Kittie singer/guitarist Morgan Lander has named her “goofiest” tour memory.
The Canadian musician, who co-founded Kittie with her drummer sister Mercedes in 1996, offers the anecdote in the new issue of Metal Hammer. She looks back to a 2002 tour with New Wave Of American Heavy Metal stars Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall, plus post-hardcore beloveds Poison The Well.
“For Poison The Well’s last show, we wanted to do something special,” Lander tells journalist Emily Swingle.
“We hired male strippers to come onstage and dance during their set. It was very, very silly. The band were like, ‘What are these guys doing?’ They went up onstage fully clothed, and Poison The Well thought they were just going to stagedive – then they started taking their clothes off and dancing!”
Lander adds that Kittie pulled a similar prank on Shadows Fall during that band’s last show of the tour, as well.
“We wanted to do something for Shadows Fall’s last show too,” she continues, “so we had one of our techs set Brian [Fair, vocals] up with a special microphone. It looked like a penis. So Brian had to perform the whole set singing into a penis.”
Kittie enjoyed breakout success in 1999 with the release of their debut album, Spit. It reached number one in the US Top Heatseekers Album chart and made the band a prominent name in the nu metal movement. However, Kittie never neatly fit the genre, as Lander explains.
“Throughout our career, we’ve been lumped in with nu metal,” she tells Hammer. “As far as the music is concerned, in the early days, I’d say we fit in pretty well. But there’s more to Kittie. Even Spit was a little unhinged, a little grungy, a little riot grrrl. Since then, we’ve explored all different kinds of metal.”
Kittie released their new album, Fire, earlier this year. It was their first full-length record since 2011’s I’ve Failed You and received positive reviews. Hammer’s Paul Travers gave it a glowing four-star writeup.
“This is a supremely assured return from a band who, while acknowledging what has gone before, are intent on creating something fresh, new and exciting,” wrote Travers. “This Kittie still has claws.”
Kittie are currently touring North America and headline Concord Music Hall in Chicago on Friday (August 23). They’ll play Havoc Fest in Jackson, Michigan, the next day.
As well as featuring an exclusive interview with Kittie, the new issue of Metal Hammer offers the story of new Nightwish album Yesterwynde. It also celebrates 20 years of Mastodon classic Leviathan and gives the stories behind the greatest Slayer songs. Order your copy now and get it delivered to your doorstep.
