KITTIE's MORGAN LANDER: 'It's Time For Us To Reclaim Our Female Heavy Metal Throne'

Charlie Steffens of KNAC.COM recently conducted an interview with KITTIE frontwoman Morgan Lander. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

KNAC.COM: You're still working out your demons through your music?

Lander: "Absolutely. Like I've said, we've had a lot of crazy stuff happen to us and we're still so very young. You know, these past 10 years in this band have been absolutely crazy — I'm only 24 years old, and I've been through enough already for a lifetime. It's a lot to reflect on, but I'm also very grateful for all the opportunities that I've had and that we're still able to continue. Mercedes [Lander, drums] and I aren't the kind to back down, and I think we're ready to show people what we've been up to lately. I think a lot of people still have a perception of this band, and they hear the name and they think back to the first album and to us being 14 and 15 and 16 years old — that was almost 10 years ago, now. So, it's time for us to reclaim what's rightfully ours …claim our female heavy metal throne (laughs) …I don't know. It sounds ridiculous, but we're just ready to get back out there and show people that we're a great band and we're still kickin' it."

KNAC.COM: At 14, were you impressionable enough that you got sucked in to any trouble, like drug abuse, cutting, anorexia nervosa … shit like that?

Lander: "No. I mean … I can only speak for myself and Mercedes — obviously the two people that have kind of been the backbone of the band. We didn't fall by the wayside and kind of fall into believing our own hype and that sort of thing. We were just a bunch of silly little girls. I'm not going to lie …it was a pretty crazy time for us. We were all, really, in awe of what was going on around us, and I think — thinking back — it was a really wild time. Out on the road and then all of a sudden people know who you are and are crying in front of you (laughs) — it's wild, you know? I would say we did a pretty good job of keeping our heads on straight and we were fairly good girls. Obviously you're hanging out on Ozzfest with people twice your age, there's going to be partying and drinking and that sort of thing, but we never got into anything too crazy. But, we're all of age now, so it's okay (laughs)."

KNAC.COM: Now you're 24, you've got your chops and you've proven your mettle out on the road. Weird times right now in the music biz, it's a lot of hard work, obviously …

Lander: "Oh, it is …it's always been for us, I think, because of the history with the past label. We've always gone out and done, like, ten legs of a tour — we've always had to pay for everything ourselves. Tours, buses, all that kind of stuff. We never had the luxury of receiving tour support to open up for other bands. You know, this tour is no different — where touring is just based off the EP. Nothing has really changed, we're still out there, it's still hard, but we are going to make it work. It's what we've always done and it's really all we know. I think we're the epitome of a do-it-yourself band. Yes, we were on a label, but we were on a label that didn't care all that much. Everything that we ever made went back into the band in order to keep up visibility and tour and make sure that everybody got a chance to see the band. The music industry is crazy, you know, it's like …it's definitely in flux right now, everybody's merging and nobody is really signing anybody. It's crazy — it'll be interesting to see where things go."

Read the entire interview at KNAC.COM.