English DJ/ producer Joyryde (aka John Ford) is all gassed-up and ready to hot-wheel it down to Australia this month for his one-of-a-kind stage production 'Calling All Rydrz' (C.A.R.).
Joyryde started his year in high gear, revving up the revellers at Insomniac's 'Countdown NYE' party in San Bernardino and absolutely slaughtering his set by all accounts.
Now he's got some serious miles to lay down to bring his acclaimed 'C.A.R.' stage production to selected venues Australia.
The show features a post-apocalyptic setting built around its centrepiece: a matte black Dodge Charger DJ booth from which Joyryde pumps out a setlist of garage, house, UK grime, psy-trance and hip hop.
Although his success with Joyryde has been relatively recent (he was named a Top 10 producer of 2016 by YourEDM), John Ford is a legacy of the DJ world.
His father is John Ford aka John Phantasm, renowned DJ/ producer and owner of Phantasm Records. Born in 1985, John started producing his own music in the studio at the age of 9 before entering the garrison of international touring DJs when he was 13.
Two years later he returned to the studio to produce under the moniker Eskimo and released his first album 'Can You Pick Me Up?' in 2003 when he just 17.
As Eskimo, he produced a further four studio albums: 'Take A Look Out There' (2004), 'Balloonatic Part One' (2005) followed by 'Part Two' (2006) and 'Cheap Thrills' (2010), all via Phantasm Records.
Since 2015, John has been working under the Joyryde alias to produce bass-heavy tracks that parallel a love for high-powered cars, telling Karlie Powell in a YourEDM interview from 22 May, 2017: “I loved the words,” he says.
“I’ve always associated music – bass music specifically – with cars.
“It’s just something you grow up with. Your friends – you’re in the car, you listen to records. You park the car, you open the back with the speakers and you listen to records there, in the parking lot or at the festival.
"I’ve always seen that correlation between cars and music. I don’t need to try to see it. When I started Joyryde, I just liked it for the name.
“I took this footage of a Ferrari driving around, drifting, doing donuts [sic], racing down tunnels and stuff, and I put it over this record.
"Before that, I saw it as something more street, something more urban. And, when I saw this Ferrari with the music I was like, 'f@#$ing hell, that’s something really nice!' That’s beautiful. That’s really fragile. It’s fragile and violent at the same time. And there’s something very attractive about that and it just clicked.”
Joyryde has been releasing singles consistently since 2015, beginning with 'Kickin' Off' in March 2015 and most recently 'New Breed' (ft Darnell Williams) back in May of last year.
So, if Joyryde was a real car what would he be? “Maybe a ’72 Pontiac Firebird,” he tells Karlie Powell.
“It’s small, it’s fast and it looks super menacing. I’ve always thought Joyryde, more than anything, it was a menace.
"That car has got it for me! It’s got the right look and it’s also a bit mean. I know exactly what colour – there’s a very amazing one: black and gold.”
Joyryde Tour Dates
Fri 19 Jan - HQ Complex (Adelaide, DJ set)Sat 20 Jan - Metro Theatre (Sydney, 'C.A.R.' show)
Thu 25 Jan - Howler (Melbourne, DJ set)
Sat 27 Jan - The Tivoli Theatre (Brisbane, 'C.A.R.' show)
Fri 2 Feb - Academy (Canberra, DJ set)
Sat 3 Feb - Hidden @ Belvoir Amphitheatre (Perth, 'C.A.R.' show)
