Enter: The Conquering Chicken is the Gits‘ second full-length album, recorded in 1993 and released posthumously in March 17, 1994 on C/Z Records. Lead singer and songwriter Mia Zapata was raped and strangled to death in July 7, 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. The case goes unsolved for years until DNA evidence links the crime to Florida fisherman Jesus Mezquia in 2003, who eventually is sentenced to 36 years in prison.
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 band also arguably furthers their hardcore influences on songs like “Sign of the Crab” “Spear & Magic Helmet” and “Drunks.”
The record was reissued in 2003, with bonus tracks and different cover art, on the Broken Rekids label. The closing song “Sign of the Crab” was written by Zapata, imagining her murder at the hands of a stranger; she was murdered about two months after the song was recorded.
Tracklist:
- Bob (Cousin O.)
- Guilt Within Your Head
- Seaweed
- A Change Is Gonna Come
- Precious Blood
- Beauty of the Rose
- Drunks
- Italian Song
- Social Love I
- Social Love II
- Spear & Magic Helmet
- Drinking Song
- Sign of the Crab
The Gits
Mia Zapata: singer
Andy Kessler: (aka Joe Spleen) guitarist
Matt Dresdner: bassist
Steve Moriarty: drummer
Mia Katherine Zapata (August 25, 1965 – July 7, 1993)
