Album Notes

This album was created with the help of producer, Jack Endino and I believe that it serves as an excellent retrospective of The Gits' short lived and hard fought career. It is also a testament to Mia Zapata's innate talent as a punk singer and her genuine passion and strength as a woman. The idea of putting together the album took shape while I spent four months in bed recovering from a shattered lower leg. I lied around listening to dozens of old board tapes of The Gits. Some of the tapes were from the last U.S. tour we did during the summer of 1993. There were several songs we played on that tour which we never had a chance to record...or so I thought. While in Los Angeles we discussed a contract for recording our third album for Atlantic. Our plan was to do a west coast tour, go home, finish our second album, and then leave on a full U.S. "Rock for Choice" tour. After that we had plans to tour Europe for a second time. Back in Seattle while recording our second album, "Enter...The Conquering Chicken", our friend and singer, Mia Zapata was murdered. She was scheduled to finish her vocal tracks the following morning but never arrived at the studio. We were all anxious to finish the album and get back on the road. But it all ended the night Mia was abducted raped and strangled to death. We spent tens of thousands of dollars and a multitude of sleepless nights trying to figure out who did it. Not surprisingly the Seattle Police proved to be of no help at all. In early 1994 we released, "Enter... the Conquering Chicken." We used the completed vocal tracks to mix a solid 14 song record. The reviews were excellent but the tone of the the press was obviously blue, and did not focus much on the music. Earlier in 1993 we had played a live show at RCKNDY in Seattle for the filming of the Seattle music scene documentary, HYPE! We had signed a royalty waver the night of the show in exchange for a copy of our music recorded live to 24 tracks. I'd forgotten this important detail. While in the studio listening to the live tapes from HYPE! I decided to listen to the master tapes of some earlier recording sessions for posterity. There were three tracks that Mia had, in fact, sang on. They had been recorded but never mixed or released. I cried when I listened to her sing on songs that I thought were lost forever. These are "Whirlwind" and "It Doesn't Matter". Also included on those tapes was a haunting intrumental called "Daily Bread". The other songs on "Seafish Louisville" are remixes of our first E.P. (only 800 pressed.) They are superior versions to the ones we would later re-record. All the material was mixed at the same time by The Gits and Endino. I recieve e-mails every day from kids just discovering The Gits. They're wondering what we have out or they are doing school papers on The Gits or on Mia. It's pretty cool. Most recently, Experience Music Project museum has prepared a Gits exhibit. One of our songs, "Another Shot of Whiskey" appears on their compilation CD. Thank you for listening, Steve Moriarty and THE GITS.