The Surecut Kids

This must be pretty old but it’s still interesting. So much awesome stuff come out of the Diplo/ Mad Decent camp it’s ridiculous.

We’ve had a lot of positive feedback on the artwork of our new mixtape so i thought some of you might be interested to see these pics of how it came about. The bottom left one is a concept that we both liked, but decided it wasn’t really us. It kind of looks to me more like it would suit an indie band that makes beautiful and insightful songs about life. So we opted to not use that one.

First of all respect to DJ AM. This new version of the DJ AM and TRAVIS show looks dope!!!! A-TRAK has put his own style on it and i personally cant wait till it comes to OZ.

Another video made by my wonderful wifey. Its a little montage of the set. Check it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Im sad to say that the world has lost a great person. Beau Velasco (of The Death Set, Black Panda, and Beat Traffikers) passed away this week. Here’s a few memories i have of Beau…

Beau Velasco was such a massive inspiration to Benji and myself, its hard to imagine what we would be doing these days if it wasn’t for Beau’s influence. Back when we were just getting interested in djing, Beau was in a group called ‘Beat Traffikers’. It was a two piece dj act consisting of Beau on the scratch and on the mic, and Dan Walker (now known as NineLives the Cat) both djing, both rapping, and both incredible party rockers. When we saw them do their thing it was a real turning point for us. We stopped going to raves and started rapping and learning to scratch records. We ended up becoming friends and Beau fueled our fire so much in those early years.

One time we threw a hip hop party at the breadbox (my place) where the Beat Traffikers came over and dj’d for us, on a weekend, for free. That was their job too and they came to rock a party without any talk of payment. Of course we passed around a hat and got them some money for their troubles, but thats just an example of the size of this guys heart. That wasn’t the only time this happened either – my first ever art show featured the Beat Traffikers and again, they offered to do it for the love.

Another time we had just bought our first set of turntables, Beau came around to teach us the basics of how to use them, what this lever does, why you shouldnt touch that bit etc etc.. He ended up giving us this massive comprehensive lesson on everything from setting up the needles, to dealing with record companies haha! Things that were waaaaaay beyond our understanding at the time, but we sat their wide-eyed and taking in every word.

One of the early mixtapes that Ben and i made featured Beau as a guest doing some scratches and a rhyme. I remember so clearly when he came over to record his parts. We were stressing out doing our bits a million times trying to get them right (we used to rap back then) and Beau just saundered in with that happy, relaxed vibe he always exuded, and dropped the hottest rhyme that id heard at the time. And then went to do some scratches and just grabbed any old battle record and proceeded to tear it a new one. I listened to those takes so many times studying and trying to analyze it all. What an inspiration!

Our first ever public gig was thanks to the Beat Traffikers. In Burleigh they have this street party once a year for the solstice. The guys were playing and invited us to come and jam with them. I don’t know if i can describe how it felt to be asked by our heroes to come and dj with them but man ive only had a few experiences since then that have come close.

I lost touch with Beau in recent years. He started a successful band called ‘The Death Set’ and moved to the states. We kind of drifted out of touch and id hear occasional reports that he was becoming a tattooist or doing a show with Spank Rock or some other mind-blowingly amazing news.

Beau i thank you for your influence and friendship. You were truly a kind hearted and talented individual. I’ll never forget that. I hope that one day i can give someone just half of the inspiration that you gave to me.

One last thing – Beau used to change his dj name about once a week. It seemed like every time we saw him he would be going by a different alias. Here’s a few that i can remember: Cat Food, Slow Kid, Little Fighter Pilot, Kid Amaziatic, and so on…. eventually we stopped trying to keep up with the names and just called him Captain Alias.

-Mikey.