Jenny Vegas (guitar/vocals), Claire Blake (bass), Dawn Mandarino (guitar), and Michelle Lemoignan (drums) formed the Canadian power punk outfit Tuuli in 1997, with the ambition to assimilate Nuggets-styled garage punk (the Chocolate Watchband, the Kingsmen) and Detroit rock (the Stooges) with more slanted, hook-laden indie in the vein of Blondie or the Manic Street Preachers. Retaining a base in Toronto, Tuuli worked a series of Canadian music festivals and began a handful of infrequent tours to the United States, opening for the likes of Kittie and Cheap Trick, and peppering the visits with sporadic spots on a few national television shows. Their reverence for their heroes could be heard early, on EPs like the limited self-released Hotrods & Honeysuckle and the more widely available Rockstar Potential disc, offering an alternative to the Ramones idolatry of similar girl groups like the Donnas.