It all started with a devotion to the Rinky-Dink mobile bicycle powered sound system, when Oli was a young man. He resonated with its inventor, Danny, and through hanging out and helping, got turned on to artistry, bicycle power, and making things. Next he joined Cirque Ideallic playing the guitar at first, then developed a flaming piano, and toured with that all over Europe with ‘Cabaret at the end of the world’. It was during this time that the ‘character’ Rimski was birthed…. In Barcelona, with his 'Rinky-Dink thinking', Oli had a vision of the piano going along the road sideways whilst playing it. In Berlin, he decided to mount the piano on a shopping trolly, with a fancy to go busking… Later, back in England, he created a steerable wheeled piano, with help from Banj and other Banbury friends, but it still wasn’t quite right. Next he took it over to Danny, and created the first bicycle piano prototype. More developments took place with Mark Prior the wagon builder & wheelwright at Nibly, Bristol; and also at Cycles Maximus, Bath, to develop the drive mechanism. He initially took it to Glastonbury Festival with the circus, but then of course the bicycle piano started getting gigs in its own right… and is still going strong to this day....
In 2017 Oli invented the Double Bassicle (double bass bike) and since then, due to the success of this new addition, has been touring predominantly as the duo, Rimski & Handkerchief. In the Winter months, however, you can often catch him busking the streets of Stratford Upon Avon, to the delight of locals and visitors alike.... The Bicycle Piano also features as part of the extensive inventive landscape of Rimski's Yard, travelling stage venue, which returns annually to Glastonbury Festival, to its very own spot in the Theatre & Circus area.