(SOUNDBITE OF ALICE IN CHAINS SONG, "MAN IN THE BOX")
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
At the beginning of the 1990s, the nation's ears turned towards Seattle. Alice In Chains and Soundgarden introduced a menacing new sound. And then came the song that changed everything.
(SOUNDBITE OF NIRVANA SONG, "SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT")
MARTÍNEZ: Nirvana bumped Michael Jackson from the No. 1 spot on the album charts. And suddenly, there was a feeding frenzy to find the next big thing. A new book recounts that time from a unique vantage point.
STEVE MORIARTY: A&R scouts from all the major record labels now descended on Seattle like Avon ladies, selling their label to that week's next big band that sounded somewhat like Pearl Jam or had the right look. That was not The Gits.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE GITS SONG, "ABSYNTHE")
MARTÍNEZ: The Gits were a punk band not quite in tune with grunge. Steve Moriarty was their drummer. The Gits never got a chance to enjoy that national recognition. Their lead singer, Mia Zapata, was raped and murdered in 1993. The crime went unsolved for 10 years. Most of what's written about The Gits today involves the death of their front woman. Steve Moriarty's new book is about life. It's called "Mia Zapata And The Gits." And just to note - this interview includes a mention of suicide.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ABSYNTHE")
THE GITS: (Singing) There are these people that use you for their own need, for deception.
MORIARTY: I mean, one of the reasons that I wrote the book was to honor her legacy but also to point out what a unique and creative and innovative musician she was - writer and painter, as well. She was sort of good at anything she tried, really, except for spelling. She was a terrible speller. But she was an amazing musician. And her phrasing and stuff is, like, kind of beyond what you would think of as a rock musician or a punk musician might bring to the table. She had a jazz sensibility about it. And she could improvise like that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IT ALL DIES ANYWAY")
THE GITS: (Singing) Yeah, once - once is real easy. But twice came back, and it got a little rough. And there I stand in the middle, and I'm by myself like before.
MORIARTY: She would make eye contact, for example, with someone in the back of the room and sort of sing a song to that person directly. Or perhaps, like, half of the people in the club would think that she was singing to them directly because her lyrics were rather universal. And the way she would communicate was - wasn't as if she were a rock star high on a stage, you know? Like, she was just human. She was just herself. And she - when the song was intense, she'd be down on her knees, and she'd be singing her heart out.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Now, you met Mia when you were both attending Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. How did the band wind up relocating to Seattle?
MORIARTY: I think literally a dart was thrown at a dartboard with the map on it. A couple of us had been there to visit and said, oh, they have nice mountains, and there's a good bus system 'cause when we get there, we're going to be broke and taking the bus. And we wanted to get as far away from Ohio as we could possibly get, no offense to Ohio.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, OK, The Gits arrived in Seattle in 1989. Now, this was before the scene drew big-time national attention. A lot of those bands were somewhere in between punk and metal. So how did The Gits fit in?
MORIARTY: We didn't fit in very well to be honest. There were so few women in bands at that point. Mia sort of set the stage for that. People noticed that she was up there doing it, and they thought, boy, I could do that, too, you know?
MARTÍNEZ: You write that - I mean, that Mia really stood out for a lot of people, that it made The Gits an empowering anomaly to fans and female musicians. Mia inspired outsiders wherever we played. Was there ever a time where that really came to life - that Mia was an inspiration to people - when you played?
MORIARTY: After she died, we had been putting together a documentary film. We had screened a short version. And a guy stood up in his 30s and said, I want to thank you because listening to The Gits music kept me from killing myself when I was very depressed. And he put on the song. And the lyrics, he said, made him change his mind about ending his life. And many people have said that to me specifically - that listening to the music had somehow saved their lives. And I think that for - in some cases, it was metaphorical. But I think for some people, that was absolutely true.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SECOND SKIN")
THE GITS: (Singing) Though, no one ever said it'd be easy, still one left to deny - the choice that comes between your willingness to survive. Though you know what you stand up against, a world set to deceive, you need a special strength. Yeah, I've got that second skin. Yeah, I've got that chance to give. I've got the only way that I know how to live with it. Well, I need a second skin, something to hold me tough. I need a second skin, something I cannot break out of.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, Mia Zapata was murdered July 7, 1993. You avoid that subject in the book, Steve. It's actually kind of conspicuous in its absence. Why didn't you include that part of the story in your book?
MORIARTY: Much of what's written about The Gits leads with that fact. We were forced to do television shows to try to find out who had killed her - shows like "Unsolved Mysteries" and various sort of true crime reality shows. And it became really a drag after a while and also to have to discuss it again and relive it and ask people to appear and talk about it and talk about the aftermath. And it just became all that people seemed concerned with. And so I made a very conspicuous effort to not mention that in the book because I thought it had already been discussed. I didn't feel like that was relevant or appropriate anymore.
MARTÍNEZ: How long do you think The Gits would have lasted if Mia hadn't been murdered?
MORIARTY: I felt like we were just starting out. Even though we'd be a band seven or eight years at that point, we hadn't had the - close to the major successes that a lot of our peers had made. I think we were probably next in line. For example, it wasn't for years until I knew that certain record companies had - and producers had been interested in us - that there was such a big buzz and hype about the band sort of beneath the surface. I found that out later. We were just - you know, probably she likely died hours prior to us receiving this contract from Atlantic Records that posthumously the A&R representative told us. And I think that we'd still be a band today had we all survived.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRECIOUS BLOOD")
THE GITS: (Singing) There are these things that I want the most, but they're usually one step furthest from my reach.
MARTÍNEZ: Steve Moriarty played drums for The Gits. His new book is called "Mia Zapata And The Gits: A Story Of Art, Rock, And Revolution." Steve, thank you very much for these memories.
MORIARTY: Thank you very much for having me.
MARTÍNEZ: If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRECIOUS BLOOD")
THE GITS: (Singing) Yeah. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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