KITTIE Reflect On ‘Spit’ 25 Years Later: “The Lone Women In A Sea Of Nu-Metal Dudes”

As Kittie celebrate 25 years since the release of their gold-certified debut Spit, the band is revisiting four of the album’s key tracks for the upcoming re-recorded EP, Spit XXV, due this Friday, September 19th. The sessions were helmed by the original producer, GGGarth Richardson (Rage Against The Machine, Mudvayne), ensuring that the updated recordings capture the same raw energy fans remember—only now with decades of experience behind them.

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In a recent interview with Kerrang!, drummer Mercedes Lander explained the reasoning behind returning to these songs:

“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!”

For vocalist/guitarist Morgan Lander, Spit represents a snapshot of a specific moment in time, when the band, as teenagers, were breaking into a predominantly male-dominated nu-metal scene:

“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 also highlighted the album’s empowering nature for young listeners:

“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!”

Regarding what makes the new EP different, Morgan emphasized the value of experience:

“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 on the band’s influence on female representation in metal, Morgan added:

“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’.”

Spit XXV promises to deliver a fresh perspective on the songs that helped define Kittie’s early career while preserving the raw intensity that made the original so enduring.

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