Tonight, we ventured North to Bristol to catch the mighty Mr Jukes at Thekla, Bristol’s premier floating venue (okay, ONLY floating venue). The show was #4 of 5 November outings which culminates in London with a show at SCALA on 30th November.

If you’re unsure who Mr Jukes is, allow me to explain….

During a period of prolonged inactivity, Jack Steadman (Bombay Bicycle Club) scratched an itch to do something new. He went by the moniker of Mr Jukes and released an album, God First, in 2017. I say ‘by himself’ but it was very much an open-door policy, resulting in a collaborative record that brought contributions by legends such as Charles Bradley, De La Soul, Horace Andy, Lianne La Havas, BJ The Chicago Kid and Lalah Hathaway. The project also features a contribution from Barney Artist, who Jack had quite simply stumbled upon on a Spotify playlist and never forgotten.

Barney’s music takes the vibrance of jazz infused hip hop but with a London feel. Growing up in Forest Gate, East London, Barney touches on conscious themes by way of lively, dynamic delivery to create something instantly likeable, like the artist. He’s a larger than life presence, fun to be around and a searing, peerless talent too. A collaborator by nature, Barney grew up around Tiana Major9 and Jay Prince and has made music with Tom Misch, Alfa Mist and Jordan Rakei.

Barney’s contribution to God First, “From Golden Stars Comes Silver Dew” (also featuring Lalah Hathaway) proved to be a standout. Bonded by a mutual love of the ever-changing landscape of modern hip-hop, the two artists instantly fell into step with one another. There was no clear plan or brief to fulfil for a full-length Jukes X Barney project, but both artists instinctively knew that it would be a waste not to explore the potential they’d uncovered. They were right, clearly.

The Locket was released in August 2021 and features collaborations with Lex Amor and Kofi Stone and whilst the dynamics are a little different to the multi-artist approach to God First, the output is very much in the same camp.

There you go, a short piece on how Mr Jukes came to be and who has been involved in the project thus far.

This was the first time that we had attended a gig at Thekla, I had heard about it many times from friends and photographers and they all said what a great venue it was. Arriving just after 7pm, we were surprised to see it was quite busy, having been a long time since I stepped foot on a boat, it took a little navigating to understand where we were, upper deck, lower deck, bar, balcony, we got there in the end.

Opening up proceedings this evening was North London based Manik MC who ignited the room with his flawless rhymes, having already collaborated with the likes of Maverick Sabre (for his track Alchemy), this young man’s future is looking very rosy indeed. He spoke of being a carer for his mother and the stresses and strains this put upon his shoulders, especially during his teenage years. His set culminated in a floor shaking number called ‘365’ which took things up a notch or two on the ‘craziness’ scale and left the room wanting more.

After a little stage arranging, DJ Chux (aka ‘Sexy Ja Rule’) took to the decks to play a few hip hop and dance classics which got the room engaged again ahead of the main act.

Mr Jukes (Jack Steadman) and Barney Artist took to the stage to rapturous applause and kicked into their set with gusto, the place was already rockin’ and they had only just begun!

After the opening track, Barney Artist thanked the crowd for their generous response to the track and got a little ‘totes emosh’ stating “I can’t cry, I’m a rapper’ and made some small talk whilst he composed himself. This included refering to Jack as a “sexy, sexy beast” which invoked a huge smile on his face and a cheer from the room.

Barney wanted to let the room know that during these very trying times, there have been many people who have been taken from us and they could not be here tonight to celebrate with the rest of us, he dedicated ‘Leaving Us in the Light’ to all of those absent souls and after the song had ended, spent a good few seconds hugging Jack prior to thanking the audience, claiming “That one got me”…..

The set comprised of a mixture of tracks from the Mr Jukes debut album God First as well as The Locket which landed in August this year, ‘Grant Green’ and ‘Angels’ being two offerings from the debut that had the room grooving along to the super-soulful sound that emanated from the speakers.

Being a bit more of a Hip Hop infused night of music, DJ Chux took the room on a tour of some classics including Kanye’s (Ye’s?) ‘Touch The Sky’ which went down well as well as some other classics that sounded super smooth with Jack’s live bass playing.

‘Vibrate’ and ‘Check the Pulse’, both offerings from The Locket came later on in the set but sounded immense, with the live scratching courtesy of DJ Chux and the flamboyant stage presence of Barney Artist, we were never gonna be in for a quiet Sunday night in Bristol were we?

I had visions of the show comprising of multiple musicians on stage, all doing their bit, a few special guests and other surprises but what we got was a reflection of the makings of the sophomore album with more of a Hip Hop twist thrown in to keep things fresh and vibrant on a Sunday evening, different album, different beast I guess.

The chemistry between Jack and Barney was clear to see throughout the show and come the end, they took one final bow and exited stage right to wallow in the admiration and praise that the capacity crowd at Bristol’s Thekla had to offer, well done to all involved, very well done indeed.

Words and Pictures by Steve Muscutt