Interview with Kittie vocalist Morgan Lander
After being gone for far too long, Kittie is back! The new album Funeral For Yesterday embarks on a new direction for the band, focusing more on the craftsmanship of good metal songs rather than just hitting you with a wall of sound. I had worked with the band a few years ago and had a great time, so when the opportunity arose to speak with vocalist/guitarist Morgan Lander about the album I jumped at it. Whether you're a long-time Kittie fan, or are new to the band, I hope you'll learn a lot from this...and since Kittie is one of the coolest bands I've ever worked with I hope you'll check out their new songs when you're done!
Anarchy Music: Happy Cinco De Mayo!
Morgan Lander: Oh thank you! We’re from Canada so that’s sort of a new thing for me, I guess. I don’t really know what it’s about, but I know it’s an excuse to party so it sounds pretty cool!
Anarchy: We’ve got a band from Canada, in America, celebrating a Mexican holiday, kick ass!
Morgan: The world is ever so small.
Anarchy: Also, congrats on the new record! It’s a cool cd, I’m really digging it.
Morgan: Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
Anarchy: The title “Funeral For Yesterday” sounds like you’re saying “goodbye” to all of the problems you guys went through over the past few years with old labels and such.
Morgan: Yeah, definitely. For us, like you said, we had been through a really super difficult time. All of the songs were written around a time when we were doing a lot of questioning the future. For us it was our way of declaring that we were going to put to rest the past., forget all of the pain and troubled times that we’ve been through in the past and be positive and look toward the future. It’s a new outlook for the band, it’s definitely a musical evolution and a new line-up and a fresh start with our own label. We acknowledge the past and it’s a learning experience, but we’re trying to look to the future and let go of what was.
Anarchy: I’m trying to tell my last girlfriend to do the same thing.
Morgan: (laughs) Exactly!
Anarchy: Tell me about the album. It’s definitely got a cleaner, more classic metal sound to it. What influenced that?
Morgan: Well, I think you could definitely attribute it to natural growth and evolution of the musicianship in the band. We’re not kids anymore. It’s crazy because when you’re comparing these albums, a lot of people don’t understand that when that first album was written, we were 12 and 14 years old. That was the band that we were 11 years ago. Over time with touring and stuff we’ve become a better band and better musicians and a lot more focused on exactly what we’d like to do. When we were writing this album we were trying to redefine who we were as a band. It’s definitely right to say that there’s a lot more classic metal influence. It seems to me that metal, especially really super popular mainstream metal, it seems like it’s at a place where there isn’t much growth. There’s a lot of bands that sound the same and it seems to me that there’s a certain template that people think you have to be certain way to be metal or heavy or whatever. That screaming and singing in one song kind of template is something that we’ve been doing since the beginning of our career. We looked to a lot of older bands and before there was death metal singing, bands like Megadeth and Metallica and Judas Priest and they were singing. In trying to redefine our sound, we decided to blend the two elements of our music that were previously separate. Heavy guitars and fast music with melody. Obviously there’s nothing groundbreaking about it because it’s been done for 20-25 years now, but for us it’s a little bit of a change. I think it’s an interesting direction that we’re really proud of.
Anarchy: I dig it because what a lot of bands recently have forgotten is that no matter how loud you scream the death metal vocals, you’re not going to be heavier then Black Sabbath. Nice try, but no ones heavier than Sabbath.
Morgan: Yeah, like I was saying before. People have lost sight of what is really heavy. People feel like you’ve got to be screaming in order for it to be heavy. A lot of times people go “you guys were so heavy, why aren’t you heavy anymore”. We still are, we’re still playing in the same tuning. If anything there’s heavier riffs and faster picking and all that in the music and solos. There’s just a little bit more melody. That doesn’t take away from the meanings of the songs or the subject matter that I’m singing about. It’s still all very dark and very heavy. In fact, it’s probably the darkest stuff that I’ve ever written about.
Anarchy: I’m sure the old record label played a part in that…but let’s keep this positive for a minute!
Morgan: Yeah!
Anarchy: The new girls, Tara and Trish…what are they bringing to the new album?
Morgan: Well, those girls are from London, Ontario. Tara and Trish came into the fold in the fall of 2005 so it’s been almost 2 years that they’ve been in the band. When we were looking for people to regroup as Kittie, we were first of all looking for talented people, but people that the chemistry went beyond a working relationship. I think that because they’re from our hometown it made things a lot easier. We’re able to hang out outside of practice and we kind of run in the same circle of friends. For us the chemistry is one of the most important things about being a band. When you go to see a show you want to see a bunch of people that are having a great time, that like each other and are enjoying themselves. When you see that then you’re going to be enjoying yourself too. They’re super talented girls and their contribution to the music is quite apparent on the new album. The bass lines are great, they’re melodic. They’re very complimentary to the music. They’re not just boring-ass root notes. With Tara, there’s all kinds of solos and leads and all kinds of cool stuff that we’ve never had in Kittie before. They bring another dimension to the music which is very cool.
Anarchy: I think that musically this is the best album you guys have done so it definitely shows.
Morgan: Thank you.
Anarchy: When you guys started, being a girl in metal was this weird thing and everybody made a big deal out of it, but now there’s a girl in every other band. Looking back do you feel like you were trailblazers that broke down the walls for females in metal?
Morgan: Honestly, I’m not even sure. I don’t want to take it upon myself to say “yes, I was the reason why it‘s possible for so many other bands”.
Anarchy: You don’t have to, I just did!
Morgan: Still to this day, bands that have a female member are treated differently. It’s something that is always going to be. When we first started it never hit us that it was going to be such a big deal. To us, we were just a bunch friends and we wanted to hang out and have fun. That’s the philosophy that we still have. We try not to draw attention to it. I don’t know, it seems to me that it’s definitely a lot more accepted and I think that’s a good thing. If we were the ones that took most of the shit so other people could make their careers better. If it helped other people then I’m totally cool with that. I have no problem with that. If the history books 20 years from now people are looking at us like the new millennium Runaways and being groundbreaking when we came out when we were 16-17 years old then I’m totally cool with that. I’ll take the blame.
Anarchy: Well, I’ll give you the blame. I think you’ve done an awesome thing. Going back to the record though, when you went in to record it you brought in Jack Ponti as producer. I love a lot of the work he’s done, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, but he’s kind of a left field choice for what you do. I haven’t even heard his name in years.
Morgan: Actually, we had met him through a mutual friend. He has a label that facilitates other labels so we were going to have this business relationship as well as a producer/band relationship. It took some convincing on his part. He was retired. He hadn’t produced an album in 15 years and he really had no desire to. When he heard the demos and he heard our story…he’s told me before that he’s a big fan of karma and righting wrongs and when he heard the story he felt like we were a band that was super talented and we deserved better than what fate had dealt us. He wanted to work on the project, if only to make the best album that we possibly could and helped to have us step out of the box as far as recording and being a band, not just a metal band. For us it was a different experience, believe me. It was definitely stressful at times, but by the end of the recording session we were able to see things a lot differently. He’s obviously a really talented guy and he’s got a lot of great production credits. It was definitely a really cool match. He was able to bring out the best in all of our abilities.
Anarchy: Some people wanted to know what bands you’re listening to these days so they could check them out.
Morgan: Well, at this point my Ipod is totally uncharged. It’s totally dead so I haven’t actually listened to anything for awhile now. I’m going to say that the last thing I listened to was the new Amy Winehouse cd, Back To Black. That is so fuckin’ rad. That bitch has a great voice and she just doesn’t give a fuck and I think it’s awesome. I’ve got the new Silverchair cd, called Young Modern. That’s really, really cool. I’ve heard the new Thine Eyes Bleed. That’s really good. It probably won’t be released until later in the year but I’ve heard the production so far and it sounds really, really good. The latest Deadsy as well. That one’s really cool as well.
Anarchy: You have your own label now. I guess that stems from dealing with the issues you had before with prior labels…is the label still pronounced Kiss Of Infamy, even though it’s spelled with an X as opposed to the word “Kiss”
Morgan: Well, you know an X is the universal symbol for a kiss. You know, X’s and O’s, kisses and a hugs. Around the house that’s what we call it, but obviously for legal reasons. The band KISS sent us a cease and desist with the name because he figured that fans would be misled or confused.
Anarchy: I think you should call it Crazy, Crazy Nights Of Infamy.
Morgan: (Laughs)
Anarchy: But is it hard being an executive and then also being in the band or is it just a completely freeing experience to not have to deal with the bs of the label suits?
Morgan: To tell you the truth, being in this role is not all that different in comparison to our time at our previous label. That’s solely because our relationship with the label had deteriorated so much that we were pretty much acting as the label. In order to continue being a band and keep our name out there and let people know that Kittie was still out there kicking some ass and making albums. We had to take on a lot of those roles in terms of PR and booking and all that stuff. This is really just putting an official title on something that we’ve been very comfortable doing for a few years now. Obviously there’s some added things going on, but for me when I’m out on tour the main focus is being the artist. I’m on the phone a lot. We talk to managers and all that. We chat a lot about what’s going on, but I try to not have my head be spinning too much from being concerned with business stuff when I’m out on the road.
Anarchy: With X Of Infamy, are you sticking with just Kittie or will you be looking for other bands to sign as well?
Morgan: At this point, we’re just going to be the experiment. We’re going to see how things go. It’s easier just to focus on yourself. One day it would be really cool. I’d love to be able to sign new acts and give people the opportunities that we were never really given. So yeah, it would be a wonderful thing for the future but as of right now we’re not ready to do that.
Anarchy: And how is the clothing line Poisoned Black doing? Are you working on new stuff for that?
Morgan: Yeah, actually we’re going to be adding a few new t-shirts very soon. We really wanted to start off super, super small. We kind of removed focus from it just a little bit the past few months just because it’s been so hectic around the office with releasing the new album and booking tours and getting things ready to launch and all that, so we haven’t added some shirts for awhile. It was something that we wanted to do to fill our time while we were at home and it’s something that Mercedes and I are very fond of. We love clothes and it’s an extension of our personalities. It’s something that we’ve wanted to do for such a long time and we’re just glad that we were able to do something with it. Hopefully it will continue to grow.
Anarchy: You guys take an active part in the designing process, right?
Morgan: Definitely. It’s just one of those things. A lot of times dudes in bands have clothing lines and the stuff for women is less than stellar. For us, we wanted to make stuff that we would want to wear. So there’s a little more attention to detail. It’s not just a wife beater with a print on it. It’s different cuts and different materials and it’s pretty rad!
Anarchy: You’ve got guys stuff too, so you’ll be getting some of my money soon.
Morgan: Yeah! Woohoo!
Anarchy: You’re doing some acoustic shows too. Is it hard to translate your songs to acoustic, or are you digging it?
Morgan: What we’ve done for these acoustic sets is that we’ve taken the songs that are best translated into acoustic. We’re not playing an exact copy of what’s on the album acoustically because that’s kind of hard to do. We’ve managed to change some things around and rearrange them in a way that makes it a little more appropriate for acoustic. We’re only doing 2 or 3 songs, but it’s actually turned out really well. I think people are really into it. The acoustic versions of the songs stand on their own as well. Think they’re really cool. It’s weird and different for us because I’m used to being up on stage screaming half the time, but it sort of allows me to become a little bit of a better singer and become more confident with my singing voice.
Anarchy: Tell me about this tour. How is the crowd reacting to the mix of the old stuff with the new stuff?
Morgan: We’re playing something from every album on this tour. For some of the older songs, in order to keep things interesting we have some little different things added in there. We can’t completely make a carbon copy of what was recorded back then. We’ve sort of adapted things to our current ability levels, but it all sounds really cool. People are reacting well to all of the songs. You get to hear the evolution of the band through an hour. It’s really cool.
Anarchy: As opposed to hearing a carbon copy of something done ten years ago.
Morgan: Exactly.
Anarchy: Who wants that anyway?
Morgan: Yeah, just put on the cd if you need to hear that.
Anarchy: And move the picture around in front of you.
Morgan: (laughs) Yeah.
Anarchy: Well, ten years ago you were breaking new ground and now you’re doing it again with the label and redefining the control of what an artist can do for their own career. I know that all of your fans are proud of you.
Morgan: Aw, thank you so much. Like I said before, we’ve been through so much, and we can thank our fans for sticking by us and allowing us to do this. We would never in our wildest dreams lay down and let bullshit destroy us. We just keep on truckin’. It’s crazy, we’re still here.
Anarchy: That’s the motto: Don’t let bullshit destroy you.
Morgan: That’s right. Life is crazy and it’s always going to throw you a curveball. Sometimes it’s not always but you want but there’s always a lesson to be learned and a choice to be made that can change things around for you. We are living proof of that.
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Morgan is one of the nicest people in metal, and Kittie's new album is their best yet, so definitely check it out! I'm stoked to have her on the site and I want everyone to visit KittieRocks.com and Kittie on Myspace to hear some songs from the new cd!