Capital Current introduces people who have had an impact on the city.
Who is he?
Brock Tinsley is the guitar-playing half of the Ottawa nerd rock band Double Experience. The duo has toured its video game-inspired music internationally since 2014, sharing experiences with aspiring artists.
What’s his background?
Tinsley says Double Experience was born out of several years of performing with Ian Nichols in Ottawa. The two found their niche after arriving late to a meeting with a manager because they’d been busy playing a new release of a video game.
For Tinsley, embracing the shared passion for gaming and pop culture felt like a more authentic way for the band to connect with audiences.
“We realized those were our authentic formative experiences [in our] late teens, early 20s,” said Tinsley. “We would stay in and have LAN parties,” which are a bring-your-own-computer multiplayer gaming get together, popularized before the era of high-speed internet.
The band has since found a community of rock-loving nerds, and regularly shares its songwriting process through livestreams on Twitch, a practice the duo started during the pandemic.
What is he known for in Ottawa?
Since Double Experience’s formation, Tinsley has been mentoring others to pursue their creative interests at comic conventions, schools and festivals.
He says the band’s panels and workshops are for aspiring artists who “have had that conversation where someone close to them told them ‘that’s not a real job.’ “
In September, the duo led a free business planning workshop as part of the city of Ottawa’s ArtWorks mentorship program. They encouraged creatives to find their own niche, with business plans inspired by the tabletop game “Dungeons and Dragons.”
“There is something to be said for betting on yourself,” Tinsley said. “To trust in whatever it is you want to do in this world, if it’s even half as weird as being a nerd rock band.”
Double Experience recently recorded a live acoustic version of its musical catalogue from inside the Diefenbunker in Carp, using Cold War period recording methods.
“Everything that’s made our band successful has been answering the question ‘What is the most strange thing we could possibly think of?’ ” said Tinsley.
What do people say about him?
Double Experience’s most recent record, Undefeated, won Album of the Year at the 2025 Capital Music Awards. Much of the album’s writing and recording process was livestreamed on Twitch, letting users give suggestions.
“My initial impression of them was way off-base, as I was expecting an over-the-top, campy band that wore its nerdiness on its sleeve,” Montreal Rocks wrote about Double Experience in a 2024 concert review. “What we got was an absolute class act that took influence from rock throughout the decades.”
What’s something people don’t know about him?
“I don’t know how many musicians can say they opened for the actors who played the hobbits,” said Tinsley. He met the stars of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy when Double Experience performed at Ottawa’s Comiccon in 2024.
