How riding his bike creates harmony for Joker and his music

Joker is a name synonymous with Bristol. A freewheeling custodian of the city’s fabled soundsystem heritage, his music has become the stuff of folklore over the years, its technicality and brute force agonised over and marvelled at in equal measure. Just how does he make dubstep sound like that.

Hyper-futuristic, laser-engineered and deeply visual, Joker’s beats feel like they deserve to be played by live orchestras in vast amphitheaters, such is their vivid detail and own brand of oddball, maximal grandeur. Now, almost 20 years into his career, their richness remains unvanquished — and none more so than the crunching ​‘Juggernaut / S Wave’, released back in March as his first new solo music in over six years.

Unbeknownst to most outside the city’s confines, however, Joker’s also pretty handy on two heels. Through riding a mixture of BMXs, road bikes and dirt bikes all over Bristol since he was young, Joker has kept his mind fresh and his body invigorated. ​“It just makes man happy”, he remarks during our recent conversation. 

Catching up via a 5G patchwork of voice notes, texts and grainy phone calls while on tour in the US, Joker lifts the lid on how his two big passions collide — in complete harmony. 

What was growing up in Bristol like? Was there a lot to do?

Ah, it was a lot of fun. I guess everywhere was quite different in the ​‘90s, early ​‘00s. It seemed like everyone was out on road exploring or doing something outdoors. By the time I was old enough to roll out on my ones all day and night, a bunch of us would go out on what we would call ​‘missions’ or ​‘mish’. About a quarter of the time, we’d be up to no good in a random field on some sort of motorbike or fucking around in town jumping over shit on push bikes, but often we’d try finding new areas by going a little bit further out than we had done the time before. So yeah, ​‘missions’.

What was your first bike like? How old were you when you got it?

Well my first bike had stabilisers but I don’t remember the specific type of bike or model. I do remember the first time I took the stabilisers off though. My mind was blown that something so skinny (the frame) would stay up by itself and not just fall down? My brain couldn’t understand it. I do remember the first decent bike I got. I asked my nan if she could buy me a Barracuda Subway frame. It was about £100 I think, which seemed like a billion pound as a kid. I was lucky she said yes. I had some old wheels and parts at home to get me started, and within no time, man was out on road with the gang.

Were any of your friends into bikes then?

Yeah, I think it’s a time and a place thing. It seemed like everyone rode a bike or skateboarded or had roller-skates. Like, before we all got phones and social media, what else were we gonna do? You had to leave the house to keep yourself entertained. Not everyone was crazy on their bikes, though. Not everyone could wheelie or jump, but it did seem like everyone had a set of wheels.

Where did you used to ride? Was there a local spot you’d meet people at?

I’d usually just potter around in the ends or I’d head over to St George Skate Park. We used to find these random jumps on the cycle path over there. It seemed like there were random patches of grass everywhere and people would just start digging away to find their own temporary jump spots. There was also a spot called Pencils that recently got destroyed, too. That had been there since I was a young kid. I remember one time in town [Bristol], me and my friends were told we couldn’t give backies [riding with someone standing on a bike’s rear stunt pegs and holding onto the rider] by a couple of policemen on push bikes. That was confusing. We carried on regardless and they couldn’t catch us, even though we all had someone on the back. I reckon backies should be legal, as long as it’s not in the middle of the road.

How did you get into the dirt jump / freestyle side of things? Was there a scene at the time?

I think it was maybe as simple as passing a dirt jump with my mates, glancing at each other while we watched other people jumping over them and thinking, ​‘yoooooo that’s sick!’. Anything I thought was sick, I wanted to try as a kid. Even if it was a bit naughty or I knew it’d get me into trouble.

Were any other DJs or musicians you knew in Bristol who shared the same passion for bikes?

Not properly, no, but I do remember once I was involved in music for a second, I did find out that some people were either into their bikes, or at least used to be. Addison Groove, or Headhunter as he was known back then, used to ride but he was more into freestyle tricks and rolling around on his BMX, jumping over the handlebars and that kind of thing. Other than that, I remember finding out that JME rides a BMX and thinking like ​‘yoooo, that’s mad’.

Once you started to take your music more seriously, how did you separate your time between being out on your bike and making beats?

I was riding for what felt like a while before I got into music properly, before things got really busy anyway. They actually complimented each other really well. I’d spend a lot of my day out and then come home and my brain would feel like I’d given it a workout. That feeling helped me smash out beats because I always felt good after a ride. It’s kind of impossible for it not to make you feel good, to be honest, unless you fall badly or whatever. Before I knew it though, I wasn’t out riding as much because instead I was sat on a chair glued to my computer, making beats all the time. Suddenly my back was hurting a little bit and oh what’s that, a belly? Wow, I’ve never seen that before. There was a big period of time where I ended up riding a motorbike instead and I lost a lot of fitness, but more recently I got myself a new road bike and I’ve been riding that a lot more.

Did the two share any parallels? Did one influence the other?

Yeah, they both influence each other. Riding my bike exercises my brain, so I feel good. I make music. Music makes man happy. Man rides bike again. Feel good. Then I make music like I’m going to the gym.

Just how good did you get on your bike? Was there ever a point where you thought about taking it more seriously?

When I was young and before I got into music, I thought I’d run with the idea of trying to take it seriously, but to be honest it was only a passing thought. Luckily, I fell in love with music. I’m definitely not an amateur on my bike, like I can do a few jumps, I feel comfortable enough to take one foot off when I’m flying through the air, I can do a little 180 rollback over some stuff, and if I’ve got a decent bike, I can wheelie for nearly forever with one hand. Something that’s helped give me perspective on stuff is down to the risks I take on my bike. Most of the stuff I like doing is really dangerous and can hurt a lot. I’ve wrecked myself a few times quite badly in the woods or on the streets and it’d also get me thinking like, ​‘wait a minute, music doesn’t hurt’. Like, am I going crazy enough on these beats? Shit, maybe I should jump off a building and then over 10 cars in a musical sense. If it’s not going to hurt, I should go as crazy as I can so that hopefully on my next move, I can fall from the moon and land my back wheel on Big Ben and do a 1440 degree spin back down to the ground. It’s good for me to remember things like that, I think.

How often do you still go out on your bike?

I just got myself a Amity Samsara dirt jump bike that I love, so I’ve been going out on that a lot and trying to manual everywhere. I’ve been trying to squeeze a flat 360 as well, to the point I’ve wrecked the back wheel already so I need to get that tightened up. If the weather’s good, I’ll ride to the gym and back with my brother, so that’s the warm up done.

Is Bristol still a good place to ride, meet people, share ideas?

I’d say so, yeah. We’ve also got this sick cycle path that goes all the way from Bristol to Bath. It looks like an animé flick in the summer. There’s some proper dirt jumps plotted out all over the gaff. Bristol’s still got a few decent skate parks, too.

Do you ever take your bike outside of Bristol? What’s the next move?

I don’t, but that’s only because I’ve not got around to it yet. I’ve not done much riding outside of Bristol at all, to be honest. I need to strap a few bikes onto my car and head out. Maybe I could drive down to the Eurotunnel and check out a few spots in Europe? That could be the next move, you know.

A version of this story appeared in Huck 81. Get your copy here.

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