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SON OF SAXON

About Jon

JON SAXON

On leaving school in 1989 I joined the Youth Training Scheme, where I was encouraged to start my first business – R.J & J Enterprises – hand-printing street art t-shirts. In 1990 the YTS supported my next venture – Noma Productions – organising graffiti events. Under this banner I went on to organise DJ competitions, establish a music agency, and toured American DJs around the UK up until 2001.

As well as organising music events and DJ tours, I have been writing about music and cars since 1994.

In amongst all of this I have produced four mixtapes, challenged the world record of visiting all the counties of mainland Britain in the quickest time, lived in both North America and the Middle East, proudly written two books, created two pubs, and remain head over heels with my record collection and my 1983 Golf GTI.

MAGAZINE WORK

Between the years of 1994 and 2005 I freelanced for the following music and motoring publications – though my brief stint at Yahoo! as their motoring content provider, even-shorter dab as Editorial Assistant for Performance VW, long stretch at Car (Features Editor) and even longer one at the Middle East edition of evo (Editor in Chief) were in-house fixtures:

VW Motoring
Yahoo!
XFade (later iDJ)
Breakthru
Performance VW
Performance Ford
Banzai
The Golf (later Golf+)
Eurotuner
Sports Car International
Performance Auto & Sound
Pantera International
J-Tuner
Fast Car
Car
evo

PUBLISHING

2002 - 2003 (book project)
Inspired by The Fast & The Furious film, I embarked on a three-month trek across North America in search of a 10-second street car. The daily diary was later published as a paperback: Quarter Mile and Then Some.

2009 - current (Son of Saxon)
RubberDuckMag (digital magazine)
Doghouse (print magazine)
Ludlow Ledger
(hyper-local newspaper)

2015 - 2020 (pub ownership)
Created and managed two 1800s-inspired public houses, both of which featured on American Airline’s Business Class podcast: ITravelFor, Jay Rayner’s Kitchen Cabinet and within the pages of CAMRA’s Beer magazine.

2020 -2024 (audio production)
I am currently working under the PRESS PLAY & RECORD umbrella – the production company behind The Extended Version podcast, and the proposed UK music travel show, Recognition.

  • "Much more inventive and innovative than others."

    HONDA UK – speaking about RubberDuckMag

  • "Quirky. Different. Slightly mad. Intelligent."

    BMW – speaking about RubberDuckMag

  • "Apparently 'bad' means 'good' in hip-hop culture - check out their really bad site."

    THRILLEST.COM – speaking about the badDETT fashion label

  • "Here's hoping a service like this can take hold in America as there are tons of unsigned artists who could benefit from some fashionable promotion."

    TRENDHUNTER.COM – speaking about the badDETT fashion label

  • "UK company gives the subscription model a musical twist."

    SPRINGWISE.COM – speaking about the badDETT fashion label

  • "Arguably the most advanced online magazine was launched this month in the rather quirky shape of RubberDuck. …a venture that has very few comparable peers worldwide."

    CAMPAIGN MAGAZINE – speaking in 2009 about RubberDuckMag

  • "If James Dean was an interactive online car magazine."

    CEROS MEDIA – showcasing RubberDuckMag in 2009

  • "We wish RubberDuck all the best but we think they are a few years ahead of their time."

    MEDIASTOW (media analysis specialists)

  • "This is the future for genuinely local journalism."

    HOLDTHEFRONTPAGE.CO.UK – speaking about Ludlow Ledger

badDETT

Established in 2011 – the fashionable record label that showcases a roster of both established and emerging talent through MP3 tees and shirts: screen-printed album artwork with smart phone activated audio.

An alternative take on the physical album, allowing digital music to be delivered in a tangible and visible fashion. Not everyone has a turntable, tape desk, or MP3 player, but we all have a torso!

The Shuffle Shirt followed, which gave exposure to a completely different category each and every month from a wealth of unsigned global talent – changing from hip-hop, lo-fi, grime, drum and bass, punk rock, jazz, and soul revival, to experimental, world music, indie, and that elusive ‘other’...

Dues were paid too, with the stable of featured artists receiving royalty shares whenever a piece of clothing was purchased.

RubberDuckMag

Inspired by Onboard Snowboard magazine, RubberDuck was developed in 2008, with edition #1 launched on the Ceros digital platform in May 2009.

Globally championed as the world’s first interactive car magazine (alongside Dennis Publishing’s iMotor who launched on the CEROS platform the very same month) the online publication challenged convention and delivered a fresh approach to the motoring segment – brought together by a team that previously staffed at Top Gear, Car, evo, Max Power, and Playboy.

The first edition featured the world exclusive road-test of Volkswagen’s concept W12-650 Golf GTI in Wolfsburg, and a UK road-trip in Lamborghini’s (then) brand-new Gallardo LP560-4 to buy a second-hand vinyl copy of Love Child by The Supremes.

RubberDuck went on to proudly receive Silver at the 2010 Digital Magazine Awards – judged by The Telegraph, WIRED, and Quark. Gold was awarded to Mazda for ZoomZoom!

The proudest, moment though, was working with Lilli Risner and Remark! to seamlessly embed British Sign Language on each digital page to translate all of the magazine’s content, including editorial text, video, audio, and adverts.

When RubberDuck migrated into the real world in 2013 (as an A0-format poster-magazine) so did the sign language: employing watermarked paper to deliver the translations to a smart phone.

This large interactive poster-magazine featured in the highly regarded Innovations in Media Report, 2013.

Exploring further alternative formats, one edition was born as an interactive front-cover Frisbee, another being a dual-drive USB publication.

Launch Issue (2009)

How could our worlds collide?

I’d love the opportunity to showcase some of my creative (though mostly random) makings that may well inspire a different way for you to deliver a particular message, promote a product, or simply indulge in personal randomness.

“While you try and work out how we can be creative together, why not listen to the latest episode of my podcast below”