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IT IS JUST AFTER 6 P.M. ON A SATURDAY AT THE TWEETER Center, an outdoor stadium near Boston, and hundreds of heavy-metal fans, most of them teenage boys with tattoos and Ozzy Osbourne T-shirts, are packed against a metal guard rail that separates them from the stage. Every now and then, they crane their necks, looking for any sign of movement backstage.
Then a thick, heavily distorted guitar riff fills the air as Morgan Lander, the teenage lead singer of the band Kittie, in dark, theatrical makeup, pounces onstage hollering a deep-throated "Hello Boston!" followed by the "Ready, motherf-----s?" that has become her trademark on this tour. She's followed onstage by the rest of the band: the drummer, her younger sister, Mercedes; the guitarist, redheaded Fallon Bowman; and Kittie's newest member and bass player, Talena Atfield. Wearing baby T's and baggy pants, heavy makeup, and spiked chokers and necklaces that spell "EVIL," they launch into a full-on, thrashing performance of "Spit," the title track of their debut album. The crowd erupts.
The band follows with "Suck," and by the time they get to their hit "Brackish," bare-chested boys are climbing trees to get a better view, high above the mosh pit and the crowd-surfing fans below. The guitars wail and thrash as Morgan's growling voice roars out such lyrics as "Whore, whore, ha ha ha ha, I'm a whore" and "Why do I get shit all the time / from you men / you are swine / you think dick is the answer / But it's not."
Watching all this unfold from backstage is a relaxed-looking Dave Lander, the band's fifty-something manager, not to mention father of Morgan and Mercedes. He is smoking a Marlboro and wearing dark police-style sunglasses, jeans, and a Kittie concert shirt. Beside him is his spiky-haired wife, Dee, dressed in jeans and a black lace top, and fussing like any mother - though looking like one a metal band wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen with. Her daughters and their highschool friends bounce about onstage, belting out such songs as "Choke" and "Raven" while ducking the water bottles and shoes being whipped at them by the crowd. "Welcome to Ozzfest," Dave says, smiling.
It's day fifteen...