Spit (album)

Spit is the debut studio album by the Canadian heavy metal band Kittie, released on January 11, 2000. Kittie were formed in 1996, and signed to Ng Records, which later merged with Artemis Records, following their performances at the Canadian Music Week festival in March 1999. Recorded over nine days in May 1999 with producer Garth Richardson at EMAC Recording Studios in London, Ontario, Spit is a nu metal album that incorporates elements from various genres. Inspired by life experiences, its lyrics address topics including sexism, hatred, ignorance, abuse, self-image, conformity, and betrayal. The album is Kittie's only release with their original line-up, featuring bassist Tanya Candler and guitarist Fallon Bowman. Candler left the band prior to its release in September 1999, after which they recruited bassist Talena Atfield, who appears on its cover and on a re-recorded version of "Paperdoll".

Spit received generally favourable reviews from critics, who praised its production, musicianship, and songwriting but criticized its lyrics and vocals. The album was promoted with the release of two singles, "Brackish" and "Charlotte", and extensive tours of North America and Europe between July 1999 and February 2001. Assisted by Internet word-of-mouth and Kittie's touring efforts, Spit was a commercial success, reaching number 79 on the US Billboard 200 chart and being certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in October 2000. The album sold 100,000 copies in Europe, but did not perform as well in Canada due to a lack of radio support and touring. It remains Kittie's best-selling album, having sold over 660,000 copies in the United States by April 2003. Retrospectively, Spit has been listed as one of the greatest nu metal albums of all time by Kerrang!, Loudwire, Metal Hammer, and Revolver.

Kittie were formed in September 1996 in London, Ontario, by drummer Mercedes Lander and guitarist Fallon Bowman, who met in a gymnastics class. They bonded over their shared interest in grunge artists such as Nirvana and Silverchair and started jamming together after realizing they both played instruments. Mercedes' sister Morgan joined as their guitarist and vocalist four or five months later. The trio started out playing covers of Nirvana, Silverchair, Deftones, and Korn before attempting to write their own material; "Brackish" was the first song they wrote together. Morgan, Mercedes, and Bowman wrote the songs on Spit over the course of a year and a half, and had completed most of them by the time Tanya Candler joined Kittie as their bassist in November 1997, completing their lineup. The band wrote the music for the songs first as a "backdrop" to their vocals, which would be handled by whoever wrote its lyrics.

Kittie played their first show at a Battle of the Bands competition at Call the Office on February 28, 1998. The band's second performance, at a high school talent show, was cut short by a female principal who did not believe women should be playing music of their style. Thereafter, Kittie began performing around London every one or two weeks, at either Call the Office or The Embassy, and recorded two demos at EMAC Recording Studios engineered by studio co-owner Robert Nation. Producer Garth Richardson was sent one of the band's demos and agreed to record their debut album for a minimum fee. In March 1999, Kittie performed at the Canadian Music Week festival in Toronto. Morgan said that the band had most of their songs ready by this point and were to record Spit with Richardson after the festival, which they planned to release themselves.

Kittie received several record label offers from their Canadian Music Week performance, and ultimately signed with Ng Records, an independent label operating out of New York. Although Ng had previously rejected the band's demos, the label took interest in Kittie after its vice president Jason Wyner saw them perform. Mercedes said that Kittie signed with Ng as they believed the small label would pay more attention to the band than a larger one; Morgan also said Ng showed greater enthusiasm in the band than Canadian record labels, who considered them "too raw and aggressive". Kittie did not officially sign to Ng until after Spit was recorded, in June or July 1999, as they did not want to be told what to do by the label whilst working on the album.

Kittie recorded Spit with Richardson over nine days at EMAC in May 1999, at a cost of US$57,000. As the band's members were still attending high school at the time, they recorded in the evenings after they had dinner and completed their homework at the studio. Kittie wanted Spit to sound raw, yet professional-sounding, and reflective of their live shows. Richardson brought in a Pro Tools setup to record the album, alongside an array of equipment and amplifiers the band spent a day experimenting with. They used ESP and Squier guitars, a homemade guitar by Richardson, and Morgan's custom Gibson Flying V, which had all three of its humbuckers turned on for a "huge, meaty sound". In place of effects pedals, guitar distortion was produced using a combination of Orange, Marshall, and Soldano amplifiers. Bowman only used one pedal on the entire album, an Ibanez Classic Phase. Due to short recording window, Mercedes' drums were mostly recorded in one take, Morgan's vocals were not double-tracked, and any mistakes were left on the final album. Morgan played bass on three songs, including "Raven" and "Immortal".

Most of Spit's songs remained unchanged from when they were first written. Though Richardson claimed his input was limited to helping Kittie choose sounds and suggestions on guitar and drum parts, Morgan would credit him with helping the band with some vocal arrangements and melodies. She also said Kittie rearranged the structure of "Paperdoll" after he pointed out a "catchy hook" in the song. "Brackish" was nearly left off of Spit due to problems surrounding its arrangements, but would come into its own when Kittie recruited DJ Dave, a friend of Nation's, to add some jungle beats to the track. Morgan wrote the song's chorus in the studio's vocal booth a week later, and the band recorded it the next day. Spit was then mixed by Chris Shaw at Soundtrack and EMAC (except "Paperdoll", by Matt Chiaravalle), and mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk. The album was completed in August 1999.

Spit has primarily been described as a nu metal album. Rolling Stone described the album as blending thrash metal, grunge, death metal, and alternative rock; other journalists described it as grindcore, hard rock, hardcore punk, and techno. Spit's songs feature drop C-tuned guitars, heavy basslines, stop-start structures, tempo shifts, melodic sensibilities, and manic percussion driven by double kick drums and cymbals. Morgan alternates between guttural, growled, screamed, sung, and spoken vocals; she attributed her use of the latter to her lack of singing ability at the time.