Local Musician Reaches Milestone With Their First Big Gig

It was a surreal moment for local artist SJ Riley, performing her first large-audience show at the PTBOLive Summer Concert Series in the Peterborough Memorial Centre parking lot on Friday.

Sarah-Jayne Riley better known by her stage name SJ Riley, had her latest song “Mansion of Broken Hearts” filmed at a haunted house in Lakefield. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Riley opened the show for country music star Chad Brownlee with a six-song set — five originals and one cover song — including her signature-titled songs, “Whoever This Was Written To” and “Mansion of Broken Hearts.”

The singer/songwriter had only performed two shows prior to this performance, one at The Black Horse Pub (July 11) and The Garnet (July 17) earlier in the month.

"When you think about gigs like this, until you’re on stage doing it, how absolutely fun it is,” she said. “I had a blast.”

SJ Riley with her band, the “SJ Riley Band” performing on an overcast evening on the Enbridge Energy Stage. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Playing live was a breath of fresh air and a sign the world was giving a sense of normalcy according to Riley.

“I think it’s the first step to a time where people come together again,” she said. “There’s nothing like coming together with a group of people and sharing an experience.”

During the pandemic, SJ Riley was doing acting gigs and filming music videos at Treblecock Studios located in downtown Peterborough.

Several of her music videos were produced by the local studio to occupy her time until live concerts were allowed again due to the pandemic.

“Peterborough is fantastic,” said Riley. “The people of the city are amazing, the artists in this city here are amazing, there’s so much here so I’m just absolutely honoured to be a part of it.

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Local Recording Studio Looking to Break Out Past the Pandemic

The music industry has not been spared from the COVID-19 pandemic but David Joyce and Treblecock Studios are ready to make their mark on Peterborough as the province opens up.

Treblecock Studios is located at 159 King St. Suite 108 just off the corner of George Street in Dowtntown Peterborough. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Joyce opened the recording studio in downtown Peterborough on June 2019. He was inspired to stay in Peterborough after a second date at the downtown music venue The Garnet for a live show. He had a home studio in Ajax during the time.

“I’m a bit of an old-school guy. I grew up loving music in the ‘70s and 80’s and the music scene everywhere was enormous,” said Joyce. “When I discovered Peterborough, it was like a snapshot in time. Live music is everywhere and I was really gravitated towards that.”

He was shut down since the world went into quarantine in March last year and closed up again on Boxing Day.

During the first quarantine period, he met local musician SJ (Sarah-Jayne) Riley through a Facebook acting group. The film industry was able to operate during the pandemic according to Joyce and recruited her as an actress.

They would take part in filming short films found on the studio’s Youtube page until Joyce heard of Riley’s singing ability.

The duo have collaborated on a number of songs and videos since meeting each other as a result.

Several of Riley’s songs were produced by Joyce and Treblecock Studios such as “Mansion of Broken Hearts” and “Whoever This Was Written To.”

Riley is performing her first major live gig at the PTBOLive Summer Concert Series this Friday, opening up for country music star Chad Brownlee.

Riley has performed in Peterborough twice in local venues such as the Dark Horse Pub and The Garnet. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

When Treblecock opened back up last month, Joyce noticed a surge of musicians that wanted to record music to regain a sense of normalcy for Peterborough.

“When I was able to open again this June, it feels like everybody wants to get in here and record some music that they've been writing during the pandemic,” said Joyce.

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