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Fuelling The Fire With MORGAN LANDER From KITTIE · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Speaker 1: My name is Morgan Lander and I sing and play
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  Speaker 1: guitar and write music in the band Kitty. We will
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  Speaker 1: be heading to Australia opening up for the Mighty Ginger
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  Speaker 1: in a few weeks and we are really really stoked.
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  Speaker 1: Take it away.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, for Morgan, thanks for joining us today.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks thanks for having me pleasure.
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  Speaker 3: So, as you say, Kitty, you've returned to Australia for
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  Speaker 3: the first time since twenty twelve, very soon for runt
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  Speaker 3: of shows with Ginger, starting in Brisbane on February twenty first,
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  Speaker 3: before moving to the Melbourne Adelaide and finishing in Freeman
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  Speaker 3: on Febuge twenty eight.
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  Speaker 2: So you're packed and ready to go?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, actually I am packed. I'm ready to go. My
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  Speaker 1: guitar is really the only other thing I got to
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  Speaker 1: put into a case. Everything is all ready. I'm excited
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  Speaker 1: for some of the nice weather. I know you're having there,
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  Speaker 1: packing some shorts and ready to rock.
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  Speaker 2: Oh. So, I know you guys had a bit of
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  Speaker 2: a hiatus from all there.
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  Speaker 3: But aside from that, what's changed with Kitty since you
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  Speaker 3: were lost?
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  Speaker 1: Oh gosh, Well, it's all the same girls that will
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  Speaker 1: be playing in the band, So that is that's the
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  Speaker 1: same thing. Obviously, we have new music. It's been thirteen
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  Speaker 1: years since we put out our last album, and I
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  Speaker 1: believe when we did the sound Wave Festival in twenty twelve,
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  Speaker 1: we were supporting the last album that we put out
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  Speaker 1: before we sort of went on this indefinite hiatus that
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  Speaker 1: was kind of just like, let's just see what what
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  Speaker 1: else is out there in life type thing. And so yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it's been thirteen years as of last year since we
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  Speaker 1: put out all this new music and things have been amazing.
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  Speaker 1: It was an interesting time to to decide to write again,
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  Speaker 1: to get together and do the band. I think a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people were asking for it. It's been a
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  Speaker 1: long time, and don't the timing just felt really felt
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  Speaker 1: really right. So we're gonna be playing a lot of
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  Speaker 1: old stuff throughout our entire catalog, and we'll also be
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  Speaker 1: playing some brand new music for our amazing Australian fans
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  Speaker 1: as well.
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  Speaker 4: So that's what's to new and that's what's old bands
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  Speaker 4: now for the benefit of those who might not have
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  Speaker 4: seen is Audi before.
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  Speaker 2: What what can we expect from Kiddie live on stage?
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  Speaker 1: Oh gosh, Well, I mean, we we've always prided ourselves
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  Speaker 1: in being just kind of like a straight up metal band.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: I know, a lot of bands, you know, use a
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  Speaker 1: lot of different things these days, technologies and things like that,
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  Speaker 1: but you know, we've always been a band that just
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  Speaker 1: gets up there for girls, having a great time, just
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  Speaker 1: rocking out, a lot of fan interaction, you know, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of a lot of screaming, and it's gonna be
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  Speaker 1: real loud. So yeah, like I mean, we just we
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  Speaker 1: just love what we do. We have a really great time.
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  Speaker 1: It's a fun show. It's a little bit angry, but
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  Speaker 1: you know that's metal.
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  Speaker 2: Right, That's exactly You're right.
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  Speaker 3: And of course you're touring with Jinja of revolutionized the
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  Speaker 3: world of metals since they came.
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  Speaker 2: So have you played much with them? I've seen before.
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  Speaker 1: No, Actually, this will be the first show that we've
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  Speaker 1: ever played with Ginger. However, I have seen them perform
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  Speaker 1: before and they are incredible. They're an incredible band. Tatiana's
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  Speaker 1: vocals are unparalleled. I mean, technically, I guess we did.
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  Speaker 1: We played at the same festival as them. It was
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  Speaker 1: the Sick New World Festival that happened last year in
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  Speaker 1: Las Vegas, Nevada, in the United States, and they had
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  Speaker 1: headlined one of the stages we played earlier on in
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  Speaker 1: the day and I got to catch their set. It
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  Speaker 1: was it was amazing. But I've never met any of
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  Speaker 1: the of the folks in Ginger before, so this will
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  Speaker 1: be a fun opportunity to hopefully make some new friends
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  Speaker 1: and see some awesome musicians play because they are they're
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  Speaker 1: an incredible band.
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  Speaker 3: Hey, Jattie, I'd just say someone's going along just to
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  Speaker 3: see Ginger and they don't know who Kiddy is?
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  Speaker 2: What three songs of you? Or should they listen to
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  Speaker 2: before they go so they get an idea what do expect?
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  Speaker 1: Oh gosh, Well, I think that it's important to focus
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  Speaker 1: on the newer stuff, but also understand that we have
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  Speaker 1: been a band for coming up on thirty years now,
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  Speaker 1: and our first album was released twenty five years ago,
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  Speaker 1: so there is a big disparity in the maybe even
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  Speaker 1: the sounds of the songs themselves. I would say everyone
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  Speaker 1: is gonna say Brackish because that's like the song that
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  Speaker 1: everybody knows, but I would go with say, listen to Spit.
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  Speaker 1: It's the first song off of our first album, sort
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  Speaker 1: of opens things up and sort of lets you know
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  Speaker 1: what we're all about. So I would say listen to Spit.
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  Speaker 1: I would say maybe a song like We're the I
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  Speaker 1: Am would be or no Cutthroat. Let's pick Cutthroat. That
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  Speaker 1: was a single. Cutthroat is a later song. It was
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  Speaker 1: a single as well, but it kind of has that
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  Speaker 1: dichotomy between screaming and singing. It's a really fast song.
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  Speaker 1: There's some shredding souls in as well. And I would
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  Speaker 1: pick something new from our new album, Eyes Wide Open.
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  Speaker 1: So I think you're getting sort of the beginning, the middle,
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  Speaker 1: and up to the present of our career Thancassing.
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  Speaker 2: Now we sort of touched on this before.
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  Speaker 3: But your return last year afia hiatus with the album Bias,
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  Speaker 3: So how was that received?
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  Speaker 2: Was it? Was it a comeback you expected, to.
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  Speaker 1: Be honest with you, I really didn't know what to expect.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously, when you're coming back after such a
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  Speaker 1: long time away, you're hoping that people will still remember you,
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  Speaker 1: that they will still care, that what you're doing is
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  Speaker 1: still relevant obviously for us, like we're passionate about what
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  Speaker 1: we do and we know that you know, the music
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  Speaker 1: that we're making is uh is something that we you know,
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  Speaker 1: we love. But uh yeah, I mean I think fire.
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  Speaker 1: It's uh, it was a labor of love. It was
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  Speaker 1: a really really amazing album to write. And yeah, I
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  Speaker 1: mean people came to the shows. The reception was incredible.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: We were recently nominated for a Juno Award in Canada
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  Speaker 1: here where we're from, which is sort of like our Grammy,
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  Speaker 1: you know, our Aria Award, I guess and uh, and
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  Speaker 1: so we're honored that people are recognizing what we've done.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, it's just, uh, it's been it's been amazing,
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  Speaker 1: you know, just the fact that people are still listening
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  Speaker 1: after all this time.
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  Speaker 3: That was your first album since I've Found You in
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  Speaker 3: twenty eleven, so we had thirty any different So was
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  Speaker 3: it difficult to sort of come together and write songs
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  Speaker 3: again as a cohesive unit after not doing it to
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  Speaker 3: start on.
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  Speaker 1: I would say yes, it was difficult. A lot of
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  Speaker 1: it had to do with the fact that all of
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  Speaker 1: us sort of live in different places. We had sort
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  Speaker 1: of moved away, you know, started our lives in different
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  Speaker 1: areas of the country, and so coming together was difficult.
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  Speaker 1: But we utilized as much technology as we could. We
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  Speaker 1: did a lot of recording and sending things. We have
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  Speaker 1: a shared drop box where you know, we can swap
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  Speaker 1: ideas and talk about stuff. We had a couple of
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  Speaker 1: zoom writing sessions even where we just kind of hung
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  Speaker 1: out and played some riffs those types of things and
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  Speaker 1: got together when we could to write and things like that.
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  Speaker 1: So it was tough, and it was different because at
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  Speaker 1: the time of our last couple albums and I failed
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  Speaker 1: you in particular, like we were on tour all the time,
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  Speaker 1: we were playing constantly, and it was very easy for
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  Speaker 1: us to just sort of get in a room together
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  Speaker 1: to write an album. And you know, sometimes when I
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  Speaker 1: listen to that album, I'm like, wow, you know, you
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  Speaker 1: could really tell that we were doing nothing but playing
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  Speaker 1: shows all the time. Like it just it just feels
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  Speaker 1: that way. So Fire was different in that we were
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  Speaker 1: sort of coming back to this like unknown world, who
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  Speaker 1: is going to care about our music or whatever, you know,
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  Speaker 1: And but we made it work. And I think once
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  Speaker 1: you start, the magic starts flowing again. And once we
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  Speaker 1: did have a lot of those writing sessions, like it
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  Speaker 1: just it just all fell into place. You know, the
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  Speaker 1: chemistry that we have as musicians together as a band,
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  Speaker 1: it just it's just there and that's not something that
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  Speaker 1: ever goes away. So it was gone to get first,
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  Speaker 1: I can't lie. But then once we got into it,
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  Speaker 1: it it eased up a bit and it just all
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  Speaker 1: flowed out.
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  Speaker 2: Now, I'd give one kidding in Ontario, Beckon not in
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  Speaker 2: ninety six.
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  Speaker 3: So what was the musical climate like that gave birth
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  Speaker 3: to the band and where did you fit in initially?
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  Speaker 1: Well, I we've never really fit in anywhere, and that's
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  Speaker 1: kind of been fun. But London, Ontario, where we're from,
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  Speaker 1: is not a very big place, maybe about half a
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  Speaker 1: million people. It's a small city. Back in the nineties,
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  Speaker 1: there was a lot of different venues. There was a
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  Speaker 1: thriving local scene. Unfortunately, fast forward, you know, almost thirty years,
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  Speaker 1: there really isn't a lot of places like bars and
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  Speaker 1: clubs where smaller bands can sort of cut their teeth
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  Speaker 1: and things like that. But we were lucky in that
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  Speaker 1: there were a lot of really great little places that
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  Speaker 1: we were able to play and great local scenes that
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  Speaker 1: we could meet other, you know, bands around our same
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  Speaker 1: age or bands within the scene that were that were
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  Speaker 1: playing shows. And that's how we got started. You know,
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  Speaker 1: we were playing at a couple of local clubs, like
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  Speaker 1: every weekend or every couple of weekends, throughout the first
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  Speaker 1: few years that we were a band, and that was
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  Speaker 1: just how we loved to spend our time. Things are
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  Speaker 1: a lot different now, Like I said, there aren't really
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  Speaker 1: any Everything is like mid size or larger, so there's
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  Speaker 1: not really you know, you know those like those grungy
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  Speaker 1: little clubs, you know, the places that have all that character,
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  Speaker 1: like those are the places that we really we really
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  Speaker 1: like bars and things like that that we really started at.
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  Speaker 1: That's where the magic is and the dirt, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and the floorboards in the bar. But we never really
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  Speaker 1: did really fit in. You know, there were there were
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  Speaker 1: a lot of bands our age that were like you know,
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  Speaker 1: during high school and things like that, that's that we're
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  Speaker 1: starting bands. But you know, being as young as we were,
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  Speaker 1: uh sort of branching out and being women as well, Uh,
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  Speaker 1: it was it was always a bit more of a
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  Speaker 1: challenge and we did sort of stand out. And I
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  Speaker 1: guess like in general in the metal scene now even
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  Speaker 1: you know, there's always like a hub, you know, like
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  Speaker 1: a lot of big Banyans from you know, America, they're like, oh,
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  Speaker 1: it's New York or La or whatever, and like we're
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  Speaker 1: still in Ontario, Canada and that's where we've chosen to stay.
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  Speaker 1: And and so we are a little bit far away
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  Speaker 1: from you know, a lot of the the the meccas
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  Speaker 1: of the music industry or whatever. But you know, I
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  Speaker 1: like my quiet life too.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, your Depot album spit was a powerful musical statement
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  Speaker 3: when you came out, But could you tell it had
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  Speaker 3: the potential to be something, especially in the creative and
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  Speaker 3: development process, you know, looking.
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  Speaker 1: Back, I I really do find it hard to see
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  Speaker 1: those signs. But I think the signs were more in
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  Speaker 1: the people around us that were interested, the people around
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  Speaker 1: us that were supportive, you know, like when we first
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  Speaker 1: started playing around, like in Toronto, we played like Canadian
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  Speaker 1: Music Week, and we met the people that were from
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  Speaker 1: our first label there, and it was always amazing to
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  Speaker 1: me because I felt like back then we were very
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  Speaker 1: you know, we're very rough around the edges. We're very unpolished,
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  Speaker 1: but we had a lot of personality and a lot
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  Speaker 1: of drive, you know, and we we did put on
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  Speaker 1: a great show. It was very energetic and things like that,
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  Speaker 1: and so it was always looking back now, I can
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  Speaker 1: see that it was the people that were gravitating towards
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  Speaker 1: us that sort of allowed a lot of that to
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  Speaker 1: sort of happen organically. But you know, there was a
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  Speaker 1: lot of a lot of really special things about the
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  Speaker 1: songwriting and the songs themselves. I mean, we were just
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  Speaker 1: a bunch of kids writing songs in our parents' basement,
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  Speaker 1: and those songs they pretty much stayed exactly the same
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  Speaker 1: as they did when we were writing to when we
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  Speaker 1: recorded our debut album with Garth Richardson. And yeah, it
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  Speaker 1: was it was a magical time. You know, we certainly
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  Speaker 1: captured like a time in our lives and sort of
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: a raw presence. There's a lot of like teenage angst
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  Speaker 1: in there. It's almost like on the on the brink
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  Speaker 1: of chaos. And I think that's what people like so
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  Speaker 1: much about it, that it's like controlled chaos. And I mean, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: looking back, it was it was a really a really
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  Speaker 1: strange and special time, like when you when all this
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  Speaker 1: stuff is happening, though you don't really realize right until
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  Speaker 1: you be able to look back and say, wow, okay,
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  Speaker 1: well look at all this stuff. It was like being
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  Speaker 1: in the eye of the storm. You know, so much
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  Speaker 1: was going on around us and just being you know,
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  Speaker 1: fifteen sixteen years old. It's hard to really have perspective,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: bri Nice.
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  Speaker 3: Before I let you go, Morgan, I've started a new
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  Speaker 3: segment up called photo Bombs. So basically, before I talk
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  Speaker 3: to you or troll three social media and I come
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  Speaker 3: up with a couple of photos that I want to
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  Speaker 3: know a little bit more about. So first of what
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  Speaker 3: I've come up with from you guys, is this little
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  Speaker 3: Christmas giddy like that looks like a fun time.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, So that actually was It probably would have been
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  Speaker 1: around the time that we released In the Black, which
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  Speaker 1: I think was what two thousand and nine, and that
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  Speaker 1: was us four girls going to the mall to go
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  Speaker 1: and annoy a mall Santa Claus. So you know, they
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  Speaker 1: have the Mall Santa Claus there where you can line
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  Speaker 1: up and the kids get to sit on Santa's lap
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  Speaker 1: and ask him what, you know, what they want for Christmas.
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  Speaker 1: And so we were like, we waited in line and
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  Speaker 1: we went and got Santa Claus. We you know, we
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  Speaker 1: got our photo with Santa Claus. He doesn't want awake
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  Speaker 1: in that photo though, he has like you can't see
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  Speaker 1: his eyes.
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  Speaker 4: He's passed out, okay. And the other one I'm bad
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  Speaker 4: is it's fun here, Like how old do you go
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  Speaker 4: to say that.
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  Speaker 1: Oh god, yeah, so that is uh, that's nineteen ninety nine.
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  Speaker 1: That would have been the album uh photo shoot that
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: we did for the spit Like promotion. So we went around,
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  Speaker 1: uh all over I believe it was New York and
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  Speaker 1: then we had we did some stuff in London as well,
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  Speaker 1: and uh yeah, so that's nineteen ninety nine, So that
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  Speaker 1: is a very long time ago. It looks like I
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: think we're at a baseball diamond.
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  Speaker 2: It looks like it's like someone's got a breaking leg too.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, those boots, it's a It kind of looks
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: like a little bit of a medical boot, doesn't it.
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  Speaker 3: What do you some of your memories of that period
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  Speaker 3: of the band's life while looking at that by.
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  Speaker 1: Day, Oh wow, I mean we were truly so young.
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  Speaker 1: I was the oldest person there and I was seventeen
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  Speaker 1: years old, and I don't know, it was a really
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  Speaker 1: innocent time. You know. You can see my sister in
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  Speaker 1: the bottom corner having like a really really good laugh,
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  Speaker 1: like and I think it's genuine. You know, we were
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  Speaker 1: so young and everything was you know, life was ahead
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  Speaker 1: of us. We had no idea what was to come
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  Speaker 1: and what was to what to expect with releasing the music.
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  Speaker 1: We just knew that like something was happening and it
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  Speaker 1: was really really exciting that we got the chance to
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  Speaker 1: do it. And yeah, it's just like a really fun
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: moment in time, Like all those smiles are are genuine.
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  Speaker 3: So and if you could tell your seventeen year old
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: self there one thing about life right now, what would be.
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  Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I would say, Uh, it's gonna be okay, Morgan,
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  Speaker 1: you're gonna make it.
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  Speaker 2: Oh well, those very much good time. It's been a
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  Speaker 2: pleasure to speak with your kiddie.
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  Speaker 3: Are out here with Ginger from February twenty first, there's
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  Speaker 3: shows all around the country, so tickets start selling quick,
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  Speaker 3: so if you want to go along, best get yourself one.
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  Speaker 1: Surely, thank you so much for having me.