In the early 2000s, Canadian heavy metal band Kittie shaped the nu-metal movement. Now formed of sisters Morgan and Mercedes Lander alongside newer members Tara McLeod and Ivy Jenkins, Kittie made a powerful impact on the scene starting with their 1999 debut ‘Spit’. Over the next decade and five distinct records, Kittie built a dedicated fanbase and honed their sound. As an all-women metal band, they stood out on festival lineups, carving out a road that many have followed since: “We were certainly the outlier. Coming out of the gate being all women, being super young, we cleared a path for others,” Morgan reflects now.
After over a decade away on an unofficial hiatus that Morgan describes as a slow drifting away from focusing on the band, it seemed unlikely that Kittie would return. Then, in 2022, they were asked to play emo nostalgia fest When We Were Young. “It was clear that a lot of people were very interested in seeing us play and reunite. It was the show offer that got us going as far dabbling in getting back together,” she says now. At that time, they only planned to do shows, but it became clear that the interest in them wasn’t only nostalgic. “When you’ve already done so much of your career and you think you’ve put it to rest and a second opportunity comes about, it’s hard to say no to something like that. All of the ‘what ifs’ would kill me,” says Morgan.
Now, Kittie are preparing to release their seventh album ‘Fire’ after dropping a handful of singles including the explosive ‘Eyes Wide Open’. We caught up with Morgan to talk about the future of the band:
ROCK SOUND: After playing those shows, how and when did you decide that it wasn’t enough?
MORGAN: It all came from a conversation. When we were at When We Were Young, my sister Mercedes ran into Ash from Sumerian Records who we have a long history with. He was our booking agent in the mid-to-late 2000s before Sumerian hit it really big. He thought it was really interesting that we were invited to both When We Were Young and Sick New World, no other band got invites for both. It felt timely and interesting. He came to see our set, and he said we sounded great and looked like a badass metal band. He contacted us later and said he would love to put out a Kittie album, but we didn’t have any music written and it felt very out of left field. We would have been content to do shows and leave it as a legacy project. When somebody says “I’d love to put out an album”, you have to have internal discussions about what that would mean. It’s an opportunity that doesn’t come often. Why not go for it? Why not say yes and see where it takes you?
RS: You guys are still young considering how long Kittie has been a part of your lives.
MORGAN: It’s a very strange and surreal thing to reflect on, that being in this band and being in the public eye somewhat has been two thirds of my life. This has been an essential part of me. We’re still in our early 40s, and I think that’s young.
RS: Were you all in touch over that decade apart?
MORGAN: We never really lost touch. The way that things fell apart, we decided to stop doing Kittie stuff but we were still great friends and we were hanging out and supporting each other with other projects. It was never a weird or awkward thing. Tara lived quite close to us and I would see her often. It was never awkward, we remained friends all throughout that period of time.
RS: What was it like getting back to writing and recording together? Did you return to your old rhythm or have to find a new way of working?
MORGAN: It’s a blend of the old and new, out of necessity more than anything. In the decade prior, we all moved on in our lives in various ways, which meant moving out of the general area. Previously we would write and get together in a room to jam things out, but that just wasn’t possible based on our geography. We had to adapt and pivot and figure out new ways of sharing. Technology is amazing, you can upload things to Dropbox, you can share ideas, you can record decent-sounding riffs on your phone just to get them out there. We did a lot of demoing and writing virtually. Mercedes and I live close enough together that we were able to get together in person, so we did a lot of skeleton-building the old way, just the two of us. Having not done this for so long, it was a re-learning curve getting back into it again. Having not written a Kittie song for so long, you’ve got to get back into it.
RS: It is distinctly a Kittie record but there is something new about it. More than anything, you can tell how much fun you’re having.
MORGAN: Right now, that’s it. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs in our career over the years, a lot of heartbreak, a lot of bullshit, and we all felt like if we were going to do it again, we wanted to do it for the right reasons. We wanted to be in a position to only do great stuff that we want to do, to have fun with it, and if it’s not fun, we don’t want to be involved. It’s a really nice place to be in to have the opportunity and the privilege to pick and choose. It’s something we have never experienced before and I’m grateful for it. There’s a lot of different stuff on this album. It’s quite varied. There’s a lot of abrasive stuff, a lot of melody. The ultimate goal was to bring the Kitty sound to the modern era, and working with Nick [Raskulinecz, producer] was the right move. The production value really helps to elevate it.
RS: What’s the response been like to the new tracks from older Kittie fans?
MORGAN: It seems like people are really enjoying it. We came out of the gate swinging with ‘Eyes Wide Open’, which is a really heavy track. We wanted to get people’s attention and make a statement, which is something that we always like to do. I think that the singles we’ve released all have their own personalities and there are a lot of people that really like the more screaming, heavy version of Kittie and there are people who like more melody. So far the response has been great because we’ve offered a little bit of everything. It boggles my mind and I love reading comments from people who’ve been with us since they were 14 and have raised their kids on Kittie. A lot of these people are lifers.
RS: What’s next for Kittie? Are you hoping to keep up the momentum?
MORGAN: We’re just going to ride the wave. Everything that comes to us, we’ll see what the next door is and if we should open it. It’s surreal to be releasing a new album, and I hope everybody really enjoys it. It feels great to be back, and I think we’ll continue with this momentum while we still have it. While we’re still young!
‘Fire’ is out on June 21 via Sumerian Records.