Behind The Artworks: The Real McKenzies - On Yer Bike (2026)

When the Real McKenzies called me to photograph the cover for their new album On Yer Bike, it was an instant “yes” from me. They had a simple concept that worked with the title, and from there, I arranged a day to go to Paul’s house and photograph him with one of his bikes.

When I arrived, he was in his driveway washing a bike. I thought it would be the one we were going to photograph, but as I soon learned, Paul has many collections, including a vast collection of bikes.

Even though we had set a time, Paul still seemed a little surprised but happy to see me. As anyone who’s met Paul knows, he likes to talk, so we ended up spending a while there just chatting before moving inside so he could get ready and we could talk more about the shoot.

Inside Paul’s home, he started bringing out various artefacts, each with a story attached, including a Rolex Oyster that was rumoured to have been on the wrist of someone flying during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII.

Eventually, we headed out on one of his many bikes and into the neighbourhood. There wasn’t much of a shot list; the band was open to me doing whatever I needed to do. I was flying a bit by the seat of my pants, but that’s usually where I work best. It was a hot, sunny day, which gave us a range of backdrops to work with, but I was really trying to create a sense of motion in the images, which meant slowing the shutter down under the bright sunny day, which was not ideal. We had a lot of different locations to use as we scooted up and down hills, into parks, alleyways and front lawns, which gave us a ton of options for the band and label to choose from.

In the end, the band chose one of my favourite images for the cover, and I’m really happy with how it came together, especially how they used the photography across the package. The front and back cover, parts of the insert, and the picture disc all feature my work (alongside the band photo by Cat Ashbee).

The whole thing turned out really well.

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