MORGAN LANDER Says 'It Wouldn't Feel Right' To Make New KITTIE Album Without Late Bassist

Morgan Lander says that "it wouldn't feel right" to make a new KITTIE album without the band's late bassist Trish Doan.

After the London, Ontario, Canada-based metallers completed the touring cycle for 2011's "I've Failed You" album, KITTIE entered a long period of inactivity during which the guitarist/vocalist focused on a marketing job for a chain of fitness clubs, while her sister, drummer Mercedes Lander, worked in real estate. The group also began work on a career-spanning documentary, "Origins/Evolutions", which finally saw the light of day last year via Lightyear Entertainment in North America.

Asked by "Talk Toomey" in an interview if there are any plans for KITTIE to release new music at some point in the future, Morgan said (hear audio below): "Well, I wouldn't say 'never say never,' but at this point, a lot of the stuff that we were working on has stagnated.

"We were, for a number of years, leading up to the release of the documentary, signed to eOne," she continued. "And we no longer are actually signed to eOne anymore, so we are free agents. But we were trying to entice the label, eOne, to put out another album and whatnot, and it just never ended up happening. So, at this point, [we] put the brakes on [working on new music]. Right now, we're working on a lot of legacy projects — obviously, we released the documentary, and there's a live thing coming out as well."

Morgan added: "I don't know. There's a part of me that always kind of feels like… To make a new album, it wouldn't feel right because the person that would be playing bass on the album is no longer with us. Ivy [Ivana Vujic, who played bass for KITTIE from 2007 until 2012] had left the band a number of years ago, she started a family, things are different for her now, so I don't think that she would be the right person to wanna do that. I know that she probably would.

"For KITTIE and who we were, towards, I guess, the end of this last album cycle — with Tara [McLeod, guitar] and Trish and Mercedes and I — it just doesn't feel right for me [to continue without Trish]. Which is a big part of why maybe I do feel hesitant to do it — because it just doesn't seem right to just do it for the sake of doing it. At this point, I wanna be able to do it because I think it's a lot of fun and I wanna do music with my friends. And it's sad that she is not around to be a part of that."

Doan passed away in February 2017. The KITTIE bassist was only 31 years old at the time of her death.

Born in Gwangju, South Korea (about 270 kilometers from the capital Seoul),Doan joined KITTIE in 2005 and was in the band for two years before leaving in 2007 and then rejoining in 2012. She can be heard on KITTIE's 2006 EP "Never Again" and the 2007 full-length album "Funeral For Yesterday".

In early 2008, it was reported that Doan originally left KITTIE due to the eating disorder anorexia-athletica-nervosa, which she had been struggling with for almost two years.

Doan relocated to Australia in 2009 to get a degree and try to surf before returning to Canada in 2011. She apparently moved back to Australia in 2013 and kept an active Twitter account and Facebook page where she frequently posted about her life struggles and battles with depression.

"I've Failed You" sold 3,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 178 on The Billboard 200 chart.