Joey Riot

Joey Riot is a UK hardcore DJ, MC and producer from the United Kingdom. He starts out in music as a teenager, learning guitar and piano with help from his father and developing those skills at school. He also takes an early interest in rave culture, first encountering acid house while still in primary school, then becoming more involved through high school and his friendship group.

Early DJ and MC work

At 15, Joey Riot and Darren Grant, with help from Darren’s older brother Robert, begin promoting and performing at under-18 events in Moodiesburn near Glasgow, held at a local community centre. The night first uses the name The Technozone and later becomes TLM, short for The Lethal Mix, the name used for their DJ and MC partnership. Joey begins as an MC while Darren DJs, and the events prove successful from the start.

Through the mid to late 1990s, he focuses mainly on MC work, although he also DJs as a hobby. After the local events, he and Darren move to a nightclub at Cumbernauld Airport to run another under-18 night as resident MC and DJ. There he is invited to MC for Tiny Tunez Records live PA showcases and performs at numerous venues across the UK.

Joey later appears at The Core at the Calton Studios in Edinburgh with the PA, begins attending regularly, and eventually gets a chance on the mic there. His first set at the club is MCing for Bass Generator, and he remains resident MC there for the rest of the night’s run. When The Core team works with North, the Stoke promoters behind another series of nights, to launch events at Visions in Rosyth, Joey is also asked to serve as resident MC there. During this period he MCs for DJs including Lenny Dee, Bass Generator, Manu Le Malin, Radium, Sharkey, Kevin Energy, Scott Brown, Marc Smith, Scorpio, The Producer, Vortex and Mark EG.

Move into production

Towards the end of the 1990s and into the new millennium, Joey Riot becomes disillusioned with the hardcore scene and turns to techno and trance, styles that do not usually use MCs. This leads him to focus more seriously on DJing and to develop his skills on the decks. He also completes an HND in music technology at college.

By 2002 he is mainly playing trance and techno and experimenting with production at home. After meeting Thian Brodie at a gig at The Arches in Glasgow, he is booked by Brodie to MC at the Leeds hardcore event Unity. There he hears a new wave of hardcore being played in the south of England, and the sound, along with the energy of the crowds, leads him to pursue hardcore production.

He moves to England in 2003 to work more closely within the scene and concentrates on production in his studio. After about two years producing the newer hardcore style, he earns his first release on Hardcore Collections, part of the Nu Energy Collective. His debut track is Wide Awake.

Releases and performances

Joey Riot goes on to release music on labels including HCC, Relentless, Quosh, Maximum Impact, Next Generation, FBI and Redemption, as well as on his and Kurt’s label Lethal Theory. He also appears on compilations and albums such as Hardcore Heaven volumes 1, 2 and 3, Hardcore Nation 2, 100% Hardcore and Hardcore Reunited. Some of his tracks also receive airplay on Radio 1.

As his release schedule grows, he performs at venues and events across the UK including Vibealite, HTID, Uproar, Rezerection, Twisted & Brainfire, Back to the Future and Tidy Weekender. He also performs internationally, with a first gig abroad in Toronto.