Once it was established that I would be a good point of reference for Celine Dion, Tim and I casually took a deep dive into pop culture in the 90s, and 00s, researching all the tropes and rock and roll cliches. There was a lot of listening to stuff: listening to the music of that era and also refining Tim’s early song sketches. We really found the story in the music.
Ironically at the same time I was writing for R&R I was invited to join a writer’s room for a very different project. My homework for that project had me watching a bunch of 90’s music-adjacent canonical films, including Empire Records, Britney vs. Spears, and Josie and the Pussycats. Throughout the first half of 2022, I was fully immersed in 90’s culture. I was a teenager in the 90’s and by the time I was moving away for uni in 1998, I was already in deep in the music scene. I was playing in bands, writing music reviews for Vice, hosted a Canadian indie rock college radio show, and was a DJ at the Biftek, an iconic Montreal bar where all the rock and rollers hung out.
The ’90s were weird! Everything was physical media (cassettes, CDs, vinyl) and music was consumed in a completely different way than it is today. We discovered new bands by reading magazines, watching TV and listening to the radio. It seems quaint by today’s standards — but these limited means of sharing music also meant there was limited real estate for new acts to break through. The idea of “indie rock” was just emerging — and I think we captured this moment with Riley’s entry into music. Recording cassettes on his 4-track, being discovered by smaller labels and the DIY ethic all play into his story. And for Rochelle we played into the trope of being “discovered”-- a path that isn’t always as clear as some think it might be.
I am still waiting for the green light to make Riley & Rochelle branded scrunchies. That would be the ultimate swag.