Members included singer Mia Zapata, guitarist Joe Spleen (born Andy Kessler), bassist Matt Dresdner and drummers Steve Moriarty, Bruce Ducheneaux and Bob Lee.

[5] In 1988 they recorded and self-released their "unofficial" debut album entitled Private Lubs with the help of friend Ben London (later of Alcohol Funnycar and solo).

[6][7] After relocating to Seattle, Washington in 1989, the band set up shop at "the Rathouse", an abandoned house in the Capitol Hill district where they rehearsed and lived.

During the early 1990s, buzz began surrounding the band, which caused some media outlets to erroneously lump them in with the then-burgeoning Seattle grunge music scene, and Zapata's persona led many[who?]

[3] 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.

An original entry in 2001 failed to generate a positive result, but Mezquia's DNA entered the national data bank after he was arrested for burglary in Florida in 2002.

On March 25, 2004, a jury convicted Mezquia of Zapata's murder and he was later sentenced to 36 years in prison, the maximum allowed in the case under Washington state law.

[10] In the aftermath of Zapata's murder, friends created a non-profit self-defense group called Home Alive, which organized benefit concerts and CDs with the participation of several bands, including Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Heart, and the Presidents of the United States of America.

Punk rock band 7 Year Bitch, who were good friends and briefly label mates of The Gits, named their 1994 album ¡Viva Zapata!

The final cut of the film was released theatrically in over 20 North American cities on July 7, 2008, the 15th memorial anniversary of Zapata's death.

Compared to many of their contemporaries, the Gits were instrumentally brilliant, playing fast, tight, classic punk rock which took a radical left turn when Zapata added her voice to the mix".

[15] Following the posthumous completion of Enter: The Conquering Chicken, Spleen formed a hardcore punk band called the Dancing French Liberals of '48, and later toured briefly with Poison Idea.

[3][16] Dancing French Liberals of '48 featured all of the remaining Gits as well as longtime friend and guitarist Julian Gibson (ex-DC Beggars).