Kittie’s rockers find rebirth in ‘Funeral’

Eleven years and four albums into her career, singer Morgan Lander of the Canadian metal quartet Kittie feels like she has come full circle as a musician. Which, considering she just turned 25 and has been in the same band since she was 14, is certainly saying something.

Kittie, which will perform Wednesday, April 18, at 103 Ultra Lounge in Orono, is a family affair. Lander and her younger sister Mercedes formed the band with former guitarist Fallon Bowman in the late 1990s, when they were in high school.

“My parents didn’t play music, but we were a musical family in the sense that they love music,” said Lander, speaking from her home in London, Ontario. “I had this one tape that was like a soundtrack to my childhood. It had Heart and Van Halen and Ted Nugent and a lot of guitar drive ’70s and ’80s rock. That was where I formulated my opinions about music. So we eventually decided to start a band.”

Fast-forward a few years. Kittie’s 1999 debut album, “Spit,” spawned the hit single “Brackish” and went gold, thanks to sneakily insistent melodies paired with thrashy, superheavy riffs and Morgan’s unearthly growls and wails. The fact that they were a group of beautiful, badass goth girls in the midst of an MTV metal lineup dominated by dudes probably didn’t hurt either.

Anyway, after that initial success, Kittie kept up the pace, releasing several more albums of dark, intense, song-based metal and touring relentlessly. Though there have been several lineup changes, the core of the band remains Morgan on vocals and guitar, and Mercedes on drums. Guitarist Tara McLeod and bassist Trish Doan joined the band in 2005.

On its fourth album, “Funeral for Yesterday,” released in February, the band decided to try something different.

“With our new album, there was sort of an intent to redefine who we were as a band,” said Lander. “It’s difficult to try to maintain the kind of thing we were doing when we were teenagers. We wanted to show that we’ve matured as musicians, and have become just a really great band.”

To that end, the older Lander has mostly ditched her old demon goddess vocals in favor of a slinky croon. It suits the less thrash-influenced sound: think Iron Maiden, as opposed to Slayer. But don’t let that fool you; Kittie is still a metal band, through and through. Just a more grown up one.

“That’s the whole idea of a funeral for yesterday,” said Lander. “It’s a rebirth for us. We’re moving forward.”

It helps to have a built-in support system and sounding board for the songwriting process – the Landers work together as a team, and have grown up together as sisters in the service of heavy metal.

“We’re partners in crime, partners in business, writing partners and best friends,” said Lander. “That’s the reason why this band has been able to continue on. The family aspect has been the foundation of the band. There’s something really magical about having siblings in a band, like in Van Halen and Pantera. There’s an unspoken bond between siblings.”

Kittie will perform with Walls of Jericho, In This Monument, Neurosonic and I Killed the Prom Queen at 103 Ultra Lounge in Orono on Wednesday, April 18. Tickets are $18 in advance and $20 at the door, and can be purchased at Bull Moose Music. For more information, visit www.kittierocks.com. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.