The Gits: Discography 1992 - 1994 (2 Albums)

 

While the Gits were a band who made a strong impression with their music during their all too brief run, it was how the group suddenly ended that would come to dominate their story. Playing a unique and

passionate fusion of first-era punk, hard rock, and streetwise blues, the Gits had a sound that set them apart from their peers in Seattle in the late '80s and early '90s, when the city was hip deep in the grunge explosion. The Gits also had a fearless and charismatic frontwoman in lead singer Mia Zapata, but just as the group seemed poised to move up to the next level of popular acceptance, the potential of both the Gits and Zapata were snuffed out when she was raped and murdered in the summer of 1993. 
                         

She was not the ending dwarfing the beginning and the middle. She was an artist full of sparks, wisdom; the usual mundane and spectacular damage that the great ones turn into exquisite noise and poetry, and the kind of voice and presence you might encounter once or twice in your life, if

you’re very lucky. Mia Zapata was the greatest rock singer of her time. Mia Zapata (1965 – 1993), the vocalist and front person for The Gits (1986 – 1993), was not the type of voice one usually associates with a punk rock band. She had the sizzle, sass, shriek, grace, rasp, and fury of a classic blues shouter (what if Janis Joplin had fronted Fugazi, we must ask?). Although there was a purity, an accuracy to her voice, she could point it at the stars and scoop cigarette butts out of the venue floor, all at the same time; it sounded like a voice on fire, it sounded desperate and angry and pleading and commanding, all at the same time.
                           

The Gits were formed at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in mid-1986, grabbing and swapping

pieces of art, thrash, noise, punk rock, classic rock, and all the sorts of magical silly and bookish jingle bells that an old-school liberal arts education handed you; for the next few years they worked on turning it all into something tough, sensitive, both brutal and kind. Andy, Matt, Mia, and Steve moved to Seattle in middish 1989, landing in a house on Capitol Hill. 
                          

The band's first official release was the single "Precious Blood", released in 1990 by the local Big Flaming Ego Records. This was quickly followed up by two more releases, "Second Skin" on Broken Rekids

(1991) and "Spear & Magic Helmet" on Empty Records (1991), as well as the Bobbing For Pavement compilation (Rathouse/Broken Rekids, 1991). In 1992 the band recorded and released their debut album, Frenching the Bully. In the spring of 1993, former music journalist and musician Tim Sommer had planned to sign the Gits to Atlantic Records, where he was working in the A&R department. Sommer said he had made a deal to sign the Gits to Atlantic four days before Zapata's death. 
                         

Shortly after 2:00 a.m. on July 7, 1993, Zapata left the Comet Tavern, a dive bar in Capitol Hill that was a popular hangout for the Seattle music community. Her body was discovered at 3:20 a.m. near the intersection of 24th Avenue South and South Washington Street. Zapata had been beaten, raped,

and strangled, and it is believed she encountered her attacker shortly after 2:15 a.m. Her body was not initially identified as she had no identification on her when she was found. An episode of Forensic Files revealed that she was identified after the medical examiner, who was a fan of the Gits and had been to their concerts, recognized her. According to the medical examiner, if she had not been strangled, she would have died from the internal injuries suffered from the beating. According to court documents, an autopsy found evidence of a struggle in which Zapata suffered blunt impact to her abdomen and a lacerated liver.
                                           

DISCOGRAPHY

                     

01. Frenching the Bully (C/Z Records) (1992)
Reissued on Broken Rekids, 2003
02. Enter: The Conquering Chicken (C/Z Records) (1994)
Reissued on Broken Rekids, 2003

01.  FRENCHING THE BULLY 1992

                            

Frenching the Bully is the debut studio album by Seattle punk rock band the Gits. It was originally

released as a 12-track album on C/Z Records in 1992 and was later reissued in 2003 with bonus tracks and different cover art on the Broken Rekids label. It was reissued again in 2025 by Sub Pop. The River Cities' Reader called it "A stunning document of the talent ... [of] singer Mia Zapata ... She sings with such conviction, ferocity, and expressiveness that the lyrics become irrelevant.
                               

The Gits – 1992 - Frenching The Bully
Label: Broken Rekids – SKIP 103
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered 2003
Country: US
Released: 1992    
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Punk

TRAXS

                      

01. Absynthe   3:13
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen, Dresdner
02. Another Shot Of Whiskey   2:41
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
03. Insecurities   1:45
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
04. Slaughter Of Bruce   3:16
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
05. Kings And Queens   1:59
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
06. It All Dies Anyway   4:07
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
07. While You're Twisting, I'm Still Breathing   2:37
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
08. A   1:24
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
09. Wingo Lamo   2:11
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
10. Spear And Magic Helmet   2:37
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
11. Cut My Skin It Makes Me Human   2:16
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
12. Here's To Your Fuck   1:52
Lyrics By – Diagnole
Music By – Spleen    
13. Second Skin   2:51
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen
    

RECORDED LIVE @ X-RAY CAFE        

    
14. Twisting, Breathing    2:38
15. Insecurities    1:48
16. Slaughter    3:14
17. Absynthe    3:04
18. Whiskey    2:40
19. Wingo    2:19
20. Fuck    1:50
21. Second Skin    3:13
---    
22. Twisting (Single Version)    2:43

LINE - UP

                       

Vocals – Mia Zapata
Bass – Matt Dresdner
Drums – Steve Moriarty
Guitar – Joe Spleen

NOTES

Originally released on C/Z records in 1992.
Remixed, remastered, and back in the hands of The Gits.
Tracks 1-13 originally recorded at Avast!
Tracks 14-21 were recorded live at X-Ray Cafe, Portland Oregon, in June of 1993.
Track 22 is the single version. 

Flac Size: 429 MB

02.  ENTER: THE CONQUERING CHICKEN 1994

                   

Enter: The Conquering Chicken is the Gits' second full-length album, recorded in 1993 and released posthumously in 1994 on C/Z Records. Lead singer and songwriter Mia Zapata was raped and strangled to

death in July 1993 during production of the record. The remainder of the band completed the album with what they had finished so far, and disbanded shortly thereafter. Enter: The Conquering Chicken shows Mia Zapata pushing the blues influences that informed her vocal style to the forefront more directly than on Frenching the Bully, with songs like "A Change Is Gonna Come" (a recontextualized cover of soul singer Sam Cooke's original) and "Precious Blood." 
                         

The Gits – 1994 - Enter: The Conquering Chicken
Label: Broken Rekids – SKIP 106
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered 2003
Country: US
Released: 1994    
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Punk

TRAXS

                

01. Bob (Cousin O.)   3:03
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen, Dresdner    
02. Guilt Within You Head   2:25
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
03. Seaweed   2:24
Lyrics By – Zapata    
04. A Change Is Gonna Come   4:13
Written-By – Sam Cooke    
05. Precious Blood   3:45
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen, Zapata    
06. Beauty Of The Rose   2:36
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
07. Drunks   1:37
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
08. Italian Song  2:07 
Lyrics By – Alighieri
Music By – Spleen    
09. Social Love I   2:39
Arranged By – Spleen
Lyrics By, Music By – Zapata    
10. Social Love II   1:50
Arranged By – Spleen
Lyrics By, Music By – Zapata    
11. Daily Bread   4:32
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen, Dresdner    
12. Sign Of The Crab   2:33
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen    
13. Drinking Song   2:54
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen, Dresdner
14. I'm Lou      1:55
15. New Fast One   1:55
Lyrics By – Zapata
Music By – Spleen
    

RECORDED LIVE IN PDX        

    
16. Crab    2:46
17. Seaweed    2:29
18. Rose    2:44
19. Whirlwind    2:59
20. New Fast One    2:44
21. Bob    3:03
22. A Change Is Gonna Come   4:02
Written-By – Sam Cooke
    

LINE - UP

                    

Vocals – Mia Zapata
Bass – Matt Dresdner
Drums – Steve Moriarty
Guitar – Joe Spleen

NOTES

Originally recorded in 1993.
Originally released by C/Z Records in 1993.
Remixed, remastered, and back in the hands of The Gits.
Tracks 11, 14-22 unreleased material or an alternate version.
Tracks 16-22 recorded live in PDX.
On the disc it says Enter: The Conquering Bully. This is a joke. 

Flac Size: 454 MB