Teen who made fun of dad's skill now following in his footsteps

A teenager is taking his ‘out of the box’ talent to the biggest stage.

Many people take up similar interests to their parents, but Alex Jones, 15, from Orrell Park, wasn’t initially impressed by what his dad, Andrew Rigby, could do. Alex told the ECHO: “My dad used to beatbox. I would just kind of catch along and copy him to make fun of him. But I really started enjoying it.”

Alex, performing as Reload, recently finished third in the UK beatboxing championships which were held in Bristol a few weeks ago. He admits his skill has taken others by surprise. He said: “It's outside of the box, really. No one really thinks of it. A lot of kids in school know my name now, because they've all found it.

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“Most people do want to be singers and DJs. But I like the more vocal side of making music, so to make effects and sounds was more intriguing to me.

“And it really opened up a lot of creativity, which really helped me express myself through this. I do get lots of compliments on a lot of my stuff. It's my life, basically. This is what I care about.”

Alex started by beatboxing with just a microphone, but later decided to invest in a machine that makes him a “looper”. Explaining what this entails, he said: “Around two years ago, I said to myself, well, I'm not getting any better at beatboxing. And I liked the more electronic side of it.

"I didn't think I'd come this far. I thought I would just be me, making noises in my room, just expressing myself on my own. But I started to speak to more people about it, and they told me about competitions and that I could earn money. I thought it was really nice, that I