What's Good? Jack 'Techie' Murnane X Animal 'Can I Eat?'

Welcome to round 18 of the latest LUXBMX journal segment, 'What's Good?'. To reiterate, we reach out to one of the homies and get a hot tip on the latest biking madness. It's called 'What's Good?' and for this instalment, we shout out Melbourne based biker and Anchor/Defero associate Jack 'Techie' Murnane. 

Beach tech, photo from socials (L. Acland)

Loved putting this one together, let me tell you. You may, or may not, have noticed that the 'What's Good?' series is here to stay and is increasingly focussing on  dudes of a greater status, of higher social profiles and of improved biking abilities. Today is no different, in fact, it is a distinct trend upwards with our friend Techie. 

What am I talking about? Well let the numbers speak for themselves. You probably weren't aware, but Techie placed an incredible 14th in the 2022 Moomba BMX Championship - in the open male qualifier division. This result, amongst a milieu of equally profound successes, has led to Techie being ranked amongst the best riders in the BMX global rankings, including a ranking of 1298th in the street division and a 'fall off your seat' type ranking of 1587th in the overall biker boy category. That means there's only 1586 bikers who are better than Techie. 

So how does one reach such heights? Perhaps it's wise to look to the dude's beginnings, one's formative years, for evidence of influence. Luckily, the 'What's Good?' series does just that. Shall we dive in? 

Jersey barrier pegs, photo by Cooper Brownlee

My First BMX flick - by Jack Murnane. 

I was a naive young BMXer with no real knowledge of the world of BMX or any particular thirst for information regarding it.

Sure I’d see X-Games on TV and my friend Cody and I had hatched a plan to go halves in Dave Mirra 2 on PS1. Cody’s grandma Lynn was something of a tech wizard and could burn games. Cody and I agreed that I’d keep the original game sleeve with a burnt copy of the game and he would keep the original disc. 

But apart from X-Games on TV and Dave Mirra on PlayStation I really had no idea about the greater world of BMX. My mum was actually the person who told me about Connections BMX and I remember thinking nothing of it really. She saw my interest in the sport and wanted to foster it so she encouraged me to go and check out the shop. She even bought me a B-Fit shirt from there before I’d even visited the store or knew who Brian Foster was. 

My Mum rules by the way. 

So anyway, I find the world and community of BMX through Connections BMX and other riders my age from different schools, mostly through parties. Because at this point, I’m the only BMXer at my school. I must be about 16 by now. I remember searching for BMX films on Limewire and just by chance Animals 'Can I Eat?' is available to pirate download. I know nothing about it but I download it and watch it. And then I watch it again. And again. And again.

I don’t have the type of brain that remembers every rider or every song or particular spots or tricks that were done; or maybe I just never nerded out on it like others do, but that film had a profound influence on me. I was a young dirt dog at heart due to where I grew up but after watching that film I was enthralled by street riding. And not just the riding. I was enthralled by the art of filmmaking. I eventually gravitated more towards photography but have long had an appreciation for independent and arthouse filmmaking (shout out to Anthony Bowler for premiering his short film ‘Car Wash’ recently). I believe a great deal of this appreciation comes from watching Animal 'Can I Eat?'

So yeah, that was my first BMX film. Thanks for reading. 

Another shot by L. Acland, this time out in the desert at the Blacken festival near Alice Springs

Pretty cool to get such a personal insight into the impact of BMX with our friend Techie here. No matter who you are, where you're from and when you grew up, it would seem that each and every biker has a similar story based around a moment or occurrence as to when the 'spark' of BMX first announced itself. To then have the ability to continue this legacy with the next suite of bikers is then profoundly remarkable. All you need is to harness the passion for BMX, be it in the form of a video, a jam or more simply, a fleeting conversation with a kid at your local park. Who knows, it could be the life-changing moment you never knew you were able to gift. 

Love this, you can sniff the speed. Bank to bank gap as shot by Greg Barnes

Thanks Techie for your contributions. To check out the dude in action, take a watch of the following clip.