Still getting wound up about Poppy’s supposed metal cred? Old news. The nu gen enigma and current Metal Hammer cover star has proven her bona fides time and time again, via collabs with everyone from Bad Omens and Knocked Loose to Fever 333 and Health.
And then there’s her love of Kittie. Last year, she covered the Canadian band’s 1999 classic Spit, turning it from nu metal rager into killer electro-industrial banger. In an interview in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer, Poppy addresses the enduring influence Kittie have had on her since discovering them via her older brother when she was a young kid.
“There was a lot of power in what they had to say, and I felt that even before I could really relate to the stories they were telling,” Poppy says. “Their story and how they came to be is really inspiring to me as a female artist. I think it’s really great that they’re still making music.”
In a recent issue of Metal Hammer, Kittie’s Morgan Lander saluted Poppy, admitting that the cover of Spit reduced her to tears.
“That was such a full-circle moment for me,” Morgan told us. “I remember watching the video and crying. I couldn’t believe that, after all this time, there were still young people discovering our music, connecting with it. I was honoured. And it’s an incredibly cool cover. It’s definitely different, but that’s Poppy, right? If Kittie have inspired her, then I’m very happy about that.”
In the new issue of Metal Hammer, Poppy also talks about her upcoming album, Negative Spaces, which features ex-Bring Me The Horizon man Jordan Fish on production. The singer says the album’s songs swing from the “saccharine” to the “heaviest” things she’s ever done, describing her approach as “post genre”.
“I get bored rather quickly, so I have to cater to my own attention span,” she says. "I think there’s always going to be resistance from other sides when a big movement happens, but somebody has to be there to do it first and push all those people out of the way,” she says. “The ones that are like the ‘squeaky wheels’.”
Negative Spaces is released on November 15 via Sumerian. The new issue of Metal Hammer, featuring Poppy on the cover, is out now. Order it online and have it delivered straight to your door.
