Kittie at The House Of Blues in LA - photo by Suzy

Noize Addict: We've been listening to "Oracle." It's intense. Dark. Heavier. Death Metal-esque. Your music and Morgan's voice has a maturity to it. What has attributed to that?
Talena Atfield: When we wrote "Spit" it was like 5 years ago….so there was five years between the writing. So a lot changes in five years, you play longer, the lyrics get a lot better. You learn to play your instruments a lot better. We have really matured as a unit and it really shows on the album. We had longer time in studio. When we did "Spit," we recorded the whole thing in nine days. With Oracle, everything had to be perfect, I think it took me five hours just to get the bass sound I wanted.
NA: Oracle comes out November 13th?
TA: Yup, November 13th.

NA: We also love the Pink Floyd cover, "Run Like Hell." What made you decide to do that?
TA: Well back in February, after Spit was released, we were approached by some people that wanted to do a Pink Floyd tribute album and we picked "Run Like Hell. " It's supposed to be a metal song, at least we thought it was capable of it. We started playing it live if we had to do a longer set so we would put that in there. So the tribute album fell through, but we already had the song and it was recorded and when we played it live, people really liked it so we re-worked it and put in on "Oracle."

NA: Because of the success of "Spit"-did you feel pressure with writing/arranging/recording "Oracle?"
TA: I think everyone has that second album nervousness, but originally we only had three months to write and record and then we ended up taking five months instead. We didn't want to rush things…we could of done it in three months, but it probably wouldn't have turn out half as good. So at first there was a lot of pressure, we had came straight off the road and then went into writing, so there wasn't a break. We were getting frustrated so we took a month up, to get our heads back on and it turned out great after that.

NA: What do you do when you go home---do you guys hang out together?
TA: When we are on tour we all have to share a bus and hotel room so when we go home you just need your space. I usually don't want to do anything. I don't want to leave my room, I haven't seen it in two months. It's like getting your personal space back, because on the road you don't have any space at all.

NA: What is going on after this tour?
TA: We go home after this. Then we do some radio shows in November and December. Then we get some time off over Christmas and then in January we are going to do the States again, but in the places we missed. Then we have plans to go into Europe, Australia and Japan, given that the situation going on now is cool. When it all happened (September 11), we were in Europe and our crew was flying back on a plane….we really wanted to get home …it's scary.

NA: Even though the styles are different, were you influenced by other female acts like L7, Hole, Bikini Kill?
TA: I don't think there is any direct influence from those. I had Hole cds. I listen to Sarah McLaughlin and Dido. That is not much of an influence, just more of quiet time. Not to be rude, there is not much female influence. There just weren't many females in the stuff we were listening to. For me, White Zombie is one of my favorite bands and Sean, the bass player, was a chick and she was in such a kick-ass band and I always thought that rocks. It's like heavy-ass music and she cranks it out so I always had respect for her. Also D'arcy from Smashing Pumpkins.
NA: What are you listening to right now?
TA: Right now, I am listening to Crossbreed.
NA: Didn't you help get them signed?
TA: I met them at a radio show in Florida around April 2000. I met their keyboard player and we started to hang out and became pretty good friends, then they did a demo and it blew my mind. It is the kind of music I listen to…White Zombie, Static X. Not even thinking of it our A & R guy wanted to hear new music, so I told him to check this out…it was just a three- song sampler. I didn't expect them to get signed, but they really liked them, which is great for them. I wish them all the best.

NA: How pivotal was being on OZZfest for your career?
TA: Ozzfest was a good two-months of our touring career and it was a big-big tour so it definitely did help. We got to play in front of people that normally would not come to see us without the other bands. Now a lot of those people come to see us.

NA: Is there anything you do to prepare for a show?
TA: I stretch a lot. Especially my neck. I've had my neck pulled so bad that I could not lift my head. If you do not play for a while, you can give yourself whiplash. On our last tour we actually used to listen to Madonna. We'd crank it on the bus. Now we're listening to Bon Jovi cos I brought the cd and I told them we're listening to "Bad Medicine!"

NA: With all your touring, what local bands around the country have you seen that you were really impressed by?
TA: Usually when we have days off, we'll look on Pollstar and see if there are bands we want to check out. Dope and Cold… I want to check out. We don't know the local scene and plus we can't get into the clubs.
NA: Under 21?
TA: We're almost there!

NA: Anyone you want to collaborate with at some point?
TA: So far there is no talk of anything. Morgan did do something on the hed p.e. record though.
NA: But If you could work with anyone…
TA: I would like to work with Crossbreed, because it is the type of stuff I listen to and I actually did sing a song with them live. I sang "Painted Red" with them and I'm hoping to do that again. I also sang with Disturbed a while back when we were touring with them. Morgan sang with Boy Hits Car and I know she's done a couple of those. Mercedes went up with with Pantera a couple times to do "This Love," you know how the bands on OZZfest run out to do that. So we've all done our share.

NA: Any advice for bands trying to break through?
TA: Keep your heads up and don't let people put you down. Just try…play as much as you can, get your name out there. Do what you want and don't let people change you cos if you're letting people change you then it's not you and it's not what you want. Just be strong about what you really want.

photos by Suzy

NA: (This is where we asked NoizeAddict teamers who love Kittie to email us their questions and here are a few that we picked)
NA Teamer-Mike B from Albany, NY: Why did Fallon leave the band?
TA: It's not a talked about thing right now. It was her decision to leave and everyone has their reason for things and it's not our place to say, you know? I wish her the best.
NA: Is she physically sick?
TA: No no she 's fine…rumors will fly. There was the rumor about the tendentious thing and that was actually me and Morgan. There are a lot of rumors going around about it but you know regardless of those she's fine and everything is fine. We are continuing on as a three piece and everything is working out great.

NA Teamer-Mike B from Albany, NY: How many guys asses have you kicked so far?
TA: ummmm….I'm really not a violent person (laughing).

NA Teamer-Mike B from Albany, NY: What do you hope the new album accomplishes?
TA: I hope it accomplishes as much as it can. I hope people will like it and I hope it pleases our fans. It pleased us and that's all that really matters. Hopefully people will enjoy it.

Two hours later we caught Talena on stage with the rest of Kittie. Most of their set consisted of new songs from, "Oracle" with Kittie Klassics, "Raven" and "Brackish" meshed in. After a fierce 90-minute set, you could tell the Los Angeles fans kraved more from their Kittens.

Interview by: Suzy & Mindy

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