The Gits

Mia Zapata was the greatest rock singer of her time. This is not hyperbole; if you ever saw her, you know that it’s true. She was likely the greatest blues singer in punk rock history, the woman who married the 78 and the ’78. Much of the Gits’ story takes place in Seattle during the strange nightfog of the early 1990s, but did that matter? No. The Gits were beyond era or place. They defied any categorizations – were they ferocious post-hardcore sideways-metal screw-propellor punk rockers? Some cross between Iron Maiden and an SST band? The Gits were an angry, inflamed slinky fully in tune with the Bessie Patti Smith of her time, truly the only singer who could summon Joplin, Poly Styrene, Sam Cooke, Iggy Pop and Ian McKaye all in the same goddamn song. The Gits formed at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1986, and moved to Seattle in 1989 where they recorded three EPs before signing with CZ Records and releasing their first full-length album, Frenching The Bully in 1992. Their final album, Enter: The Conquering Chicken was released in 1994 after the tragic death of Mia Zapata. Now the entire Gits catalog is available on Sub Pop Records. We leave it at that because this is about extraordinary music and an extraordinary life. So, friends, please listen to one of the greatest Punk Rock bands of all time fronted by the greatest woman rock vocalist of the last half century. Tim Sommer