When ARXX first received a DM from an unknown account about an “exciting opportunity,” their immediate instinct was to hit ignore. “We assumed it was spam,” said Clara Townsend, drummer and one-half of the queer pop Brighton-based duo, completed by multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Hanni Pidduck.
Luckily, after a standard three-to-five working days, they gave it a second glance. That overlooked message turned out to be the first step in a journey that led them to write the soundtrack for Riot Women, the upcoming drama from multi-BAFTA-winning writer, producer, and director Sally Wainwright.
After delivering a demo that impressed, the pair were officially brought on board to score the BBC series. Riot Women follows five women who form a punk-rock band for a local talent contest, only to discover that in writing their first song, they have far more to express than they ever imagined.
With themes of friendship, fierceness, humanity, the power of music, and a refusal to be silenced running through its six episodes, the series carries a spirit that mirrors ARXX’s own work, whose songs have long confronted and celebrated gender, queerness, identity, rage, joy, euphoria, heartbreak, and the messy work of moving through life.
It’s been a packed couple of years for the band, releasing their second album, taking it on the road, and touring with Fletcher and MUNA. This run of successes led to lots of questions about what’s coming next, and this project made it tricky to answer. “The hardest part was keeping this a secret. We couldn’t tell anyone for nine months” Clara said.
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Even for a band so used to channelling bold emotion, the scale of the project brought a new kind of pressure. “We definitely knew it was a big deal,” Clara admitted. “We had already watched Happy Valley, and we signed on around the time of the BAFTAs when Sally was winning loads of awards, so it felt extra huge.”
ARXX’s sound has shifted more towards pop in recent years, but this commission pulled them back to their roots. “Although our sound is a bit more pop now, we did start as a punk band,” Hanni explained.
“They wanted it to feel like a punk band that had just started, so it needed to be authentic. Luckily for us it felt like going back to level one of Mario Kart after playing all of the other levels.”
The process was hands-on from the start, with Wainwright heavily involved. “Sally would explain what the scene was and what the character was feeling,” Hanni said. “It was really collaborative, and then we could take that back to the studio and run with it.”
Clara added that the writer even threw herself into the world of the band, learning drums and visiting their sessions at their local rehearsal space, Brighton Electric, to gain as much understanding as possible.
ARXX also attended table reads with the cast, who then had to go away and learn the songs themselves. Writing for characters rather than themselves brought a whole new set of challenges “in a fun way”, as Hanni put it.
“For however long, we’ve only been writing for two musicians, and suddenly we had to think about a five-piece band. It was the first time I’d had to consider what a keyboardist might play, or what the extra parts would sound like.”
It wasn’t just the instrumentation that shifted their process, but also the perspective. Hanni found a new kind of freedom in writing lyrics for other people to sing. “Normally, I put so much pressure on myself to get my own feelings across exactly. Writing from someone else’s perspective felt freeing because I could just focus on the story rather than myself.”
That lack of self-consciousness, they admit, has opened up a new way into their own creativity. “I didn’t have that judgmental voice in my head the entire time because I had a brief. It gave me a different way to access creativity, and I’ll definitely take that with me.”
After producing a set of full-length tracks for the show, not every lyric will make it into the final cut, but the band have their favourites. “There are some lyrics about Sparks cards that I’d love to make it in,” Hanni laughed. Clara added another hopeful pick, keeping her fingers crossed that a Countdown reference makes it in.
With the series yet to air, there’s also the question of whether ARXX might one day fold these songs into their live set. “There are definitely a couple of bangers, so maybe,” Hanni said. Though the pair are quick to clarify that the band’s third album won’t suddenly pivot back to punk.
Riot Women will premiere in October 2025 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK, with the exact date to be announced.
Nonchalant x
Molly is a full-time journalist based in London covering legal and business, alongside culture, music, arts, and tech.
