Kittie have something in common with Mary Bell

Neither, it seems, can live down what they did when they were children.

Kittie, you'll recall, were pegged as a bit of a novelty when they first exploded, all eyeshadow and shouting. Too young to be a proper band. And they've grown since - not to the extent that they've embraced being demure and started to play covers of Judd songs, but... well, they're not 14. But people won't notice:

think slowly, but surely people are starting to understand and appreciate the fact that we are not going to give up. We continue to get better and it's just a matter of time before people see the validity and merit in what we are doing. Obviously, we have our fans. We have fans that have enjoyed the band for ten plus years. And we have a rapid following when it comes to our diehard true fans. But I think, we still have yet to crack that idea, that bias that a lot of people have about the band. With every new CD, the old KITTIE that people remember and slag on, kind of fades away because we are not that band anymore. We shouldn't be judged now on what we did when we were fourteen.

It must be frustrating - in the time they've been pegged at fourteen in the popular imagination, Melisa Joan Hart, Lindsay Lohan and Miley Cyrus have all been allowed to grow up. Perhaps it's time to let Kittie at least nudge forward to their sweet sixteen?