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Pollstar--April 17, 2000
Teen People--April 2000
Alternative Press--April 2000
Kerrang!--March 25, 2000
Shoutweb.com--March 13, 2000
Kerrang!--March 4, 2000
Radiospy.com--February 22, 2000
Seventeen Magazine--February 2000
Hookidup Interview--January 2000
Anti-MTV.com--January 2000
MTV--January 2000
Paper--December 1999
Teen Magazine--October 1999
Street Beat--October 1999
Spin--October 1999
Artemis Records--October 1999
Rolling Stone Magazine--September 30, 1999
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel--July 31, 1999
Alternative Press--July 26, 1999



Pollstar
April 17, 2000

HotStar of the Week

A band of coup-plotters has been working to undermine well-marketed teen pop sensations and radio-friendly hip-hop/hard rock hybrids. While today's stars were working on packaging, marketing and imaging, Kittie was in the basement practicing.

The four young women knew the day would come when the world of metal would be ready for their abrasive mix of locomotive riffs and dark melodies. So they practiced. They recorded some songs that earned them a record deal. They practiced. They played some shows around their hometown of London, Ontario, and beat back stage fright. They cut an album and before it was released, the phone rang.

"Sharon Osbourne called my house," singer/guitarist Morgan Lander said. "It was amazing. She had heard about Kittie and asked for a press package which included an advance copy of the CD."

The Ozzfest mastermind confirmed Kittie for this year's festival tour without seeing the band perform. The invitation that metal bands old and nü would kill for was just handed to these unproven newcomers.

Or was it? Any band that comes out of nowhere to open for some of the hottest bands around is going to spark some cynicism. Plus, the members of Kittie are teenagers, female and managed by the father of Morgan and drummer Mercedes. How could this band not be the product of a Svengali-like marketing scheme?

The Lander sisters, guitarist Fallon Bowman and bass player Talena Atfield are young and nubile, but they're no pre-fab designer band. Songs like "Do You Think I'm a Whore" and their liberal use of the F word guarantee they won't be compared to Britney or Christina in this lifetime.

"It's a matter of perception," Lander said. "People have these preconceived ideas about us but I think those perceptions change as soon as they actually see us play.

"Because we're female, I think a lot of people misinterpret our songs. There is some sexual energy but the content isn't really about that. There's no ‘you broke my heart' song. We're dealing with more serious aspects of life."

They are especially serious about their live show. Rehearsing and writing songs in the Lander basement was like a general education course. These gals have graduated to the road now and are holding their own with seasoned pros.

"We started touring right after the album was released [in January]. We began touring with Slipknot and we switched over to Sevendust in February. Then we went to Europe and then we played some Canadian shows. We go back out for a headlining tour in May," Lander said.

Kittie played its first real gig in February 1998 and the foursome realized there is a big difference between the basement and the stage.

"The very first show we played – I recall this very well – we played here in town and it was total stage fright. Becoming a performer and being able to express yourself in front of crowds takes a lot of practice. It's like school; you have to learn how to do that. The first show was really nerve-racking but it was also a turning point. When we made it through that first gig, we were like, ‘Wow, let's go out and do that again!'"

The band began to stretch its touring legs last summer with two weeks of dates opening club shows for Skinlab. Lander said they knew it was time to get serious about the band and they needed to see how they would fare on the road.

They soon discovered that touring is a learn-as-you-go experience and Kittie has been getting a very good education since The Agency Group's Dave Kirby took over the band's booking.

"I'm not sure how we got involved with Dave Kirby. I know we had a couple other booking agents before but they didn't work out. We were trying out different people, seeing who could get us some good deals, good gigs. Dave is definitely a keeper," Lander said.

Other, more subtle, benefits came with playing night after night. The Kittie-grrls found they had a more cohesive unit. "We're not just four individuals on the same stage anymore; we share the same brain. We are a collective. When we're playing, I really understand what everyone is doing because we work as a whole." Months on the road have given Kittie time to hone its live act to a super-sharp metal edge. The four close friends wield that power with a sense of self respect, even vocation.

"Playing the shows is definitely one of the most important things we do. Getting out there and presenting ourselves in the flesh and communicating to people is a really important aspect of being in a band. We'd rather be on tour than worrying about getting a video on MTV. It adds a completely different energy. There's this exchange of adrenaline that you don't get from listening to a CD."

By the time they get to the start of The Ozzfest 2000 tour, the bandmates will be more than ready to share that chemistry with the festival audience and prove what their Internet fans already know. Almost every single post on the band's official bulletin board shares the same opinion: "Kittie kicks ass."
Click here to see the cover picture.



Teen People
April 2000

Metal's Heavy Hitters

Kittie: They're more like kittens (they range in age from 15 to 18); still, they really let the fur fly on their first disc, Spit. "We're not playing our genders--we're playing music," says singer Morgan Lander.



Alternative Press
April 2000
by Jason Pettigrew

Kittie

The Cutest Kittens Have the Sharpest Claws

When government agencies train their various agents in the ways and means of neutralizing terrorists, they stress a crucial tenet: Shoot the women first. From Baader-Meinhoff to the Red Army to the IRA, the tenacity and personal conviction of women have been key to the effectiveness of many of history's terrorist organizations.

In some ways, Kittie might be perceived as a terrorist organization whose primary objective is destruction and dismantling of the male monopoly on agrressive rock. Their debut album, Spit (Artemis), has the requisite guitar crunch and rhythmic smash capable of collapsing the bowels of the baggy-panted dimbulbs who routinely sing "Nookie" on their way to 7-Eleven. This ain't the Runaways, the Donnas, Lunachicks or L7. Kittie are, indeed, something else.

"I think we're about equality," says lead singer Morgan Lander. "Sure, [hard rock] is quite a male-dominated genre flooded with testosterone. We try not to force issues in our music. People are allowed to believe what they want to, but equality is something we reach for."

The Kittie story began in London, Ontario, a town located south of Toronto. Guitarist Fallon Bowman and drummer Mercedes Lander met in a gymnastics class four years ago, bonding over Nirvana and Silverchair. They got together for regular jam sessions, and soon asked sister Morgan to ahng out and sing with them. Tanya Candler was enlisted for the bass slot, and the band began working their way through the Canadian hard-rock underground, whacking girls-can't-play-minded boys up side the head.

It would be very easy to marginalize Kittie as a bunch of cuddly teen girls who merely "rawk hard," with loud guitars and midriff-baring tops. But the GGGarth=produced Spit offers some interesting twists on the heavy-music formula. In addition to Morgan's vocal style--which can shift from sultry seductress to grinding death-metal psychopath in nanoseconds--there's the Fear Factory-tinged title track that's boosted by Mercedes' rhythmic onslaught, the machine-driven vibe of "Brackish," and the forboding instrumental "Immortal," which closes the record with far more deftness and attention to detail than many of Kittie's millionare "peers."

"A lot of people can't accept change," says Mercedes.

"I think a lot of fans don't realize you can't keep playing the same thing over and over again," offers Bowman. "As a musician, you get exposed to so many [styles of music] and there's a lot of things you want to try."

And Kittie seem ambitious enough to pursue them all. With new bassist Talena Atfield on board, Kittie slayed the audiences on Slipknot's recent U.S. tour. The girls in the crowds found solidarity instead of hollow role models, and the boys were slugging it out on the mosh pit. And for the older folks, the band recently recorded a version of "Run Like Hell" for a Pink Floyd tribute album, clawing and biting the song into this millenium.

"We'll start playing it, and people don't recognize it until they hear the lyrics," says Morgan. "Then all these older people run up screaming, "Woooo, Pink FLoyd!" She laughs. "I guess you can say there's something for everybody at a Kittie show!"
Click here to see the feature.


Kerrang!
March 25, 2000
by Simon Young

Kittie & Hundred Reasons
Highbury Garage, London
Wednesday, March 8
KKKK

Canadian all-girl nu-metal crew Kittie perform their first UK headlining gig.

It seems as though every teenage girl who has given alternative metal a listen has ventured out ot attend this hotly-anticipated Club Kerrang! gig. Judging by their attire, Top Shop have made a bundle with their 'Rock Chic' collection, and not since Crufts have so many dog collars been herded into the same venue.

The Aldershot-based Hundred Reasons - after just three gigs in their current incarnation following the demise of Floor - already have major label interest. Seconds into their opening number 'COunting the Days,' it's patiently obvious why. Fronted by the spectacularly afro'd, the five-piece hit the stage running with a powerful assault that recalls TOOL, spurring the crowd to form a pit that threatens to chew up and spit out anyone foolish enough to brave the sea of flailing limbs.

'Seated Near' and 'Fingerboard' are greeted with near-hysteria, and the sheer volume of their reception is genuinely astounding. Hundred Reasons are very special indeed.

Still caught up in the touring circus of Slipknot's UK jaunt, Kittie are faced with the pressure of silencing the cynics who have plagued them since their inception. 'Spit' begins with a coquettish vocal, before Morgan Lander unleashes a bellow belying her petite frame. Diminutive guitarist Falon Bowman goes about her onstage raps by swearing like a squaddie with piles, unleashing a prime mouthful before the corrosive 'Trippin' - she's obviuosly enjoyed being free of parental control.

'Charlotte' and 'Paperdoll' both highlight Lander's strength as a vocalist, rather than resorting to the ear-splitting Dani Filth screams she patently enjoys indulging in. The latter, swathed in hardcore melodies, draws favourable comparisons to the Deftones' subtle yet brutal style. 'Suck' rumbles through the venue like a fleet of pissed off Eddie Stobart trucks, before a searing 'Do You Think I'm A Whore?' wraps things up.

Kittie prove their point. The kids are definitely alright.
Click here to see the feature.


Shoutweb.com
March 4, 2000
by Jason Wolford

Kittie - Spit

I hate girl bands. Everyone who knows me knows that I don't like heavy bands with female vocalists. It's just too shrill, and they're not hardcore. If Corey from Slipknot, or Danzig, or Jonathan Davis came at me with the intentions of beating my ass, I would be scared. Replace those people with Courtney Love or Donna Sparks from L7 and.. I can't think of a way to put this with out coming off as sexist, which I'm not, but you know what I'm getting at. I have found two exceptions to this, both of which are featured in our New Music section this week. One of these bands is Kittie. Kittie rocks. I have more respect for this band than I can relay to you. First of all, not only are they hardcore girls, but also they're all in their late teens, and to be honest most bands at that age suck.

Kittie's debut album "Spit" is full of mosh-friendly rage-filled teenage angst. It contains pounding heavy tracks like the single "Brackish" and title tack "Spit" as well as slower tracks like the haunting "Paperdoll". Lead singer Morgan delivers her vocals in styles varying from soft and melodic, to explosive rage. She is backed by Talena on bass, Fallon on guitar, and Mercedes (I love her) on drums. Recently the Canadian foursome has been touring with the likes of Sevendust, and Slipknot, and are booked for the second stage at this years Ozzfest. I know Ozzfest is already on your to do list, so I'm just going to recommend that you put off that big line at the pretzel stand for someone else's set.


Kerrang!
March 4, 2000
by Paul Brannigan

Teen Spirit

The seven wooden cubes hanging on Kittie vocalist/guitarist Morgan Lander's necklace spell out two words: 'F**K YOU'. This handy visual aid speaks volumes about the 17-year-old Canadian and the band she fronts.

People have formed opinions about Kittie without hearing a single note of the band's debut album 'Spit'. Because the band are young, female, and attractive, some people have decided that Kittie must be another 'big boots, no knickers' music business wet dream marketed at teenage boys with bulging eyes, bulging crotches and, most importantly, bulging wallets. Take the 'brains' behind Internet 'e-zine' Testicle Press: while enthusiastically endorsing the politically-righteous hardcore of Refused, they have no problem in describing Kittie as "Teeny weeny pussy...rocking cock like jailbait ho's."

Right now, Morgan Lander and her bandmates--guitarist Fallon Bowman, bassist Talena and drummer Mercedes Lander--are supporting Slipknot and WIll Haven on tour across the U.S. And their response to accusations that they're all titillation and no talent is simple: they walk onstage, they plug in their instruments and set about unleashing some of the fiercest, most abrasive nu-metal you're likely to hear in this opening year of the new millenium.

"When we walk out, you can see people rolling their eyes and going (affects a resigned tone), 'Oh, a girl band'," sighs Morgan Lander, poring over a menu in a diner in Fort Lauderdale--ultra-hip Miami's infinitely seedier neighbour which comes complete with crack-peddling kids. "But once we start playing you can see their jaws dropping."

The band's origins lie in a 1996 gymnastics class meeting between Fallon and Mercedes. The latter's elder sister Morgan was quickly brought on board as the group discarded Silverchair and Nirvanan covers in favour of a heavier, more original sound.

Kittie played their first show in February '98, and recorded two demos in their hometown of London, Ontario before coming to the attention of RATM/Red Hot Chili Peppers producer GGGarth (Richardson), who was so impressed that he agreed to record a full album with the then-unsigned band for a minimal fee. The fruit of the collaboration was 'Spit', recorded, post-high school homework, in just nine days.

"It's a dark album, but it's about every day life which isn't always peachy," smile Morgan, picking at a cheese and ham toastie. "Life doesn't always treat you as nice as you'd like, but you shouldn't blow your head off because something goes wrong."

Bearing in mind that 'Spit' contains apoplectic lyrics such as 'Why do I get shit all the time from you men, you are swine' and titles like 'Get Off (You Can Eat A Dick)', Kittie in the flesh aren't quite the angry young women you might imagine. Mercedes giggles as she admits "People think that we're going to eat their faces off when we come onstage."

TIny Fallon, hugging a cuddly toy kitten given to her by a blushing male fan, and super-dry Talena, a Cradle of Faith fan who replaced original bassist Tanya Candler in September last year and admits to being "the weird girl" at school, are pretty quiet when a tape recorder is popped under their noses, but Morgan and Mercedes exude a wisdom byond their years, solemnly declaring that they don't fight on the road "because this is a professional situation--we can't mess it up."

All four seem cautious as they answer questions--perhaps unsurprisingly if previous run-ins with journalists follow the questionable pattern of a hack from a so-called 'quality' UK newspaper who considers it essentail that he be able to inform his readership whether or not the teenagers are still virgins--but they're eager to empahsise that Kittie are "for real."

"Ultimately, it's not about image or gender or age--it's about music," sighs Morgan. "We're all intelligent people and we're not interested in using our gender as a marketing gimmick."

As true as this may be, there's no doubting Kittie's femininity distinguishes them in the male-dominated world of metal. The fact that two UK 'lad' mags--"Lard mags?" inquires Mercedes rather fantastically--are also here to interview the band tells its own story. And web postings, which range from new man gasps like "I thought you would be another Spice Girl group and now my penis feels small" to unbalanced Neanderthal grunts like "Why don't you get on your knees and suck dick like normal bitches?" are evidence that the band's gender is a big deal for many.

The one lyric printed on the inner sleeve of 'Spit'--'I look in the mirror, the whore is all I see' from 'Do YOu Think I'm A Whore?'--indicates that Kittie aren't going to shy away from questions of gender and sexual identity.

"That is a provocative line," Morgan concedes "but that song is about how people automatically think you're a slut because you wear a short skirt. On the surface, song titles like 'Suck' and 'Choke' could be seen as something about sex, but when Sepultura wrote a song called 'Choke' no-one attached a sexual meaning to that."

But how do you feel about the prospect of being a pin-up on a thousand walls?

"That's kinda weird," Morgan admits, "but I still put band posters up on my walls too. We can't help if people think we're pretty, but we're not about to conform to what anyone expects of us."

With Mercedes now burping cheerfully and talking about how she's about to piss her pants soon if we carry on talking much longer, it seems like an appropriate time to wind things up.

That decision hastened when Morgan claims she's felling "itchy" discovers to her horror that that her toastie was cooked on the same grill used to fry eggs in the diner. It transpires that the singer has a potentially fatal allergy to eggs, which causes her throat to contract and makes breathing extremely difficult. As Morgan's face begins to break out in spots in front of our eyes, there's a genuine concern that she could require medical attention. This wasn't aprt of the plan.

It's a relief then, to find the singer wailing and roaring on full power six hours later, as Kittie grab non-believers in Fort Lauderdale's Chili Pepper club and subject them to a brutally intense half-hour set which leaves no one in any doubt that these kitten shave got real claws. Afterwards, both Slipknot's Shawn Crahan and Will Haven's Grady Avenell agree that the Canadian quartet are giving their own bands a run for their money in the tour's audience response stakes.

The verdict is clear: Kittie are the real deal, the first all-girl band to successfully translate ground-breaking female US alt-rock bands like Babes In Toyland into incendiary metallic noise. And if you're not prepared to listen, well, Kittie's message is simple: F**k You.
Click here to see the feature.


Radiospy.com
February 22, 2000
by Marie Loggia-Kee

Kittie
Spit
Artemis Records

This teen-age hard-rock act puts the purr back in metal

Kittie. Kittie. It's just so fun to say -- Kittie. But there's nothing sweet and coltish about this band of teens from Canada. Rather, they can be billed as the anti-bubblegum pop. Usually, a number of teen drifters in high school look up to goth rockers. You know the type, the Mohawks and spiked dye jobs of the '80s, pierced and tattooed and ripped-flannel-clad of the '90s. You must not forget the black lipstick and even thicker black eyeliner. For a while, I was on the fringe of that crowd … albeit my father wouldn't let me dye my hair blue. (Damn! I still want blue hair.) Those of this generation who have grown tired of the sickening-sweet and just don't want to "hit me, baby, one more time" have some much younger mentors -- the girls from Kittie, whose ages range from 15 to 17. My first thought after listening to their debut album, Spit, is, Man, these girls can rock!

Little girls don't spit on stage, shout "fuck" and sing songs like "Get Off (You Can Eat a Dick)," but then again, girls don't usually play metal like this. I better drop the "girls" moniker about now, before this foursome decides to kick some RadioSpy Rock ass after their next SoCal appearance. Hailing from London, Ontario, the quartet features Morgan Lander on vocals and guitar, her sister Mercedes Lander on drums, Fallon Bowman on guitars and vocals and Talena Atfield on bass. Many of the songs on Spit satirize how society -- and, basically, men -- look at women: If you like sex, you're a whore. Let's clarify that. If you like sex, and you're a woman, you're a whore. Rather than playing up sex in society, songs such as "Suck," "Do You Think I'm a Whore" and the aforementioned "Get Off" dis these traditional views. The back of Spit's liner notes features a green butt with a face, gnarled teeth ready to take a bite out of someone. The overlaid text reads, "I look in the mirror … the whore is all I see." The whore being what society sees.

How has the hard rock, metal genre embraced Kittie? The public does tell. At a recent show at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana, Calif., Kittie opened for heavy hitters Sevendust. A number of overly big guys squeezed themselves into tight little Kittie T-shirts, which looked like they had been signed by members of the band. Underage gals clad in matching black leather pants payed homage to the band on the outskirts of the pit. And that mosh pit erupted with movement from the get-go. Ah, yeah. This crowd was raring to go.

With music self-described as "guttural," Morgan's vocals alternate between clear and these shrieking, Ozzy-like blasts. Jenn, one of my friends at the show, wondered if Morgan used a distortion pedal similar to Alain Jourgensen of Ministry. The difference became a little more noticeable when Fallon took the center mic -- her vocal transitions didn't seem quite as smooth as Morgan's. As a matter of fact, Fallon herself seemed to laugh at the vocals. In either case, they sound pretty cool.

On the album, the combination of vocals comes off best in the single "Brackish," where the lyrics alternate between coy and ripping, hard-core metal chants. Fallon adds the textured audio, and that texture heightens the effectiveness of the tune. The lyrics remain true to teen angst. But this isn't the "I didn't make prom queen" angst; it's a harder, more honest reality. The subject is pushed to the edge, past the breaking point:

She is not scared, to die / The best things in life drive her to cry. … Sit and watch me burn / She's led to believe, that it'd be OK, look / Look at your face, scarred in dismay / But times have changed, and so have you / I think I'd rather crucify than learn.

With this sexist talking, don't believe that Kittie doesn't play up to the image that these teens are creating. On stage, Fallon is incredibly sexy. Doe eyes peek out from under dyed, flashy, blunt-cut red hair, pouting lips -- legal or not, I'm sure many would want to tame these bad girls. While wailing on bass, Talena rocks side to side like one of the guitar-playing beauties on Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" video. As a lead-in to "Jonny," Morgan screamed at the crowd, "I think you're all very bad boys and girls, and you need to be spanked … and Jonny does too." The track "Paperdoll" plays up to Courtney Love's band Hole and their "Doll Parts." Kittie is anything but paperdolls, waiting to be torn apart.

On the technological side, Kittie's CD features new CDK 2.0 advancements. The CD features a full-screen, full-motion video of the band's first single, "Brackish"; song lyrics; bio information and photos of the band. Interactive links take viewers to Kittie's official site and Artemis Records, the band's label. The full-screen video is absolutely amazing and totally clear on the computer screen. I rarely get the chance to watch videos, and the streaming ones on the Web still leave something to be desired. That small screen sucks. I actually watched the "Brackish" video before reading the press material. "Mmmm, what's that button do?" I wondered. One click on the mouse and whammmo! Full-screen action. It must be viewed to fully appreciate.

With the upswing of teen horror flicks in recent years and the abundance of rock-rap filling airwaves, this is a perfect time for a breakthrough band such as Kittie. These hard-edged teen rockers finally put the purr back in metal.


Seventeen Magazine
February 2000
Thanks to KoalaGirl@hotbot.com!

CD Review: "Spit" (Ng/Artemis)
Artist: Kittie
File Under: Hard rock, alphabetized between Fuel and Metallica. This aggressive album is not for the faint-hearted.
Sounds like: Seething, crunching metal that would make Courtney Love whimper, played by girls who could be her younger sisters: Canadian rockers Morgan, Fallon, Talena and Mercedes are all 17 or under.
Songs that'll make you hit 'Repeat': The swirling, almost psychedelic "Paperdoll" and the sped-up grunge of "Charlotte".
Best place to enjoy: This catheric album should be played out of your parents' earshot. When you're feeling mad enough, mosh along with Kittie's thrashing screams and leaden bass lines.


Hookidup
January 2000

by Setareh Zargarani

Kittie Jan 2k

Are you straightedge?
Fallon and Mercedes: No, we are not.

Do you want to embellish on that at all?
Fallon: I guess that's never really been an issue with me. I listen to a lot of straightedge hardcore bands though. We listen to all kinds of music pretty much. I don't do drugs, I can tell you that.
Mercedes: We don't do them, but we're not straightedge.

What are your ages and grades?
Mercedes: We don't like stressing that.
Is there a reason why?
Mercedes: Cos look at what happened to Silverchair or other bands that made their ages prominent in their music, and I don't want that to happen to us. They got pigeon-holed as a teenage band.

What do you think websites like AntiMtv.com can do for bands like yours?
Mercedes: I think that they help bands get exposure.
Fallon: Yes, because our entire fanbase, and how people heard of us is all from the internet. And it really does help a lot to have people from all over the world able to see us, by accident or on purpose.

Tour plans prior to Ozzfest?
Fallon: We are planning on going out with Sevendust for a month.

Is that why you aren't going to Europe?
Together: Yeah.

There are several fans that were upset because you cancelled the European tour - do you have anything to say to them?
Together: Sorry!!! We're definitely going to go over there later!

How did the lead singer discover that she could scream like that?
Mercedes: She just tried. I think that there was a progression, because if you hear our earlier demos it is like totally different. She pretty much trained her voice through trial and error.

In the current metal scene, looks typically don't matter so why do you feel the need to look pretty (with make-up, skirts etc)?
Mercedes: Actually you know that is a totally irrelevant question because I think that looks have nothing to do with it. This person has obviously not listened to our music because in our music it states clearly that image is nothing.
Fallon: We dress like this all the time, this is who we are.

What do you think of the sickness known as Slipknot?
Mercedes: Aww, they are such nice guys. We love them.
Fallon: I was so scared (of them) because it was just the whole thing with masks, (they) remind you of monsters. But then when they take it off they're like normal people. They're really nice guys.

You guys are going to be on 2nd stage at Ozzfest?
Together: Yep.

Is the Sevendust tour confirmed?
Fallon: Semi-90 percent.

Would you guys go on tour with Drain STH and other girl bands?
I would like that, but not at the present time, it would be cool though.

Would you guys ever date a fan?
Together: No. I just I don't know, I just wouldn't do it.

Then you'd have to date someone who doesn't know who Kittie is?
Fallon: Someone who totally hasn't heard of me, someone who is like a photographer or a painter. Something completely out of the music scene, like a lawyer or something like that.

What are your major influences?
Mercedes: I think that music is pretty much our influence because we listen to so many different kinds of music. You'd be missing so much if you were to narrow it down to like 3 or 4 bands that are our favorites. I mean like I listen to a broad spectrum of music, like on one hand, I'll listen to Nile, or on the other hand I'll listen to Placebo.
Fallon: Yeah, same with me, I'll listen to death metal, like (Today is the Day?), they are like my favorite death metal band. And I'll listen to Placebo or more tacky stuff, like God Lives Under Water and stuff like that.

Who would you like to tour with?
Fallon: Actually you know what--Ozzfest is like our dream tour.
Mercedes: Deftones.

If you could meet anyone dead or alive who would it be?
Mercedes: I'd like to meet Ozzy Osbourne cos he's such a pioneer in music. He made metal what it is.

Can you tell me a little about the lyrics?
Mercedes: I think the lyrics range from perception. And we are definitely misunderstood.
Fallon: Just because we're women.
Mercedes: Like I mean I don't see anyone giving Slipknot problems because they wear masks.
Fallon: (The lyrics are about,) emotional manipulation, ignorance, humiliation, everyday occurrences.

Do you feel like you're doing something special by being this young and being able to play on this level? Or do you feel like another band trying to make it?
Mercedes: I think we're just like another band trying to make it. There's nothing different about us. We're just trying to be a band. We're trying to make music and trying to get people to notice us.

What bands inspired you?
Mercedes: Nirvana inspired me.
Fallon: Me too.

Do you face a lot of opposition from the industry because you are female?
Mercedes: They've treated us like a normal band, for what we are.

What albums have you been listening to?
Mercedes: I've been listening to Slipknots CD, and Finger Eleven.
Fallon: (Temple of the Morning Star?), Hatebreed - Satisfaction is the Death of Desire, Nothingface - Everyday Atrocity.

How do you feel about the multiple Britney Spears references in your press bio?
Mercedes: Sometimes it kinda bugs me, but just because we have to be compared to like pop icons.

How has the tour with Slipknot been?
Mercedes: The tour with Slipknot has been great.

Where can "SexizHell" and the self-titled album be found?
Mercedes: They're really really really hard to find.
Fallon: There are people who have it.
Mercedes: Actually though, I was looking on my laptop a few days ago on this Kittie site, and one of the girls, she had mp3s of our 6 song CD on her site. The site was called My Head is in your Closet (https://www.angelfire.com/stars/KiTTiE/KiTTiE.html). But as for finding those things, I think you'd have to look really hard. There are only 500 copies of each.

What do you think of all the comparisons to Courtney Love?
Morgan: I listen to Hole, old Hole, but I've never really been influenced by Courtney. I think that her style of singing is like a little more raunchy. And I think of terms of my singing, it's a little more guttural. Like I think that I sound more like a man than she does. But that's just my personal opinion. It's not like I'm trying to sing like a man. In my singing style I'd like to blaze my own trail. I want to have other people comparing them to me. I'm not trying to sound like anybody. I'm trying something different and something new. I can go from singing very nicely to screaming really aggressive and it's strange that people compare me to certain different things. That's ok though, it's flattering.

Have there been any strange comparisons?
Mercedes: Somebody compared us to Cookie Monster, they said we sounded like Cookie Monster. It was weird, I don't know.
Fallon: Somebody said we sounded like a female Coal Chamber but were not even in the same tuning as them. I think the only two bands I know of are Static-x and System of a Down that are in the same tuning as us.


Anti-MTV.com
January 2000
by Graham Finney

Look at the signs: sixteen years old, cute as hell...it could have been a recipe for disaster. Instead, Kittie are one of the new wave of heavy-as-fuck bands and you definitely don't want to mess with them. And, when I say heavy, imagine heavy as in Will Haven meets Static-X heavy, the sort of heavy that loosens your teeth and rattles your bones. Songs like album opener Spit and, my personal fave, Suck, are songs that sort the boys from the men so to speak. On Raven when Kittie scream "Get away from me, stay the fuck away from me"... they mean it!

Despite all the, ahem, balls and heaviness, Kittie have the added bonus of being easy to look at. I mean, if it was a choice of looking at somebody like System Of A Down or watching Kittie.. there is no contest is there? And when vocalist Morgan teases the listener with the "Jonny's been a very bad boy" you can imagine hormones racing in bedrooms the world over!

In a world that judges more on image than on talent, Kittie are lucky in that they possess both by the bucketload. You'd be mad to ignore them!


MTV
January 2000
There's nothing remotely cute or fluffy about Kittie, despite what their name might suggest. Singer Morgan Lander sounds like Korn frontman Jonathan Davis' long lost soul sister growling, sobbing, crooning, and gnashing her way through an array of tunes that are every bit as virulent as anything the Korn-Bizkit continuum has spewed in recent years.

Lander, her sister Mercedes (on drums), bassist Tanya Candler, and guitarist Fallon Bowman certainly know how to dish out raw and chunky fare, tackling track after track as if it were an athletic competition. "Brackish" is a blazing hard-core outburst with Lander doing a Tasmanian Devil-style rap interlude a la Davis; "Suck" and "Spit" grind mercilessly. Other numbers ("Charlotte," "Raven") cover more ground, veering from squeaky tight syncopated stretches to gales of gritty brooding and acrid distorted guitar.

Likewise the songs' sentiments range from such point blank quips as "Do You Think I'm A Whore?" and "Get Off (You Can Eat a Dick)" to (relatively) subtler expressions like "Choke."

Like others of the au courant aggro camp, it's easy to overlook the musicians' genuinely impressive chops amid all the bluster, but if these gals really are all still juveys and can whip up this much of a furor, Korn, Alanis, Limp Bizkit, and anyone else who gets in their way better watch their asses.

© 1999 MTV Networks. All Rights Reserved.


Paper
December 1999
by Jon Durbin

Kittie
Spit (Ng/Artemis)

It's not every quartet of teenage Canadian girls that digests the grunge tenets so well they're able to regurgitate a brand-new blend of rock. Incorporating Sepultura-style metal with spatial, soaring bass, Kittie's debut album is fiercely bipolar, their influences worn like black armbands on their pretty little sleeves. By the end of the year, every rebellious teenage boy ought to be in love with them. Tracks like "paperdoll" and "Do you think I'm a Whore?" are so acidic they make Hole's caustic first album look about as sharp as Sweet 'n' Low.

Sure, Spit is derivative--"Brackish" sounds like Ministry's Al Jourgenson courting Garbage's Shirley Manson in a Berlin bar co-owned by the Butthole Surfers and the Melvins--but that's half the fun. There's a guilty pleasure of hearing a 17-year-old whisper "humiliation...suffocation" on a raging tune titled "Get Off (You Can Eat a Dick)." In fact, this album is so potty-mouthed it begs PTA--every PTA everywhere--to turn the other cheek and prepare for an ass-kicking. Which, in a world made safer by Britney Spears and Joey McIntyre, is a welcome change.


Teen Magazine
October 1999
Thanks to KoalaGirl@hotbot.com!

Kittie, and their debut album "Spit", prove guitars were made for girls. These Canadian musicians rock harder than Korn and Limp Bizkit combined, and they're all between 15 and 17 years old!


Street Beat
Reviews of Unsigned, Newly Signed and Independent Label Bands
October 1999
by Jeff Bercovici

Kittie, Spit (partial) (© 1999 Ng Records)
From the Frozen North, the land that gave us Alanis and Sarah McLachlan, comes yet another girl-rock group. The ladies in Kittie, however, are no touchy-feely popsters; don't expect to see them at Lilith Fair any time soon. Rather, they're an authentic, take-no-prisoners, dog-collar-wearing hard-core group. And they're not even old enough to vote. To hear lead singer Morgan Lander scream into the mic, you'd think these girls were Pantera in drag. Time was when a voice like that coming out of a teenage girl meant only one thing: demonic possession. When Lander actually sings, however, as she does on "Charlotte" and "Brackish," the effect of her baby-sweet vocals over the thunderous speed-metal backup is even eerier. Spit hits stores October 19. You can find Kittie on the Web at www.ngrecords.com.


Spin
October 1999
by Christine Muhlke
Thanks to Koalagirl@hotbot.com!

Incoming: New Artists, New Sounds-Kittie

For Kittie's Mercedes Lander, finding a guitarist for her prepubescent-chick band was as easy as going to gymnastics class. That's where the drummer met Fallon Bowman, who learned chords from Lander and her big sister, Morgan. Dressed in baby-dominatrix gear, these London, Ontario, teens are like Josie and the Pussycats with sharper claws and more reverb pedals. Morgan is the Goth princess; saucy bassist Tanya Candler is the riot grrrl who likes flashing tourists, and spunky Bowman is the Tank Girl-like hottie who keeps readjusting her cleavage. "No one's in control, but we're out of control," says Morgan.

The Kittie girls, whose ages range from 15 to 17-just might make a dent in the new metal scene, thanks to the truly fierce sonics on their debut album, Spit. With Bowman's dark, dirty guitar and Morgan's guttural scream, Kittie's snarling sound is about as sweet and feminine as Courtney Love at a Versace sample sale.

And though their songs may have titles like "Suck" and "Do You Think I'm a Whore?", the girls claim their music is not about sex. However, onstage in New York City, Candler introduces "Paperdoll" with: "This is a song about fucking. Let's hear it for sex!" Bumping and grinding just like they've practiced on their pillows, Kittie are both thrilling and creepy when they bust their new-found slutty moves on the goateed metalheads. And Britney Spears would never shove a blow-up doll's head between her legs like Candler does. Asked to envision meeting Spears, the girls start laughing. "I'd ask her for money-and where she gets her clothes." Says Morgan. Candler looks at her pierced pals, who've got the week off from school to open for Biohazard, then adds, "She's probably just as dysfunctional as we are."


Artemis Records
October 1999
by Paul Gargano

Refreshing facts about Kittie: None of them were Mousketeers, they don't dance down the halls of their high school half-naked, and they're not about to buy into the American dream of record sales through plastic surgery.

"I'm not up there singing, 'Hit me baby, one more time!' We're a lot more mature than that," states frontwoman Morgan. Instead, the Canadian teen quartet presents its music with the same brutal truth that clouds their reality. Sonically, it's harsh. But so is the world they live in, and Kittie don't see a need for sugarcoating.

"If people are expecting The Spice Girls, they're not going to get it...People need to get used to everyday occurrence, that way they don't go and kill themselves-or other people-over things like losing a boyfriend or girlfriend," adds drummer Mercedes, Morgan's sister, and half of the band's bludgeoning bottom end with bassist Talena. Accompanying Morgan on guitar is Fallon, and though the four girls are still toiling through high school, they have a better grasp on their environment than most adults.

"Being the way people are, they'll look at songs like 'Spit,' 'Suck,' and 'Choke' and perceive them to be about promiscuity and guys, but you have to dig deeper than that and actually look into the lyrics to see where we're coming from," details Morgan. "Like the song 'Do You Think I'm a Whore?'-That's about the way that I perceive myself and the way other people tend to perceive me. There are times that I really don't think that people get what we're doing and understand where we're coming from. We're girls, playing in a guys business..."

"We're intense, and a lot of people just don't expect it," continues Mercedes. "That's why 'Spit' is my favorite song in the world-People expect us to suck, then we get on stage and blow them away. One minute they're just standing there, then their mouths drop open and their dicks feel small."

"All those people who judge us without hearing us? That's enough to make me spit," says Morgan of the song's title, pleased that Kittie have the chance to prove cynics wrong.

"A lot of guys don't want a bunch of little girls to get in the way of their music," laughs Fallon, who penned "Choke" as an emotional response to betrayal. "That song's about someone telling you that they love you so much, and they put you up on a pedestal and make you feel great, then they turn around and say 'screw you.'" Musically, "Choke" constricts as tightly as its subject matter, pounding from death metal brutality into a down tuned stomp that bites of sarcasm and smacks with scorn. "Brackish" opts for a more frantic pace, a techno backbeat and riveting guitars playing backdrop to a spoken word delivery that unravels into passionate vocal blasts.

It's that passion that sets Kittie apart from their more seasoned peers. Combining insights that are untempered by conventional political correctness, a blunt delivery, and lyrics that delve deeper than their titles might suggest, Kittie transcend the commercial ease of disposable teen angst and easily-packageable pop melodies.

Take "Paperdoll"-One of the album's least suggestive titles, the track offers one of the band's most palatable messages. Says Morgan, "We want to destroy the idea that a lot of men see women as blowup dolls. We want to break that, because we're better than that."

Not bad for a band that was conceived when Mercedes and Fallon met in a gymnastics class and began playing Nirvana and Silverchair covers with Morgan. Since then, Mercedes says she's grown "about seven inches," Fallon no longer aspires to be the next Mariah Carey-"I found cool music," she says-and they've graduated from the youthful mentality of, "Wow, let's play together!" to refining an image of their own and turning heads with a look inspired by equal parts glam, goth and metal.

"We just got sick of looking like everybody else-We didn't want to look grubby, and we didn't want to conform. We wanted to do something special," says Fallon. The results, according to Morgan, fall somewhere within the realm of "glam-goth, metal-glitter. We strive to do our own thing and be the pavers of new roads. It's all just completely natural, we don't really try to sound like anything, it just happens... This is just what's normal for us."

And for that, we have to be thankful. Imagine a world where Britney Spears was the norm?

"Hey, we didn't say anything bad about her!" clarifies Mercedes-"We didn't slag her, and we respect her... We just don't want to be her!" Morgan agrees: "Comparing us to her is like comparing black to white... We'll just stick to the metal!"


Rolling Stone Magazine
September 30, 1999

Meet Kittie. They hail from Ontario, Canada, and are all between fifteen and seventeen, have been playing dirgy, thrashing metal for three years, and want to kick your ass--or at least tear up a few blow-up dolls for you. "The dolls are my job," says bassist TANYA. "It's a prop during one of our songs, then I bite the crotch out of it and spit it into the audience. Usually someone brings it up later and we sign it." Now isn't this some gimmick, people--these are thinking women with a message. "To us," says guitarist FALLON, "Destroying the girl doll is destroying what guys think of women." "And we're not men haters," says singer MORGAN. "We're doing the same thing with the man doll." Kittie, whose album, Spit, will be released in October, are on a mission to claim a place for women in metal. "When girls tell us they love our music," says drummer MERCEDES, "it makes me feel like there's hope. And I get warm and cushy inside."


Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Saturday July 31, 1999

Metalfest bangs way into downtown On the main stage in Bruce Hall, standouts included the all-girl group Kittie, whose members showed their claws early by goading the mostly male audience with a male inflatable doll. Punkish sassiness only gets you so far, but they backed it up with solid riffs and some inspired vocals...


Alternative Press
(on-line)
July 26th, 1999

KITTIE: The Cutest Kittens Have The Sharpest Claws Allow us to introduce you to Kittie, a quartet of young ladies ranging in age from 15 to 17, and packing a whole bunch of attitude. The London, Ontario group look all demure, and thinking about them the wrong way will send you to prison. That is, if they don't kill you first: A recent sampler from their debut album, Spit, (due for release in November on Ng/Artemis), reveals a sonic kinship with demolition acts as Machine Head and Fear Factory (minus the electronics)than any empty cheesecake novelties. They can't drink in the clubs they play in, but they have more balls than Limp Bizkit.