Kittie
Kittie is a Canadian heavy metal band from London, Ontario. The band was formed in 1996 by guitarist Fallon Bowman and drummer Mercedes Lander, with guitarist and vocalist Morgan Lander and bassist Tanya Candler joining the following year. Morgan and Mercedes have remained the band's sole constant members. Collectively, their material released via independent record labels has sold over two million copies worldwide.
Kittie was chosen as the band name because the name "seemed contradictory". After signing to Ng Records, Kittie released their debut album Spit, which saw a wider release under Artemis Records the following year. The album, which primarily exhibited a nu metal sound, sold at least 600,000 copies in the United States and was certified gold by the RIAA. Kittie's subsequent output, including Oracle and Until the End, saw the band transition towards a heavier, more aggressive albeit melodic sound featuring characteristics of alternative metal, groove metal and death metal. Neither album was able to replicate the success of Spit, and Kittie parted ways with Artemis Records in 2005.
After leaving Artemis, Kittie created their own label, X of Infamy, and released their fourth album Funeral for Yesterday in 2007. In 2009, the band signed to eOne Music, with who they released In the Black and I've Failed You, both with bassist Ivana "Ivy" Jenkins. After the release of I've Failed You, Kittie went on an indefinite hiatus and the band's members pursued various other projects. In 2018, a documentary, Kittie: Origins/Evolutions, chronicling the history of the band was released in co-ordination with its 20th anniversary, followed by a one-off reunion concert. In 2022, Kittie reunited to perform at the Blue Ridge Rock and When We Were Young festivals. Their first album in 13 years, Fire, was released on June 21, 2024, through Sumerian Records.
History
Formation and early years (1996–2004)
Kittie was formed in September 1996 when guitarist Fallon Bowman and drummer Mercedes Lander met in a gymnastics class. Four or five months after the band's formation, Mercedes' sister Morgan joined as their vocalist and guitarist. Tanya Candler completed the line-up by joining as the bassist in November 1997. Kittie recorded their first demos and began playing concerts in 1998. The band performed at Call the Office and the Embassy and signed up for Canadian Music Week in 1999. Kittie approached Jason Wyner, who was second-in-command at NG Records. After Jason saw the band perform live, NG Records signed Kittie in 1999. Kittie initially released their debut album Spit on NG Records on November 13, 1999; however, shortly after, NG Records was purchased by Artemis Records, and production was halted. Around the same time, Candler left the band and was replaced on bass by Talena Atfield. Artemis subsequently reissued Spit, with different artwork and photographs, on January 11, 2000. It is the band's most successful album, being certified gold by the RIAA. Spit has sold at least 600,000 copies in the United States and at least 40,000 copies in Canada. They supported the album by touring with Slipknot.Their debut album and supporting tour earned Kittie coverage in Metal Edge, whose readers voted Morgan Lander for "Female Performer of the Year" and Spit in Your Eye for "Home Video of the Year" in the magazine's 2000 Readers' Choice Awards. The band was also voted "New Band of the Year", "Who's Going to be the Next Big Thing", and "Most Underrated Band", earning them a total of five Metal Edge Readers' Choice Awards that year. On July 11, 2000, Kittie made a home-video called Spit in Your Eye which featured interviews of the band and the band playing shows with the band Slipknot. The success of Spit led Billboard to call Kittie "the most successful female band in modern metal" in December 2001.
Kittie began jamming on new material in February 2001, and finished writing their second album, Oracle, by June. Sounding more aggressive than Spit, the album features elements of death metal and thrash metal. Morgan Lander noted how the band members were only 14 years old when writing their debut album and said "We haven't written in 4 or 5 years." She acknowledged a change in influence from their early days, stating, "Then we listened to bands like Nirvana, Silverchair, and Alice in Chains. Now we listen to stuff like Cannibal Corpse and Nile." However, the band would continue to write in the same fashion by first composing the music and then using that "as the backdrop behind the vocals." Weeks before the album was due to be recorded, Bowman left Kittie due to creative differences with Morgan and her own struggles dealing with the band's pressures for success. They have since reconciled their differences. As a result of her departure, Morgan recorded all of the album's guitar tracks herself. In August 2001, Artemis Records announced that Kittie would continue as a three-piece and that the band's guitar tech, Jeff Phillips, would fill in as a touring guitarist. Released in November 2001, the album went on to ship almost 220,000 copies in the United States by 2004.
On March 18, 2002, Talena Atfield left the band and was replaced on bass by Jennifer Arroyo two days later. In April 2003, Kittie and Garth Richardson sued Artemis over unpaid royalties of $900,000 and eleven breaches of contract by the label; the dispute was settled out of court in March 2004. In 2004, the group added guitarist Lisa Marx, and Jeff Phillips went to work full-time on his side project, Thine Eyes Bleed. On July 27, 2004, Kittie released their third studio album Until the End.
Departure from Artemis and ''Funeral for Yesterday'' (2005–2007)
On March 23, 2005, Morgan Lander reported that both Lisa Marx and Jennifer Arroyo had left the band. Jennifer Arroyo's split was amicable while Lisa Marx's came as a surprise. Morgan cited financial difficulties, which they attributed to Artemis Records' poor promotion of their releases, as the reasons for both members' departures. Lander also revealed that Artemis and the band were in negotiations over whether the band's contract would be renewed, expressing her desire to leave the label. Arroyo confirmed that the split was amicable, and also cited her desire to work outside of Kittie full-time was an additional factor. She would go on to join Billy Graziadei of Biohazard in the band Suicide City. On March 31, 2005, Kittie parted ways with Artemis Records due to "a proposed amendment to the recording budget for the pending fourth Kittie album."In 2005, Kittie added two new members: Tara McLeod on guitar and Trish Doan on bass. In 2005, Morgan and Mercedes Lander's clothing line, Poisoned Black clothing, started. Morgan and Mercedes also appeared briefly in the documentaries Metal: A Headbanger's Journey and Heavy Metal - Louder than Life. On February 7, 2006, Kittie released their Never Again EP through Rock Ridge Music. Also in 2006, vocalist Morgan Lander provided vocals on the song "It Turns to Rust", from the album In the Arms of Devastation, by the Canadian death metal band Kataklysm.
Kittie created their own record label, Kiss of Infamy Records, and used it to release their fourth studio album. The label name was later changed to "X of Infamy" after a cease-and-desist letter from attorneys representing Kiss Catalog Ltd. alleging that the Kiss of Infamy trademark was "confusingly similar" to their client's trademark. Kittie's fourth studio album Funeral for Yesterday was released on February 20, 2007, through their record label. Along with the release of Funeral for Yesterday, Morgan Lander announced that Kittie would release a 45-minute-DVD with the CD. In February 2007, Kittie toured as part of the Funeral for Yesterday Tour alongside Walls of Jericho, 36 Crazyfists, Dead To Fall, and In This Moment. Doan left Kittie following the tour due to her struggles with anorexia athletica-nervosa, which she developed during the recording of Funeral for Yesterday. From July 6 to September 16, 2007, Kittie embarked on another headlining tour of the United States, the Sweet Revenge Tour, with It Dies Today, Silent Civilian, Bring Me the Horizon and Blessed by a Broken Heart. Jeff Phillips filled in on bass for the duration of tour. Soon after, Ivy Vujic officially became the new bass player.
''In the Black'' and ''I've Failed You'' (2008–2011)
On August 2, 2008, David Lander, father of band members Morgan and Mercedes and the band's manager, died of a heart attack.On June 26, 2009, it was announced that Kittie signed to the E1 Music record label. The band's fifth studio album In the Black, was released on September 15, 2009. Videos were shot for two singles, "Cut Throat" and "Sorrow I Know". "Cut Throat" premiered on MTV 2's Headbangers Ball on September 5, 2009, and on the Canadian show Much Loud on September 20, 2009. "Cut Throat" also appeared on the Saw VI Soundtrack released on October 20, 2009, and also in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, released on March 25, 2011. On September 16, 2009, an announcement was made that German label Massacre Records would distribute In the Black in Europe.
In January 2010, Kittie returned to Europe to promote In the Black. Supporting bands on the tour included It Dies Today and Malefice. This tour included dates in the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. In a January 27, 2010 interview, Morgan Lander revealed that the band was in talks to film a video for the track "Die My Darling". In March 2010, Kittie embarked on another North American tour with God Forbid, Periphery and Gwen Stacy as support. From May through June 2010, Kittie took part in the Happy Daze tour headlined by Insane Clown Posse and featuring Coolio, Kottonmouth Kings and Necro.
Kittie participated in the 2010 Thrash and Burn tour through July and August which also featured Asking Alexandria, Born of Osiris, Evergreen Terrace, Stick to Your Guns, Chelsea Grin, Through the Eyes of the Dead, Impending Doom, Periphery and Greeley Estates. This was followed by a one-month stint as one of the two opening acts on Devildriver's 2010 North American tour.
Kittie's sixth studio album, titled I've Failed You, was released on August 30, 2011. Two videos were released for the songs "We Are the Lamb" and "Empires ". In 2011, Mercedes Lander joined the all-female band the Alcohollys featuring former Kittie bassist Tanya Candler.