FFWD Weekly
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Music by Aubrey McInnis KITTIE Thursday, September 7 MacEwan Hall Ballroom For fear of raising the wrath of another girl band that understandably has a sore spot over the fact that they’re only recognized for being a girl band, I didn’t want to approach the subject with Ontario metal princesses Kittie. But when 18-year-old Morgan Lander, lead singer and guitarist, began talking about how Kittie is not a novelty, well, it was hard to skip the subject and move on as though she was right. Kittie – despite being in their late teens and doing a bang-up job of scaring the bejesus out of S Club 7 sissies and teenage boys alike – are impressing the socks and studded cuffs off hardcore metal fans. Their music explores themes of betrayal, "me against the world" emotions and allows for a torrential outpouring of anger and aggression which audiences have been going apeshit over. They’ve secured a great deal of attention by being young, competent (see last year’s Spit LP) and by charging spectators with a dynamic delivery. So, they’re not as common as they’d like to believe. "Why would it be novel – we’re musicians?" asks Morgan defensively. Because there’s no one like you in the major market, I respond. "Yep, it’s alright, y’know," she starts backtracking. "I consider myself one of the boys, I would rather have people consider me like that. We try to convey (that) we’re a serious band and we take our music seriously. We want people to have a good time as well. If you’re in the audience and looking at us, you can tell that we’re having a good time and that we’re genuinely having a lot of fun. "I think a lot of times people try to take away from the whole music side of things with stage props. For us, it’s just straightforward – four people, four instruments and the music. We try not to take away from that because the music is the most important part. "The music speaks for us, definitely and I think it’s powerful enough, I mean, people are obviously going to be watching the show – that’s why they come to a live show to see the band play – but we’re proving ourselves, and we’re having a good time out there." After leaving the Ozzfest tour this September and finishing their tour of Canada, Kittie will be hitting the road for Australia and Japan, as well as supporting Pantera on tour in November and December. Morgan’s dad, Dave, is Kittie’s tour manager, but parental input won’t be stopping the girls from experiencing all there is to experience as a rock band. "He’s the manager and he does a good job," she says matter-of-factly. "But I don’t think that it makes anything different from what we’re doing at all. I don’t think that having a parental influence is going to stop us from getting crazy and partying and being in a rock band. "They can’t control me, I am my own person."

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