What do you think of when you think 'Canadian metal?'  Well, if you were me, you'd think Voivod, Exciter, Anvil, Infernal Majesty, Sacrifice, Gorguts…  and of course Kittie.  I'll be honest, I wasn't very taken with Kittie's debut, Spit.  It had too much of that typical nu-metal angst for my tastes, but there is definitely something deeper going on with the follow-up, Oracle.  The death and doom metal influences are creeping to the fore of the band's sound and the production has become dead-on powerful.  Drummer Mercedes gave me some insights into this unique outfit…

Now that it has been out for a while and you've had a chance to do some touring in support of it, are you happy with Oracle?
Definitely, it's a really big progression from Spit to Oracle, definitely a progression that we needed and wanted to take.  Everyone seems to enjoy the record, we're making new fans everyday, and people who wouldn't listen to the band before are listening now because of the record.

How involved is the band in the production and mixing process?
We have 100% input.  We don't like staying in the studio for more than we have to, so we're always really, really quick with that.  The first record was recorded in nine days and this one was done in two and a half weeks, so I mean, my drum tracks were finished in the first 3 days.

There are some definite death metal influences on Oracle.  Are there any bands in particular that you find inspirational?
We listen to all different kinds of music.  We've been big death metal fans for years.  Particular bands, I'd be naming them for hours, but we're all big fans of grind, death, black metal, anything.  Anything that rocks basically.

With the success of the first album, did you feel like you had something to prove with Oracle?
With the first record, I think the songs were written like six years ago.  It was great for the time, but with Oracle, yeah we did have something to prove, that we could put out another record that was even tougher.  I think we proved our point and I think every band on every record has to prove a point with something.

Is it important for you guys to keep the balance between the death vocals and the more melodic style?
I think it's always good to have balance in music.  It's important, but we don't sit there and say, 'Oh, this part has to be melodic and this part has to be heavy.'  We just write songs and whatever goes, goes.

Not a lot of planning ahead?
No, we're not very good at that. (laughs)

Along those lines, was "Pink Lemonade" intended to be such a lengthy track or did it kind of evolve to what it is?
We always wanted to make a song more than 5 minutes, so we were just like, 'Fuck it, we'll make a doom song.'  So basically, we already had a version of that song years before, but we never played it or anything because it was too slow.  So we just decided to put it on this record and stretch it out.

Can you give me a quick run-down on what the current line-up is going forward?
Yeah, we've had a lot of [line-up changes] actually.  We have a touring guitar player named Jeff and we have a full-time bassist named Jen.  Jeff has been our touring guitar player for a little more than a year now and that came obviously when our other guitar player quit and thank god she did. (laughs)

Why do you say that?
Ahhh... don't worry about it.  And Jen is the new addition to the band; she's a lovely lady and one of the most amazing bass players I've seen in my entire life.  She definitely adds a lot of stuff to the new live show.  We've known her for a really long time so when the time came, we just gave her the call.  You never know what's going to happen, but we'd like to keep it like this for a while.

You guys have done quite a bit of touring.
That's the reason why we're in this in the first place.  Any band that is in it for anything else needs to reassess themselves.  (laughs)

Do you guys have any pre-concert rituals?
Morgan usually warms up to a CD.  I hardly warm up because I don't really need to.  We just usually like stretch or whatever.  We used to smash shit in our dressing room all the time, just for fun, but we stopped doing that.  We're not like that anymore.

You've mellowed out?
Yeah… sometimes.  (laughs)

Do you see yourself doing anything else in the future or is music going to pretty much be your life?
I think music already is my life.  If I do anything, I'm always going to have something to do with music, whether I'm in a band, or I work for some god-awful record company.  I think we'll all always have something to do with music.

Do you have a music collection that is out of control?  What do you usually take with you on the road?
I have at least 500 CDs.  I take my big CD booklet that holds 270 CDs and it's almost full.  I just need to have my selections and I always buy at least twenty CDs when I go out on tour.

Have you given any thought to the next record yet?
No, I think we're just going to tour of this one for a little while.  Then, you never know what we'll do after that.

Do ever write on the road?
We can't write on the road.  We're the worst people at it!  We don't have the type of funds to get a back lounge studio or whatever; we're not those type of people.  We just write when we're at home.

Have you had your share of difficulties with your label?
I think everybody in a band has problems with their record company at one time or another, it's inevitable.  We haven't been able to get the support we needed for this record, which kind of sucks, but oh well.  We're used to it by now.

Do you have a bigger following in Canada or Europe than here in the US?
I wouldn't say Canada, but Europe is about at par with America.

I like bands that reshape covers into their own style and you did just that with "Run Like Hell."  What was it about that song that made you want to do it?
Actually, a long, long time ago, back in late '99, we were asked to do a Pink Floyd tribute album.  We recorded a version of the song that did not appear on the album - and I thank god for that - and then right after that we hit the road.  We thought everything was cool and we started playing the song live, because we figured, hey, it's going to be released on a tribute album.  While we were on tour, it kind of fell through, the whole thing stopped, so we had this song that we totally re-made and totally love and it wasn't going to be released.  So we kept playing the song live and kids would come up to us and say, 'Hey, you gonna play "Run Like Hell" tonight?' because it had gotten on the Internet and stuff.  So, we basically decided to put it on the new record because everybody knew the song already.

Has it been a struggle to keep the band going through all the changes?
There's always a point in time when you're like, 'Should we still do this or not?' but we always prevail.  We're always going to be doing this no matter what, because we love it.  It's my job.  (laughs)

Are you still happy with the name Kittie?
The reason we named the band that in the first place was to piss people off and we're still pissing people off, so I'm happy with it.  We used to do a lot more of that back then than we do now, but I'm still happy about it.  It's just like to make people think, to mindfuck them, it's great.

Can you explain a bit about the songwriting process?
Usually, it's just me and Morgan and we sit down in my basement and dick around until we find a riff that's cool.  Then we'll just piece it together from there.  Vocals always come last.

Do you feel that being from Canada has made it easier for you to get attention or more difficult?
Well, at first, it was more difficult because there is this imaginary line that is the border.  The Canadian industry is a lot different than the American industry.  They're too afraid to take chances up there.  Canada is more of a radio-rock type thing, like The Tragically Hip or Our Lady Peace or any of those bands.  It was a lot harder for us to penetrate the American scene until we got signed to an American label.  The Canadian scene really likes to ignore bands that are different, unless it is like college radio or small 'zines or whatever.  The big press will always cut you up.

What was that process like, getting the American label to sign you?
Considering we're signed to an indie label, it wasn't really that hard.  We played the Canadian circuit for years.  Then we played an unsigned band festival called Canadian Music Week and basically it's just like bands that submit their demo and they either pick you or they don't, like they draw names out of a fucking hat or something.  We did a lot of promotion and got a lot of label interest.  We didn't want to go with a Canadian label, and it just so happened that our record label was there, one of their bands was playing that show or something.