In a new interview with Kerrang!, Kittie spoke of their “Spit” 25th anniversary plans, which include their upcoming re-recording of four songs from that gold-certified 1999 debut album. The sessions for that aural overhaul took place this year with original “Spit” producer GGGarth Richardson (Rage Against The Machine, Mudvayne) back onboard and will be released as “Spit XXV” this Friday, September 19th.
Speaking with the above-mentioned publication of their decision to revisit key songs from that album now, drummer Mercedes Lander stated:
“There are a couple of reasons we wanted to make this record. The first is that we wanted to record the versions of these songs that we actually play live. We wanted to showcase how they’ve gone through changes and metamorphoses and evolved through the years. The second reason is simply that we can!”
Looking back on the impact of “Spit“, which catapulted the then teenage band into mainstream success, including a run of the 2000 ‘Ozzfest‘ tour, vocalist/guitarist Morgan Lander went on state:
“It’s a time capsule of a very specific period. It was right before things with nu-metal really exploded and [the subgenre] got homogenised. I think a big part of why it has been so successful is because it’s real. It feels real. It doesn’t feel overproduced. We didn’t have time for that! There’s something in that rawness and that realness that people continue to resonate with. It feels new and old all at the same time.”
She continued:
“If you’re 14 listening in your bedroom, it’s a record that can make you feel like anything is possible. It gives you permission to do it, to say, ‘The rules don’t apply to me.’ If you’re thinking, ‘I shouldn’t,’ or, ‘I can’t,’ then it’ll make you say, ‘I should!’ and, ‘I will!’ Those were the foundations of who we were when we formed the band and wrote these songs. They remain the foundations of who we are today. It’s still about taking that defiant stand!”
As for what sets this new EP apart from the original, Morgan offered:
“The big difference is 30 years of experience, When we recorded ‘Spit‘, we’d literally only been alive for, like, 15 years. The world is very small when you’re that age. We didn’t have any experience of life generally or the music industry. We’d only ever been into a studio to do live-off-the-board demos. Now, you’re hearing 25 years of mastery, of accomplishment, of understanding. We had nine days in 1999. We spent two weeks on these four songs.
You hear what time and experience can do and how it can change how a song sounds. The emotions and lyrics are still very raw: the wild, screaming musings of a teenager speaking for a generation of teenagers feeling the same way. I am still that person. But in these recordings I have a lot more control. You can hear it in my voice. Someone told us they thought these versions are ‘more potent’. I liked that!”
Reflecting back on the legacy of their band and potential influence their success played on cultivating more female representation in the metal scene now, Morgan stated:
“When people ask questions about that kind of influence, I just feel old. When they use words like ‘legacy’ in conjunction of our band, I feel like we’ve maybe side-stepped the greatness that could have been. But we’re trying to reclaim it now. Back then we were the lone women in a sea of nu-metal ‘dudes’.”
