Kittie: “We were the lone women in a sea of nu-metal ‘dudes’. The world is a bit more ready for us now”

Kittie were a band quite unlike any other at the height of nu-metal. In 2025, they still are. Watching ferocious frontwoman Morgan Lander and her drummer sister Mercedes alongside six-stringer Tara McLeod and bassist Ivy Jenkins ripping it up on a bill stacked with many of their long-time contemporaries at Download this year, it was remarkable not just how powerfully the fire in their bellies continues to burn, but also how stridently they’ve sidelined nostalgia to grow beyond their rough-hewn beginnings into a bona fide metal force. True to that, marking a quarter-century of their iconic debut by rejigging and re-recording four of its finest tracks on new EP Spit XXV is far less about re-living past glories than giving those songs claws befitting the band they’ve become.

“There are a couple of reasons we wanted to make this record,” Mercedes explains on a sunny afternoon in their native Ontario. “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!”

“I mean, why not?” grins Morgan, with a hint of mischief. “Twenty-five years is one of those big milestones. We wanted to celebrate that moment. Plus, we have been discussing the idea of re-recording these songs on and off internally for years. We as ourselves, as musicians, as a band have changed, have evolved, have improved. That’s life. And it’s reflected in these new recordings. When I listen to the old and new versions back-to back it sounds like the same songs being played by a different band!”

Recorded in a madcap series of after-school sessions over just nine days with legendary producer Garth Richardson, the original Spit remains a vibrant snapshot of a moment in time. Written in their early teens and released when Morgan and Mercedes were just 15 and 17 respectively, songs like Brackish, Charlotte and Do You Think I’m A Whore? bristled with adolescent emotion and charmed listeners with a vulnerability and punky freewheeling energy that stood out from the thudding machismo of the era. Today’s more seasoned players look back with fondness.

“We were very silly,” says the drummer. “But it was clear we had a work ethic. We would get picked up every day after we finished class and then work ’til midnight. We wanted to put in the time even if we weren’t able to give everything the care it really needed. There are 12 songs on the album. That meant we were doing more than a song a day. It zoomed by, so the actual memories are few and far between, but we probably annoyed the hell out of the engineers and Garth because we were literally insane. Kudos to him for being as patient as he was with us!”

“It’s a time capsule of a very specific period,” continues Morgan. “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.

“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!”

Using many of the same instruments and pieces of equipment they did back in the 20th century (unfortunately, the original drum kit is long-since worn out) you can almost feel the connection between the players Kittie were and the ones they’ve become on Spit XXV, like a conversation with their younger selves. These tracks are heavier now, sonically and with the weight of life lived.

“The big difference is 30 years of experience,” nods Morgan. “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!”

Kittie haven’t been the only artists reworking those old songs, of course. Morgan admits that she was overwhelmed by Poppy’s crushing 2023 cover of Spit’s gnashing title-track, brought to tears by one of the most important alternative artists of this generation paying tribute to their influence. The haunting version of Charlotte recently dropped by Zetra and Employed To Serve’s Justine Jones, meanwhile, proved to her the unexpected range of artists Kittie had been able to impact. Even in the vastly increased female representation at metal festivals in 2025, you can see the vital echoes of their bold adolescence – although they still note that more ladies need to pick up guitars.

“When people ask questions about that kind of influence, I just feel old,” Morgan half-laughs. “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’. The world is a bit more ready for us now.”

Indeed, Spit XXV is just part of a broader campaign to take back the respect and acclaim that has so often fallen short of what Kittie deserve. Following an extended silence, 2022 saw their explosive return to the stage. Thirteen years after 2011’s sixth album I’ve Failed You, they headed back into the studio – with heavyweight producer Nick Raskulinecz – for 2024’s Fire. But, after having retreated from the limelight, and the 2017 passing of bassist Trish Doan, what made them return?

“We just got to a point where we couldn’t ignore our email inbox any longer,” grins Mercedes.

“The background noise had been building,” Morgan continues. “People wanted new music. They wanted shows. The Spotify numbers had been rising. I think that noise started when we released [2017 documentary] Kittie: Origins/Evolutions, and it coincided with the broader nu-metal resurgence. A few years ago, someone from Hot Topic reached out saying, ‘We don’t know if you know who Hot Topic is, but your song is trending on TikTok, and we’d like to start stocking your merch again!’ We had to tell them we actually modelled for Hot Topic back in 2000!”

“We were just like, ‘Let’s play a couple of shows and see what happens…’” picks up Mercedes. “We thought we’d play those four shows in 2022 and just head back into our hole. In classic Kittie fashion, things spiralled out of control and we found ourselves being offered a record deal even though we’d written no new music. Nick Raskulinecz was the number-one guy we wanted to work with but we figured he’d be too busy hanging out with the Foo Fighters. Then when we sent him the demos, he was like, ‘Fuck yeah, let’s do it!’ All of these once-in-a-lifetime things happened. For a band like ourselves that has in the past eaten so much shit, being given these massive, dream opportunities was something that you just couldn’t turn down. Of course we were going to sign a cool new record deal and work with a world-renowned producer. How could you say no?!”

Experiences in what Morgan and Mercedes call this “second life” of Kittie just keep stacking up. From the first hug together before they stepped back onstage at Virginia’s Blue Ridge Rock Festival in 2022 and getting back to grips with the old guard at Las Vegas’ Sick New World, to the nuts and bolts of writing and recording new music or shooting videos it’s been a very welcome return. And although there are only a handful of gigs left this year, there will be no slowing down.

“To say it plainly,” deadpans Mercedes, “Kittie’s five-year plan is world domination. All we need to do is to keep releasing good music and playing good shows. It’s just about doing what we do best!”

“Now that we’re back, it’s going to be hard to get rid of us,” Morgan signs off. “We’re already playing the largest audiences we ever have at headlining shows and being invited to some of the biggest festivals in the world. So we’re going to ride the wave. We just want to see where in the world this all takes us. And with Kittie, things always tend to get a little out of hand…”

Spit XXV is released on September 19 via Sumerian

Read this next:

• The 13 most nu-metal moments of all time
• The 12 most iconic nu-metal lyrics of all time
  
• 12 lesser-known nu-metal songs that everyone needs to hear