"It's been a great and unexpected tour for us," said Brent. "We're finishing the tour today. We're a band about mutual respect and getting along and loving everybody if possible. It's all about respect. That's what hardcore's based on."

I also corralled Byron Davis from God Forbid and asked him what was on his brain. "This is Byron from God Forbid," he said into my recorder. "Right now nothing is on my brain. This is the last day of the tour. I am gonna go home and start some new shit." That's pretty to the point, but then again so is God Forbid's music. The band absolutely ruled the stage, kids going crazy. The majority of God Forbid's set highlighted their incredible Earthsblood release and the controversial and pulverizingly outspoken IV: Constitution Of Treason record. The highlight of the set was their cover of Pantera's "Mouth For War" however, the audience really getting into the tribute to the metal greats. God Forbid proved, as they do nearly every night, why they are one of the most respected bands in the underground. The sheer amount of growth the band has shown since the Out Of Misery EP is staggering.

It was a lot of fun meeting Kittie before the show. I have heard Mercedes is really cool and while I have heard mixed things about how they treat opening bands over the years, all that aside, they really have slugged it out and held their own in the metal world. I hadn't seen them in quite some time since they were touring years ago (in 2002!) with a band called Acacia, also from Canada. While I miss Jenn City's era of the band, I gotta say the newer members Tara and Ivy really headbang onstage like champs! I thought I was watching fucking Kataklysm or something for a minute!

Upon meeting Morgan Lander I had to poorly break the ice by telling her that Morgan is a boy's name. She laughed and then I admitted that I've only actually ever met one other guy named Morgan over the years but know numerous girls with the name, so I guess she wins. Then we moved on to more serious topics. A lot of kids have been through hardship and have metal in their lives as a positive form of release for pent up emotions. Especially for high school kids, metal can be a great way to survive trying times. In my local area the Pine Plains High School recently settled a million dollar lawsuit with a student who faced racism, and even less extreme examples for the average kid show that the teenage years are not easy. Kittie started out in the scene really young and kept on trucking, proving they weren't just a novelty act and writing great songs along the way like "What I Always Wanted." They really are great role models for having beaten the "girls in metal" stigma and for excelling at playing their own brand of music.

"We just do what we do, quite honestly," said Morgan Lander. "We write a lot of songs that are open-ended and open to interpretation for a reason. We don't try to throw anything in people's faces or interject any religious point of view or political ideas, for example. It's about everyone for themselves, being themselves, and take away from the music what you want to take away from it."

Keeping in mind the interpretive nature of themes Lander was speaking about, I asked her about the record title In The Black. With much of the country suffering economic hardship, money and survival is certainly on the minds of many people. Personally, I feel the recession is mainly due to the leftover fallout from the disastrous Bush years and that Obama deserves a lot of credit for trying to shore up so many holes in a leaking ship at once. The name In The Black also sort of implies surviving within darkness, or something.

"It is a financial term. We decided to choose the name because hopefully it foreshadows us doing well financially," admitted Morgan. "At the same time it means a return to the back to basics, way more metal approach and darker sound for the band, stepping away from what we did the previous album." At this point I had to be more obnoxious and interject a truly stupid fan boy request (Morgan if you read this, thanks for bearing with me again. I was super manic that night!) I basically told Lander that I would do just about anything if there was anyway they would play a half time version of their old song "Pink Lemonade", which is already incredibly ponderous and sludgy. I was probably way too excited while telling her this idea, although she did laugh. Seriously though, that would instantly become the heaviest doom song ever!

Well, while I doubt Kittie will be taking my advice any time soon, their headlining set was top notch. The band was in fine form (and that isn't a thinly veiled sexist comment, though that's fine if anyone wants to read into it that way, I guess). Seriously, though, Mercedes and Morgan have the sister chemistry plus have played together for so long that it is like watching one single mechanism onstage. Morgan's screaming has really gotten better and better and she has quite a nasty growl to counteract her poppy and syrupy hypnotic melodic tendencies. If you missed Kittie on this recent tour with God Forbid you can catch them soon on the road again (unfortunately with Insane Clown Posse...ouch). Even if you can't stomach ICP like most people, I recommend catching Kittie because they are probably better than ever these days. At the very least, pick up a copy of In The Black and throw one back.