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'We Didn't See Ourselves As Different': Kirra Brown + Tiana Speter Dive Into The Legendary Past + Present Of Nitocris
In the early 1990s, Australian rock and roll would change forever when four girls in a Sydney high school collided over a love of music (and potentially talking too much in class).
Taking airwaves and stages by storm after they formed in 1993, the all-gal juggernaut known as Nitocris were breaking barriers and taking names before they were old enough to legally be in the venues they were playing.
In the space of just under eight years, Nitocris ticked off 1,500+ shows, shared stages with Deep Purple, The Cult, Rancid, Midnight Oil and Pennywise (amongst MANY others), released two full-length albums and several EPs, including their final release, 2001's ARIA Award-nominated Manic, ticked off multiple appearances at the Big Day Out and cultivated a reputation as one of the most formidable live acts in the country.
Renowned for leading the charge for Australia's "Grot Grrrls", an underground music movement adjacent to the US Riot Grrrl counterpart, Nitocris were a rare breed from day one: a band comprised of only female members who liked to skate, found mainstream attention and could hold their own filling a mosh pit as ferociously (if not more so) than their male peers. And rather than pander to expectations of the time, their drive and staying power was as refreshing as their searing and thought-provoking creations.
"We didn't even realise that there was a boys club. We didn't even realise that there was this glass ceiling, we didn't even realise that people were judging us because we were girls...we weren't trying to prove anything. We just did it because we loved it." - Kirra Brown, guitarist & co-founding member (watch full interview here)
As they say, all good things must come to an end, and in 2001 Nitocris amicably chose to call it a day, bringing their blistering run to a halt that had started in a high school less than a decade prior. A one-off reunion show in 2009 at Sydney's Annandale Hotel gave fans a tantalising glimpse at that trademark Nitocris might, if only for a moment.
Fast forward 17 years later though, and not only did the band fire up their Instagram account earlier this year; they also announced two special 25 anniversary reunion shows, with the Marrickville tickets instantly flying out the door and prompting a second show locked down this month at Sydney's Crowbar.
Ahead of the first reunion show this weekend, Tiana Speter grabbed a moment with guitarist and co-founding Nitocris member Kirra Brown (who some may remember as Kira Taylor) to dive back in time through the Nitocris journey: how a group of high school friends found one another and made history in the process.
Watch the full interview below!
PS Sydney folks, if you slept on Marrickville tix for this weekend, the 2nd show at Sydney's Crowbar on Saturday 17 October still has some limited tickets remaining here.
BY TIANA SPETER
