Lovable heroes on the trip of a lifetime
THE HAIRY Bikers are a cultural phenomenon. Not since Chewbacca have the public warmed to such unlikely and hirsute stars. Even off camera they look more like a pair of cheery Game Of Thrones extras than your usual red carpet celebrity poseurs.
But the down-to-earth duo are unstoppable, they have a new cookbook out as well as their first Cd. Their latest BBC TWO series, Route 66, has just ended, they have a diet club, do live shows, appear at festivals... just flicking through their work diary would exhaust a Trojan.
There are limits to what they’re prepared to do, though. When I ask Si “Kingy” King, if he’d follow Dave Myers on to the Strictly Come Dancing dancefloor, he answers with a polite but emphatic “No!”
“I got asked to do Dancing On Ice,” he adds in a County Durham accent undiluted by his time in the south. “Not a chance. I once dumped a girl for asking me to go ice skating.”
How about the I’m A Celebrity...get Me Out Of Here!? Dave shakes his head. “As much as the dancing was an affront to my dignity, that was nothing compared to the embarrassment of having to eat a kangaroo’s nether regions on national TV.”
Si agrees. “I always feel sorry for the insects,” he says, showing his softer side.
If they seem like ordinary blokes on screen, it’s because they are. what you see is what you get. Their friendship isn’t faked for the cameras. they’re such good mates, they go on holiday together.
“We always have a friends’ holiday every year,” says Dave, 62. “We went to Stockholm last time.”
Explain the chemistry: what’s the secret? “Si’s very driven,” says Dave. “He gives me confidence. And he’s funny, kind and generous.” Si, 52, repays the compliments, adding that “not many people on this planet make me laugh as much as Dave”.
They share a love of mainstream comedy: Morecambe and Wise, tommy Cooper, abbot and Costello, Dave Allen. And simple grub: Si’s favourite meal is a bacon sandwich. “And we both love our rock music,” he says.
They certainly do their 3CD compilation, the Hairy Bikers Road Trip, features 60 driving songs, by everyone from Queen and Deep Purple to the Ramones via Belinda Carlisle, Status Quo and their pals, rockers Thunder.
NO Radar Love by Golden Earring, I ask aghast? “It was on the long list,” protests Dave, “but we had to whittle it down to 60 tracks...”
Nigel Farage was the unlikely catalyst for the likeable duo’s musical diversion. When Al Murray stopped Djing for the Planet Rock radio station to challenge the then Ukip leader in the 2015 general election (securing a princely 318 votes), the bikers were hired to do seven shows which quickly became a permanent gig.
Regular features include “The Nosh Pit” where they create recipes inspired by rock classics such as Led Zeppelin’s Custard Pie or Poundcake by van Halen.
Dave was a fan of my alma mater, rock weekly Sounds, especially during the early 1970s glam rock days, while Si has drummed for decades and plays with a north-east band called Little Moscow who have “been together for 32 years, off and on”. The first album he bought was Thin Lizzy’s Live And Dangerous.
Both come from humble roots. Si’s father was a motorbike despatch driver who had served in the Royal Navy on the Arctic Convoys; Dave’s was a foreman in a Lancashire papermill. Before their first series 15 years ago, father-of-three Si was a location manager while Dave, from
Barrow-in-furness, was a BBC make-up artist, specialising in prosthetics and working on everything from Doctorwho to Spooks.
They met in 1995 on the set of the BBC’S adaptation of the Catherine Cookson’s The Gambling Man on which Si was second assistant director. They hit it off immediately. Both are food enthusiasts and passionate cooks; their culinary skills and good-natured camaraderie made them an easy sell.
BBC Two boss Roly Keating commissioned their first series 2004.Twenty-eight shows and 22 books later, they’re firmly established as bona fide national treasures.
They’ve been doing theatre tours since 2010 (Bob Mortimer produced the first) and their nmemoir was wonderfully entitled Blood, Sweat & Tyres.
Making Hairy Bikers: Route 66 for the BBC was “a dream come true,” says Dave. “An iconic motorcycle trip,” Si agrees. “And a migratory route. Different waves of migrants headed west along it, creating America’s unique melting pot.”
The bikers rode more than 2,000 miles through nine US states from Illinois to California, sampling everyday American food – wet beef sandwiches, barbecued rib tips, stuffed cabbage – and meeting everyday Americans. “We are the conduits for other people’s stories,” says Si.
The native American Navajo were especially welcoming. “They killed a sheep for us and barbecued it in the middle of Monument Park,” says Dave.
“The mum, Dorothy, loved the way we mucked in; she said we’re part of the salt tribe and that she was our mother. So we are officially sons of Dorothy.”
The bikers’ politics lean to the left – both had Che Guevara tattoos inked when they filmed in Argentina. I wonder if they might recreate Che’s eightcountry Motorcycle Diaries. They want to but Si says: “It’s difficult to do because of where it goes.”
“It would be a good series,” says Dave.
“Three of the leper colonies are left,” adds Si.
Dave would like to head east first, across Russia to Georgia (“their wine is gorgeous”) and on to Korea and China. Si hankers for a tour of the stans.
Travel is in their blood, which is just as well as Si’s partner Michele lives in Sydney – and Australia is a mighty long way from his home in St Albans, Hertfordshire. And Dave lives with his Romanian wife Liliana and his step-children in Barrow-in-furness and France’s Loire Valley.
Si says: “We’ve had a busy year” – including a 37-date tour, festival appearances and a marathon charity drive.
“And we’re looking forward to the next one,” adds Dave, who tells me about exciting projects which the PR begs me not to mention. “We’re grateful for it all,” he goes on. “We’ve had so many amazing experiences and met so many brilliant people.”
“We’re just going to continue doing what we do until people get peed off with it,” says Si. Although of course, I’ve cleaned that quote up...
● The Hairy Bikers Road Trip (Universal Music) and cookbook One Pot Wonders (Seven Dials, £22) are out now
‘Not many people make me laugh as much as Dave’