Jukeyz interview on leaving London Royal Ravens, bootcamping with Red Bull and his team’s chances at WSOW London

Liam ‘Jukeyz’ James is one of the UK’s top Call of Duty Warzone players and streamers, and right now he’s taking part in the Jukeyz World Series Warm-Up bootcamp at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere in London.

Dom Sacco catches up with Jukeyz to ask how he went from sleeping on hotel room floors to playing in front of thousands on stage in the space of a few years.

Hi Liam! You had your ‘See Me in NA’ gaming tour in the US last year, but what’s it like to have your own bootcamp/tournament named after you, in the UK?

It’s sick to be honest, to have the best players from America over here. I know Tommey was originally from the UK but he’s been in America in the last couple of years so it’s good to have him over as well. Him being the No.1 Warzone earner of all-time, and to have who I think is the best player of the moment, HiSoka, over here, and have us all in the same room, it’s sick. Shoutout to Red Bull for helping me with the bootcamp.

How’s the bootcamp going so far? What’s it like having the likes of Benny and Tommey around the place, has there been any funny or weird/standout moments worth mentioning?

Honestly it’s been funny. I’m practising, and playing with BennyCentral and Tommey and we’ve been having fun content rather than just grinding. There’s not so much of a focus on winning [yet], we’re just enjoying it and having a laugh, but over the next couple of days I’ll probably take it more seriously. 

I’m playing on a 1080p monitor as that’s what we’ll be playing at in the World Series of Warzone London event, at home I usually play on a 1440p monitor. At the bootcamp we want to play with equipment as close to what we’ll be using at World Series.

How does it work, are you and the five others all competing against each other? You have Lenun there, who’s going to be your teammate in the World Series of Warzone London event later in September.

We’re doing individual practising, not really as a team. We’re playing with each other, we could be playing with anyone. We have some activities coming up where we’ll be against each other.

You have a fun tournament on Friday September 1st, right, to end the bootcamp?

That’s not the fun part, that’s the serious part, actually! We’ll be competing against each other and I’ll be with Lenun. So we’re not friends on that day! 

Talking of Len, I saw your tweet from the other day, how has Lenun not had a Nandos until the other day?!

It was his second Nandos but I was trolling him, because he’s not really a restaurant eater. It was HiSoka’s first Nandos and I said it was Len’s too!

Was Len a hot Nandos eater, or more of a mild sauce go?

HiSoka went more hot, and Len was more a lemon and herb guy. I go for more medium to hot. What about you?

I’m usually mild to medium, depending on the mood I’m in. Super hot isn’t for me.

I’ve done it before, but it’s just no point, you just burn yourself!

Who should we watch out for in the tournament on Friday?

I’ll of course say watch out for my team, it’s on our playing field in Europe, but HiSoka is probably the best globally I’d say at the moment. He was on the Red Bull trip with me last year too. He’s been the number one earner since coming onto the scene, and we helped him.

As mentioned, you’re playing in the World Series of Warzone London event later with Lenun and IvisionSR. Tell us what you think about your teammates and how you think you’ll do at the event?

It’ll be my second LAN event. The first one had a few hundred people there, but this will have a big crowd with thousands of people. I hope to be able to lock in and focus there. 

Len and Vision were at my first LAN event too on different teams, so we’ve kind of had that little bit of LAN experience, but not as big as this crowd. So it could go two ways. I’m gonna treat [the crowd] as if they’re [stream] viewers and block out the noise, get behind my team as they kind of look to me as a leader, to keep them together if we lose composure, for example. 

The Call of Duty crowds in the UK really know how to make some noise. The atmosphere is exceptional, isn’t it?

It is, yeah. I remember watching a few CDL events a few years ago, seeing the crowds go crazy.

I went to that Royal Ravens event in early 2020 before covid, and I remember I had no money. My nan got me a ticket for my birthday and my mum paid for a train, but I didn’t have money for a hotel, so I slept on the hotel floor in a friend’s room for two days just to go to that event. 

It was a month before Warzone came out, and no one really had an idea who I was, I had no viewers at the event. And then five months later I signed for the London Royal Ravens, so that was quite a jump going from sleeping on the floor to being with the Ravens. 

It’s a shame we didn’t have more events as I would’ve loved to have been there with the Ravens and my viewers and to have met everyone. 

What’s that been like, to have had a rapid rise in the space of three years?

I dunno, it just all happened, didn’t it! I just take it as it comes – everything kind of came to me, rather than the other way round. Right now I’m looking for an org.

The guys at Red Bull helped put me in the right direction, managers and others all helping me. The Ravens, ODEE helped me out a lot, so I had the right people around me to get me on the right direction and given the right things – making sure I’m not signing the wrong deals. Earning, having somewhere to play, and having the right people around me. That’s how I coped with it really.

It’s been a few months since you, ODEE and others left the London Royal Ravens – for me it was sad to see everyone leave. What were your thoughts about that when it happened?  

It was so weird. They kind of kept everything to themselves instead of letting everyone know in advance, so it was quite a shock when it happened – the day before the World Series. So I’m locked in and ready to perform for the Ravens, for Red Bull, for everyone that supports me. I’d been repping Ravens for years. 

I like to think about the people I’m representing and the people I’ve got to prove right, and the people I’ve got to prove wrong, so I’m more locked in before an event and ready to perform.

I got off the stream the night before, I looked at my email and it just happened. So I thought, okay I’m not gonna go live, I’m just gonna go back to bed. It hurt, really, because I was looking forward to representing them, as always.

At one point the Ravens were my dream org franchise to be a part of. I remember when Modern Warfare 2019 came out and I was telling my family about the Royal Ravens. My family asked about the future of gaming and I said in the UK, the Ravens were for Call of Duty. This was before the Ravens LAN event. 

Just being part of them was a dream, so I was definitely gutted, I was hurt, I’d been with them for a while. But when I saw everyone else getting released as well, I thought, well, they must be going through something – I’ve just got to lift my head up and crack on because it was out of my control. 

Thanks for opening up about that and good luck finding a new organisation. What do you think about the different regions’ chances, going into WSOW London?

We have teams from various regions. I don’t know. I’m positive, if I load into a game, it’s like a mental game, if I see someone I’ve never heard of, I’m killing them. 

There’ll be a few teams in each region that aren’t as good as the top teams, but there will be some real battles, I’m looking forward to it.

Jukeyz you’ve been a Red Bull athlete for a few years now. What’s it been like as one of a few handful of gamers sponsored by them, and what do you think of the Gaming Sphere?

The Red Bull Gaming Sphere is like my second home, basically! It’s amazing. This room I’m in right now is where I played the World Series last year, it’s probably my favourite room in the house, to be honest.   

This is where, if I have to be in a big tournament, to lock in. I do love the Gaming Sphere, the floor outside too, the whole setup is sick. 

As for being a Red Bull gamer, it’s surreal. Not only being a Red Bull gamer, but being part of Red Bull in general. I’ve done a couple of things with them over the years, meeting other athletes at Red Bull summits, it’s so inspiring being around them and makes me want to do well, as a player and also as a person. It’s like a sick team, I don’t look at it as a brand or sponsor, to be honest. 

The people and higher-ups that have helped me, it’s like a family.

Thanks for the interview, Jukeyz, and good luck at the bootcamp and WSOW London.

Dom Sacco

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.

As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.