By Kelley Simms
Canadian all-girl quartet Kittie was unfortunately lumped into the nü metal genre early on in their career. But the girls have done their best to step out of that shadow in subsequent years. Formed in London, Ontario in 1996, sisters Morgan and Mercedes Lander have been the core creators of the band ever since. Kittie has gone through several lineups, but the sisters remain at the band’s helm. However, the girls have stated that this is the strongest lineup they’ve had in a long time and that it feels more like a family now. The reason? This is guitarist Tara McLeod’s third recorded album with the band, and bassist Ivy Jenkins has been on board since 2008. Recently releasing their sixth album, I’ve Failed You, the band find themselves on a U.S. tour with Dirge Within, Diamond Plate and Beyond Threshold. Before their show at Bar 3 in Rockford, Illinois, the lovely Morgan and Mercedes sat down with me back stage and spoke about the new album, the “family vibe” of the band and what’s next for the heavy metal ladies.
The new album sounds to me a bit more thrashier with a little less clean vocals. Were you concentrating on a more dark, foreboding, aggressive sound?
Mercedes: I don’t think we concentrate really on anything, we just write music and write what we want to write at the time. We don’t really care. We just write what we’re going to write and however it turns out is how it turns out.
Morgan: We don’t really have a game plan beforehand about the direction of the album and what we want to do. We don’t talk about if the sound is going to be darker, heavier or thrashier than the last album. We never really do that. We get together and go back and forth with ideas and they turn into songs.
Mercedes: Whatever we write is going to sound like us.
Morgan: I think perhaps with what you’re picking up on has a lot more to do with the subject matter. It’s a little bit on the morose, sad side. With every album, we accumulate all these new ideas and new things that we’ve learned about songwriting and our instruments from the year or two years of touring and we just apply it. That’s why things are always a little more extreme every time we put out an album.
I understand this was more of a personal album with the lyrics and concept. What’s the meaning behind the album title?
Morgan: I guess because it is a very personal album … it’s coming from a personal place. We’re not a political band. We never interject any of our thoughts or ideas about that. We usually leave things open-ended for people to make their own decisions and don’t try and force things down peoples throats. The title is very apologetic. It speaks for itself.
I’ve read that you took Bel Canto singing lessons from Brian Vollmer of ’80s metal band Helix. How has that helped your voice?
Mercedes: Brian’s an awesome dude. A great singer and on top of that he’s a great teacher. The technique is a little different, but I find that Morgan usually never has to cancel a show because she never loses her voice now. It’s a great technique for saving your voice.
Morgan: Brian’s a good friend, too. His wife and my mom are best buddies. Mercedes and I took those lessons about 10 years ago. When we went to him it was more about learning the technique to save your voice rather than improving on the singing thing. Over the years we’ve just gotten better, but we do apply a lot of his techniques even today, just to improve on things. I think I’ve been pretty lucky, especially with the screaming aspect of what we do, in that I haven’t had any problems. So whatever I’m doing, it works for me. I can scream for an hour, hour and a half every night and talk before I go to bed and never have a problem.
The nü metal tag was put on you girls early on, has that tapered off? This new album certainly doesn’t fit into that category.
Mercedes: I don’t think we ever really fit in with that genre. I think we sounded more like a really horrible punk rock band … a metal band with a really shitty punk rock vibe, I think. We didn’t have a DJ, we didn’t have braids in our hair, we didn’t rap.
Morgan: You are right, though. Because at the time, that was what was big and nobody really knew where to put us.
Were you conscience of moving away from the nü metal tag?
Morgan: Yeah, I think we were. When we grew up in London, there really wasn’t any of that scene. We weren’t really jumping on a bandwagon or emulating anybody. We were just being ourselves and wrote the music we wanted to. And once that huge thing exploded and we became this huge phenomenon or whatever, we did consciously say this next album we want to be taken seriously as a metal band, because that’s what we are. Hence, Oracle came out, and it definitely has a much heavier and sludgier vibe to it. The production is a lot bigger. So, there was a bit of a conscience effort to sort of steer peoples ideas, and we’ve been building on that ever since.
There’s some slight doom, blues and ’70s rock influences that pop up on I’ve Failed You. Were you trying a different approach on this album while still remaining in the Kittie sound frame?
Mercedes: Not really. I think more than anything it’s just the natural progression of the band. We’ve been a band for 15 years. I would be really disappointed in myself if we stuck to the sound of the first record. I wouldn’t be growing as a musician. I’d be a crappy drummer if we didn’t grow and didn’t become a better band. What’s the point of being in a band if you don’t learn, grow, change and mutate. There’s no point in us being a band or making music unless … first and foremost, we make ourselves happy with the music.
This is probably the most solid lineup Kittie has had. With this being Tara’s third consecutive album and Ivy’s been in the band since 2008, does it feel more like a family now?
Morgan: Of course. That stability only helps to improve things. The chemistry is great. We write really well together and we have a good time when we’re on tour. It feels solid. It’s a good feeling and it’s really nice to be able to say that.
Kittie has always been the core of both of you. Is there a certain bond or emotion you have for creating music together since you are family? I’m sure there’s probably some tiffs here and there.
Mercedes: We don’t really fight anymore. We have a collective brain, Morgan and I. We kind of think the same way, especially when it comes to writing. We’re definitely on the same page.
Morgan: Personality wise, we’re wildly different. Obviously we came from the same place. With writing, there’s a special magic that happens. Especially since we’ve been playing together since we were 12 and 13 years old. We’ve basically grown up together and grown up playing together. Even recording and stuff, I’ve noticed people had made comments about … when we lay down the drum tracks or whatever, there’s a certain kind of ebb and flow, push and pull that we do together when we do it. It’s pretty cool.
Given the length of your career so far and you’re still going strong and making albums. What does it mean to you to able to still create music and tour?
Morgan: It’s such a personal thing. We do it because we love it. We feel like we still have something to prove.
Mercedes: I’ve spent more than half of my life doing this. It’s something we’ve grown accustomed to and it’s a part of life now. I don’t know if I’d be able to function without it.
Morgan: It’s built into how we do things now. It’s a part of how we operate and we always take always take it into consideration.It will always be there in some fashion. Kittie and us making music will never go away when it’s been a part of your life as long as it has been for us. it’s just an extension of you who are.
The production on I’ve Failed You by Siegfried Meier has a great, in your face, “ugly” sound. I saw the in studio report video about using two-inch tape, massively micing up the drums and cymbals. Were you really focused on the overall sound for this one?
Morgan: I think with InThe Black, we sort of set the foundation for how we wanted to go about things for the next few albums. Working with Siggy is really easy. Listening back to InThe Black, there were definitely some things we wanted to do differently on this album. I know he wanted to experiment a little more with micing. I think there was 23 mics on the drums. He wanted to take what ever we had with InThe Black and make it bigger,
Mercedes: He wanted to build on the sound that we initiated with him. I’m pretty sure the next record that we do with him, we’re going to just continue to build and build on those recordings.
What’s your touring plans? What’s next for Kittie?
Morgan: I hope that everybody gets a chance to listen to the new album and they really enjoy it and hopefully a lot of people will pick it up so we can continue to do this. It’s a part of our life and we’re never going to stop no matter what. After this tour, it will take us to the beginning of October, we’ll have to regroup and figure out what the next move is. We still have other things coming down the pipe for next year already. More tours. Some international stuff.
How has eOne Music been treating you as far as promotion goes?
Morgan: With this album, it seems to me that there’s a lot more (promotion). When we first signed to eOne, the metal division was just starting to build. Since then, the last few years, they’ve started building a template for releasing albums. They know what works for them and what doesn’t. When we released InThe Black in 2009, they were still figuring things out and we were still kind of the guinea pig. I think they have their ideas solidified and their shit together a little more and know where to promote things.
Mercedes: You cannot in any way, shape or form judge someone’s success on how many albums they sell now, because nobody buys albums! Nobody’s interested in buying albums. There’s a small population of people who still buy records, and the rest of them are going to download it.
You can just tell that the maturity level on this new album has been upped considerably compared with your 1999 debut album.
Mercedes: I hope I’ve matured because I’m not 15 anymore! (laughs).
