Millennials will know Rivkah Reyes as bassist Katie from generation-defining Jack Black classic School of Rock. Fast-forward two decades, and Reyes is now looking back on those heady days, from landing the audition to being thrust into the limelight.
“Bass didn’t even happen until School of Rock,” Reyes tells Guitar World. “I had never picked up a bass in my life until I was cast. They auditioned me originally for the guitarist role, but they kind of fell in love with Joey [Gaydos Jr.], who ended up playing Zack Mooneyham.
“They wanted to find something for me to do. So they asked if I would be comfortable playing bass. I was super-precocious when I was 10 – I was just like, ‘Well, yeah, it’s only four strings. I’m sure I’ll nail it.’”
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It was also Reyes’ first time playing in a band. “I was just like, ‘My heart’s on fire. I want to do this for the rest of my life,’” she says.
Reyes got plenty of practice – the cast filmed the movie’s climactic battle of the bands performance many times over. She describes the experience as nothing short of “insane.”
“We were playing in front of a huge audience in a huge theater. We were just ready to put on a good show for these background actors that were in the audience,” she says.
“With every take, I was finding new things, finding people in the audience to connect to, and, you know, flipping my hair around. It really was such a formative life experience for me.”
School of Rock became a worldwide hit, grossing $131.3 million. However, the pressure to live up to the cultural phenomenon and the movie’s success soon led to resentment.
“There was a lot of time between School of Rock and me starting to gain traction again as an actor and as a musician,” she admits.
“I’m still kind of in this place where I’ll look at the numbers on my streaming or on TikTok or whatever, and be like, ‘Is School of Rock gonna always be just the thing that I’m known for?’
“But even if it is, like, who cares? School of Rock inspired millions of people to stick it to the man, to pick up an instrument. Every time I see a girl playing bass, I’m like, ‘Did I have a little something to do with that?’”
You can watch Guitar World‘s full interview with Reyes on YouTube.
