The Surecut Kids, Benji and Mikey are busy lads. Benji is about to welcome a youngster into the world and Mikey is swept off his feet raising a puppy. Clearly, the duo has other interests outside of Surecut Kids. “It’s heccaz,” Mikey explains, suggesting that things are hectic, I suspect. “But in a good way,” he adds, as if to rebut himself. With that, RK gets the low down from the lads on their love of hip hop and how they came to find themselves in music ahead of their gig at Death Disco’s 7th Birthday @ Capitol, Saturday, May 24.
“We both were just really into hip hop,” says Mikey of their desire to make music. “Actually we had some mates who had this two man rapper/DJ group that we looked up to. They inspired us to get some turntables and start hacking away at it. So we used to just throw parties at my place every weekend until gradually it became our job.”
Indeed, Benji claims that they turned to beats and music simply because of ‘the grit’. “Without a bit of grit, life is boring,” he professes. “That’s why we aren’t into EDM and all that jazz because it’s too polished. We’re influenced by progressive sounds and genres and at the moment we are also influenced by trap and so on.” That said the lads are insistent that they’ll never be restricted to any one style and that it is vitally important they stay inspired and always moving forward.
Musically, the boys have just mixed the new installment of Klub Kids’ Trap Bombs series, which has been a great experience. “From there,” says Benji, “we have a new single coming out next month followed by a tour. We’ve also got collaboration with Spenda C coming out soon, plus an EP with Yo Majesty. The second half of this year is chockablock with music!”
And yet their approach to production is relatively straightforward. Mikey continues: “We tend to collaborate in a remix type of way. Usually one of us will start a tune and get it 50-70% of the way there, and then we’ll hand it backwards and forwards, making changes until it’s ready. Sometimes it ends up being a massive journey and the finished product is nothing like the original – other times it’s straightforward. It’s a fun way to work because the end result is truly collaborative.”
Likewise, their studio setup is pretty simple and lends itself to the nature of their output as well as their style. The boys are running a few iMacs with Logic X, midi keyboards, soundcards and nice monitors. And while they claim it would be dreamy to start collecting synths, it is the bills that keep piling up, limiting that dream.
Finally, the lads are getting down for Death Disco Turns 7 and are pretty pumped about it. Mikey explains: “We’re super psyched to be heading over for this night. We really love Perth – the people there are so open to new music. We’ve never played a Death Disco before but we’ve seen photos and it looks turbo-yoloswag times infinity.” Benji adds that he can’t wait to get to this side of the country. “Perth simply rules,” he says. Truer words never spoken?
