I choke on the beer trained to my lips, as the semi-sloshed, perdominantly male crowd goes up in a roar of approval. Ha!. I wipe the beer from the front of my shirt, looked around, and wondered. Am I standing in a crowd of A-grade studs? Or are Nitocris laughing as the likely lads in front of me elbow each other in their own knowingly bonded way?

A few months later the Nitocris EP lands in my lap. It's suggested that I have a chat to them. Choking in my coffe I think of 1000 blokes being made fun of. I think about what could happen to one lame journo asking stupid questions. Not bothering to wipe the coffee from my shirt, I think about the worst; the ridicule, the humiliation.

"It's about guys that think ther're really cool, because you know, it's a real pain in the arse when you just don't get anywhere," Morgana quips.

"And it's about fuckwits that think they're something that the're not. They're just egotistical wankers..."

"Yeah. Wankers who are noting but little boys," Kira the guitarist blurts as she stares me further down into my seat. "Little boys who don't know what's going on."

Uh huh. Uh huh. My head bobs on it's ever slackening pivot as Morgana qualifies.

"There's nothing wrong with little boys. It's just about men who think they're hot, but when you get them home they're just boring y'know."

Oh Bondage! Up yours! I've walked into a snake pit of free-wheeling, anarchic attitude, coming at me like a three-headed viper full to the gills with Punk rock venom. Before I even get started, the tall poppies are taking a fall, laid asunder by the scythe of youth that Nitocris wields.

Tales of chauvinist pigs, stolen beer riders and icons of rock'n'roll who'd blish if only they were present to hear how they shape up.

Nitocris have been doing their thing around Sydney for the last two years now securing themselves a profile with big name supports and a penchant for saying what's on their mind.

"It started in school, we got kicked out of music, and we were really pissed-off with the music scene because there weren't any girls in it. We wanted to see a good female rock act, and there wasn't one." Andrea the drummer recalls with pride.

At a thousand miles per hour they tell me about early jams and their Slayer covers, inspiration from Metallica, The Gunners, Patto Smith and practice amps blown up at parties.

"We didn't know what we were writing, it just came together," Andrea continues, "It wasn't like we knew what we were doing, we're not trained musicians, we've all just done it by experience and learing from our mistakes."

The culmination of this experience being their debut EP on the newly rejuvinated Phantom label that goes under the name Ten Stories Down. It's a poppin' rock/metal alloy of four songs, all with the same underlying brashness about them.

"On the surface a lot of our lyrics look like they are shallow, but those four songs on the EP, they cover some full on topics." Kira explains with an eye to making sure there's no missapprehension's about their motivations.

"The song Ten Stories Down basically deals with the average working class family," Morgana says. "The problems that they go through, and the way that the natural course of medicine hsa been subverted to the point where the whole world is hooked on pills. Then there's Hell Bitch which is about rape and another one just about getting seedy and trng to get it together the next day."

"Yeah but, on the outside it just looks like a song that's about getting pissed." Kira continues. "You've got to look at the reasons that make you want to go out and get pissed. The real evils and poisons of society."

So if we're assuming that rock is the last domain for male dominated myths, do you al find that you get much more reaction to your lyrics because ther're challenging rather than affirming to guys?

"I think that it makes anyone, whether they're guys or girls, listen up because it's from a different perspective. One that they're not used to. Everyone knows they've got different perspective's and that's what we want to come through in the music," says Kira

"There's some really sexist responses though," Morgana complains. "Like when you play some places and you get like, 'get back to the kitchen!' and all that."

So you still get a bit of heckling?

"Fuck yeah," Andrea exclaims. "We've just learned to ignore it or give it back to them, we've become experts at giving shit back to people. But that's all part of it you know."

"They're all just so unorigonal too you know." Morgana continues.

"Show us yer tits!" they scream in unison.

"Show us yours, you fuck heads!" they all cry in response.

It's time to beat a hasty retreat with my pride still intact.