Video Of The Week: Kittie

Kittie is a metal band that formed in 1996 in London, Ontario (Canada) by sisters Morgan Lander (singer) and Mercedes Lander and two friends - while they were still in high school. They were surprisingly heavy for kids - let alone ''girls'' (to some macho metalheads) - and just got heavier with time.

To this day, the sisters (who play guitar and drums, respectively) are the only constant band members, the bass and lead guitar slots being pretty much a revolving door. Guitarist Tara McLeod has been on board for three of the band's 6 records, with Suicide City's Jennifer Arroyo on board for one before her. Bassist Trish Doan is back after a 5-year hiatus due to a serious battle with anorexia, during which time Ivana 'Ivy' Vujic held her place. The band was even a trio for a while, in 2001 and 2002.

This song is from their 2009 release In The Black, which came out the day after my birthday. It's fairly typical and generic (which you kind of expect from a semi-independent band) and doesn't showcase mad skills, but it shows you these chicks can rock hard and well, their versatility, and ability to construct well-written pieces.

Women Who Rock: PJ Harvey

First up, Polly Jean Harvey.

Born on October 9th, 1969, this British dynamo has been an important voice in music since the early 1990s with the release of Dry (1992) and Rid Of Me (1993). But she really hit the big time in 1995 with To Bring You My Love and the smash single Down By The Water. It was then that the public realized she also had a habit of changing her musical and fashion styles with just about every release.

In 1996, she released Dance Hall At Louise Point with John Parrish, a critical success if not a commercial one, but the accolades continued with Is This Desire? (1998), the amazing Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (2000) and Uh Huh Her (2004).

When famed radio presenter John Peel passed away, she released a compilation of her performances on his show as The Peel Sessions 1991-2004 in October of 2006 (including the rare song Naked Cousin from the soundtrack to The Crow: City Of Angels), before the release of her next album, White Chalk (2007).

2009 came along with another collaboration with John Parrish, A Woman A Man Walked By, and two weeks ago she released the terrific Let England Shake.

She is a major artist who releases high-quality stuff regularly, for which she is often recognized in awards ceremonies, as attested by her 3 Mercury Prize nominations (one win, in 2000), 5 Grammy nominations (unusual for a foreign artist), and was named the #1 female artist by Q Magazine in 2002.

On our side of the pond, Rolling Stone magazine named her 1992's Best New Artist and 1995's Artist Of The Year, in addition to naming two of her albums (Rid Of Me and To Bring You My Love) among the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.

Women Who Rock: Introduction

My original idea was to take advantage of Women's Day and make up a list of ladies in music who kick some major ass. Unfortunately, the problem with that is I'll forget some, be disappointed in myself, and stop blogging forever. And new ones would keep coming up all the time.

Instead, I decided to make this a regular recurring segment.

Nearly half the acts I book for UnPop Montréal have at least one lady as a permanent member. The music I listen to the most often is made by women, although there are none in my 5 favourite acts of all time (Pearl Jam, Cream, The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, and Guns N' Roses).

I assume my contradictions fully.