘Spit’ in 1999 cannot be understated with musicians as diverse as Lzzy Hale and Poppy citing them as influences. So when we had the opportunity to speak to founding member Morgan Lander and bass player Ivy Jenkins we naturally jumped at the chance. Gary Trueman spoke to the pair about their extended musical hiatus and how the industry has changed since the early days
When they made the first big band announcement last November the comments focussed first on the headliners but then as people scanned through they were all saying wow they’ve booked Kittie. Your name was right up there. How cool is that? Were you aware of that reaction?
“No! haha. Not at all. We were like, cool we’re on a festival. Like everybody knows Download Festival. It’s a big fucking deal, but we didn’t realise everybody cared so much.”
There was a lot of excitement within the industry as well as with fans.
“We love hearing that.”
You did for a while take quite a bit of time out. You’re back. So why was this the right time and what made you feel that?
“We don’t know if there ever was a feeling of the right time. Certainly the industry seems to have put their gaze on us a little more, and Nu Metal as well we know has made this heroic come-back into the view of a lot of young people. A lot of fans from back in the day have been sort of resurrected anew along with new fans. We certainly have felt that as well. It wasn’t so much that now was the time, everything just fell into place. We were just like, hey let’s play some shows, and it’s been going really well. One thing led to another, rather than it just being go team! Each thing that happened was just a little bigger and crazier than the last.”
You returned with the album ‘Fire’ which was received very well by fans and critics. It felt like a natural progression of where you left off even with a considerable gap. Did it feel like that to you? Was the writing any different?
“A hundred per cent it felt like a continuation. It felt like no time had gone by at all. It was fifteen years but it didn’t feel like that. It was a totally natural process. The only thing that was really different is that we, logistically, live in different places now. So we decided to use a bit more technology and file sharing of ideas and riffs. But other than that it’s still the same Kittie. We do what we do and hope it sounds good.”
You mentioned the industry. It’s changed a lot, particularly since you brought ‘Spit’ out. What do you think are the biggest pros and cons of where the industry is now from those early Kittie days?
“Well the internet was a little more in its infancy back then. Now it sort of runs the industry, social media and things are such an expectation. Not only are you an artist and musician you’re a content creator too. It comes with it now but it feels a little bit foreign to us because it was never really something we were big on. We were early adopters of Facebook and stuff like that but it’s been taken to a new level now. It’s a pro because you do get your music and message out to a different and younger audience but it’s also a con because we feel too old to know what Tik Tok is all about.”
What about the artists that are coming through now mixing all music up together and just doing what they want?
“We’re not elitists or purists, each to their own. If people are responding well then good, music has always had a lot of ebb and flow that way. It’s good to experiment and try new things and mix up genres. There are a lot of bands out there that do it pretty well. Music has evolved so much over time because people experiment. We don’t get half the bands out there now because we’re old but we have respect for people who want to try something different. Do what you love.”
Kittie have regularly been cited as opening doors for female artists in the extreme end of metal music. How do you feel about that?
“It’s pretty cool we guess. We have a difficult relationship with it because we experienced those early days of Kittie and we know how alone and different we did feel and there was a lot of interest in us because we were women. We were like the only women doing it. So we did take a lot of shit. We had to do a lot of breaking of barriers which meant other people got less bullshit. At the same time that was never our intention and we would never be so presumptuous as to believe that we alone did that. But if there are people that believe that we helped in some way, looking back and seeing the shit we went through, then that’s cool. We are honoured that people would think that.”
After Download have you got any plans to do more touring, maybe come over to the UK more? One of the things you said quite a few years ago was that touring, particularly abroad travelling out from Canada was really tough. And it obviously still is.
“Well this is a really great experience and we’re definitely here to test the water. Clearly people are really interested to see us play. So we think there will be more opportunity in the future. We don’t have any immediate plans. This year we’re going to finish up here in Europe then play a couple of US festivals. But yeah, it’s on the cards. People here in the UK seem pretty excited to see us so maybe we’ll come back.”
So have you got anything you’d like to say to all those really excited fans here in the UK?
“We’re glad you’re excited. Thank you so much. We are also very excited. We never in our wildest dreams thought this day would come. Fifteen years later we’re back on UK soil and we’re going to be playing to thousands of people, some of them were probably not even born last time we were here. We love you and thanks for sticking it out. We promise it won’t be another fifteen years.”
Interview and photo by Gary Trueman