Joby Harris

Joby Harris (born February 21, 1975) is a designer and director in Los Angeles, California. He is also the lead singer and guitar player for the American post-hardcore band Crash Rickshaw. He is currently a visual strategist for NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Joby Harris
Background information
Born	(1975-02-21) February 21, 1975 (age 50)
Origin	Saxonburg, Pennsylvania[1]
Occupation(s)	Artist, Musician
Website	jobyharris.com

Music

Harris previously spent time performing with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania local punk band Phatso. Later moving to Los Angeles, California he performed in Orange County, California bands Rainy Days, and The Moodswingers opening for acts such as At the Drive In^[2]

Harris currently performs in post-punk band Crash Rickshaw. They have two albums to date:^[3] A self-titled album on Seattle based record label Tooth & Nail Records in late 2001 and a second album entitled Big Sir released on August 1st, 2025 by Indie Label Velvet Blue Music.^[4]

In an interview with Indie Vision Music, Harris explained that the theme of the album Big Sir was influenced by his personal encounters with "large dismissive personalities." As an example, he recalled being “shown the door quickly” by leaders of a faith community he had been part of for more than 20 years after raising concerns about the community’s extensive relational conflicts. Harris stated: “The problem is I believed their narrative about me more than my own—that my voice had no value and even deserved punishment. Big Sir is about taking your value and narrative back from folks who try to write you off as disposable for simply being authentic and honest.” ^[5]

Visual art

In December 2011, Harris became a finalist in the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl commercial contest. His commercial "Bird of Prey" airs on television in the United States and Canada.^[6]

While working as a visual strategist for NASA's JPL, Harris illustrated several vintage-style travel posters showing terrestrial getaways to other planets, moons and exoplanets such as Kepler-186f, HD 40307 g and Kepler-16b entitled "Visions of the Future". The posters received international attention in major news outlets, television shows such as The Big Bang Theory, and Marvel's Runaways (TV series) ^[7]

In December 2024, Harris created a video of his cat "Taters" chasing a laser beam amidst technical graphics pertaining to light communication. The video was uploaded to an instrument aboard the Psyche (spacecraft) and launched into space where it was beamed back to Earth as part of a technological test called the Deep Space Optical Communications. The demo transmitted the 15-second test video via a cutting-edge instrument called a flight laser transceiver. The video signal took 101 seconds to reach Earth, sent at the system’s maximum bit rate of 267 megabits per second (Mbps). ^[8] The video was a nod to the first television test broadcast in 1928 starring Felix the Cat. ^[9] The video itself and news announcement went viral in 2025 earning the "Peoples Voice" award for Live Streams and Events at the Webby Awards.

Discography

With Crash Rickshaw

• Big Sir (2025)
• Crash Rickshaw (2001)