There has been a backlash among many young women towards ‘feminist’ ideology over the last ten years. Susan Faludi wrote about it in “Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women.” Countless other journalists have written extensively on why modern women feel that the battles are over and the war for equality is won. Girls today often don’t realize, or simply aren’t taught, that barely a century ago women were considered property. We couldn’t vote, few received a proper education, and for us, work always started with the word ‘house’.

And while, through protest and struggle, things are much different today, there often seems to be little public understanding of the challenges that still face the “fairer sex.” Equal pay for equal work, equal access to political power, and even equal representation on the Ozzfest stage are goals still waiting to be met.

And even though London Ontario’s Kittie has achieved the latter, as the only female band to play Ozzy’s testosterone-heavy metal festival, I found out the hard way that they don’t want to talk about it on those terms. Our interview had been going smoothly as we discussed the bands new record, Oracle. I swear it wasn’t my intention to light singer Morgan Lander’s fuse by launching into “the gender question.” But I did.

“It’s not an issue. We were one of 22 other bands and we’re a band like everyone else,” she says of the tour. I try to deflect and ask about the band’s influence on other girls. “Different people get different things out of it and I’m really just sick and tired of hearing the whole generalization that because we’re female we’re only directed towards a certain kind of people.

“I think it’s because people keep generalizing female musicians in this way is why it happens the way it does. As soon as people can learn to drop that separation, like it’s a sub-genre to be in a female band or to be a female in a band, then people will look at it differently. But I don’t think it’s ever going to happen because people keep bringing the fucking stupid shit up!”

I shift in my seat. This is awkward. I’ve really pissed her off. This was not a side of Kittie that I had expected. Countless articles have discussed the girl’s feminist leanings, the inflatable male doll that they used to rip apart on stage in what many construed as a protest to the way women are treated in a male dominated society; the powerful images of women portrayed in their songs and their embracing of aggression. I understand the desire not be classified as just a girl band, but aren’t they proud of breaking new ground, paving the way for other females who might not have realized that they too could rock with the notoriously male metal set?

“The more that people talk about it and say ‘ooh, it’s so interesting’ the more that readers of magazines will make [our music into] a sub-genre, or treat people different,” Morgan continues.

“You don’t see musicians calling Pantera an all-boy metal band or Slipknot mask-metal,” her sister Mercedes, the band’s drummer, adds.

“Or the all-guy metal issue of magazines,” adds Morgan. “Like, fuck, metal is a genre in itself and to try and subcategorize by gender and all that sort of stuff, it’s ignorant.” Now, no one could say that Kittie aren’t, gender issues aside, a pretty kick-ass band. If there were any question of that, their new record Oracle would put the notion to rest. A potent mix of slamming metal and crunchy guitar, the record is just as heavy as Kittie’s debut, Spit, but much more mature. Spit, recorded when the members were just suburban teens, was a revelation to rock fans. A mile-a-minute attack of anger, aggression and burgeoning sexuality, the music and the band’s bad-ass image attracted fans and record company execs before Kittie was even fully formed. They signed with Ng and Artemis Records after a successful showcase at 1999’s Canadian Music Week Festival and have gone on to sell more than 500,000 copies of their debut. The band’s original bassist, Tanya Candler, left shortly after Spit’s release, replaced by Talena Atfield.

Having finished out their teens on tour, the girls were more polished musicians and better writers when they sat down to create Oracle. “We’ve had a chance to evolve as a band, to learn a lot more about ourselves and each other, and I think touring, more than anything, helped that,” says Morgan, who is actually a really pleasant person if you don’t piss her off.

With Spit’s songs all clocking in at around two minutes, Oracle afforded Kittie the chance to put the band’s newly honed writing skills into longer pieces. The songs on the album are more structured and longer, with one (‘Pink Lemonade’) clocking in at 10 minutes. Says Morgan: “Because we understand now the complexity of arrangements... it’s much easier for us to do that and make it seem like we’re not trying to stretch it out.”

This is also Kittie’s first release without guitarist and founding member Fallon Bowman, whose departure the band doesn’t want to talk about. “She quit the band and that’s it,” shrugs Morgan, who notes that Fallon did not write or play on the new record.

The band doesn’t seem terribly phased by the change, just looking forward to getting back out on the road and playing again. They’ve grown accustomed to touring and while they haven’t had the opportunity to take in too many of the places they’ve visited, they have developed some rather interesting pastimes.

“Usually the first thing that we do when we get to the hotel is look for a Japanese steakhouse,” says Morgan. “If we have that, we know we’re in business.
“Sometimes if we’re in between two points, like two major centers, we’ll stop off in a small town where the Wal-Mart is the only thing there, so we just spend hours there,” explains Morgan.

Adds Mercedes: “And by the end of, like, three hours you have security following you around thinking you’re stealing stuff.” Nothing like some good, mass-market shopping to fend off tour boredom.

My interview with Kittie ends on a positive note. We talk more about the record, the idiots who post lies on groupiecentral.com, and how much Mercedes loved the new Mötley Crüe book, but I still leave the interview disappointed. I wasn’t expecting raging feminist rhetoric or Riot Grrrl politics, but it was disheartening to find that, even after smashing some pretty intense gender barriers and earning the respect of their peers, the members of Kittie still disavow the notion that what they have done is important. I don’t think the point has been lost on their fans.

Shakira

Chemical Brothers
.: It Began In Manchester

Stone Temple Pilots

Stereophonics
.: Just Enough Education to Talk

Emm Gryner
.: Covers Girl

Destiny's Child
.: Destined for Greatness

Lenny Kravitz
.: Listen Without Prejudice

Bif Naked
.: Diary of a Mad Woman

Ozzfest
.: Portrait of the Artists as Angry Young Men

From Hell
.: Hell Hath Much Fury