The Freestylers
Kid Kenobi and MC Shureshock @ The Civic, 194 Manchester St, ChCh
Saturday 9th June 2007

 
 (The Freestylers)

Rustic Entertainment is proud to present international acts The Freestylers and Kid Kenobi and Mc Shurechock in a 3 zone event at The Civic on 9th June 2007. Covering every genre from House, Breaks, Drum and Bass to Electro, The Civic will host 3 zones with the following support:

Main Zone: General Lee (91zm), Robbie Glass, Ryan J Lott, Funk’n'slocuts, Kid Kenobi and Mc Shureshock, The Freestylers and Urban Notion.
MixTape Connections Zone (Zinc Bar) – Dr Hitchcock, Tobiaz, Ed Muzik and Psilo.
Dirty Habit Zone (The Green Room) – Fat Tony, Yuhei Kubo, Toby Bradley and Jared Kelly.

Kid Kenobi
There’s no disputing the transient nature of the DJ: many hopefuls come and go, but few actually remain. You could attribute this to one of many vague criticisms of the dance scene, but the truth is DJs who quickly and quietly sink into obscurity just don’t have what it takes. When the lights go on, the job isn’t all guestlists and groupies and not many people love the job that much to persevere. Jesse Desenberg does. It’s been a decade now since he began DJing as Kid Kenobi and during this time his contributions to the Australian dance scene can be matched by few of his peers. A quick look at his rap sheet shows he was voted Number 1 DJ in the Technics InTheMix Top 50 three years in a row; he’s chalked up so many mix CDs for Ministry of Sound Australia they made a special sessions series for him; he’s even got a Dance Music Award under his belt for his remix of Green Velvet’s “La La Land”.

MC Shureshock
You know when MC Shureshock is in the house. With total command over the Mic, it's nothing for him to get a room full of people hanging on his everyword. Unflappable as an MC, he always knows exactly what to say. A professional MC since 1990, Shureshock aka Cameron James Brown has MCed to practically any genre of music you care to mention. He's rocked hardcore scenes, drum n bass nights, hip hop jams, house parties, live bands and so much more. Nowadays, however, it's breakbeat that's getting the Shureshock touch. Part of a formidable team with Australia's #1 DJ, Kid Kenobi, it is impossible to pinpoint exactly what it is about Shureshock that's so pleasing to the ear. Perhaps it's his ability to flit from genre to genre so seamlessly. Perhaps it's the experience he's accrued as both an MC and as a writer.  Whatever it is, Shureshock's style has won him not only thousands of fans but a worldwide first. Shureshock is the only MC to appear on a Ministry of Sound compilation - ever! MCing alongside Kid Kenobi on the Clubber's Guide to Breaks the pair are as dynamic on disc as they are on the dancefloor, bringing the standard of mix compilations to a whole other level.

The Freestylers
These breakbeat banditos first hooked up after a chance conversation exposed their joint love, some might say bordering on obsession, for music "We were just chatting about old hip hop records", recalls Aston. "And realised we both owned all the same tunes. We'd both been making house and Matt had this idea for an electro track so we just started working together." That electro track became 'Drop The Bomb' and on release in '97, launched the pair as the Freestylers. "The first record we ever sampled was by an act called Freestyle", Aston explains. "At that time sampling played such a major part in our sound, we felt it would be a fitting name.

Raised on a diet of Public Enemy, Afrika Bambaataa and, erm, The Jungle Book ("That soundtrack was the first record I ever bought", laughs Aston. "I was the original junglist!"), the Freestylers sound is rooted in hip hop but has evolved into a unique British concoction, taking in everything from dancehall to reggae, electro to soul and breakbeat to drum and bass.

"It's pretty tricky trying to sum us up," admits Matt. "Our sound is pretty raw, raw and very instant. Basically it's like breaks for the masses, but as we've both got pretty eclectic tastes we bring a whole spectrum of influences from the seventies onwards". "Hip hop heads come to see us," continues Aston. "But so do ravers, reggae fans... it's quite mad really - two funky white boys bringing all these people together".

The duo’s unique blend of party sounds has seen them perform everywhere from Ibiza to Ipswich, Prague to Peterborough, finding time to wow the crowd at Glastonbury and tour America along the way.

In the three years since their last album the pair have also released a number of underground club hits under the guise of S.C.A.M. as well as making the most of the new avenues they found open to them after the success of 2003’s ‘Raw As Fuck’ and the stand out single, and top 20 hit, ‘Push Up’. This showed the critics that they aren’t just a one-trick breakbeat pony and allowed the guys to exploit the live dynamic they’d been working on for a while. "The live band shows we did around that album were wicked", Aston comments. "And ‘Push Up’ was always a favourite. We were really able to show another side to our sound and this is something we’ve built on with the new album".

The new album ‘Adventures In Freestyle’ sees Aston and Matt wear their dancefloor-friendly hearts on their sleeves once again. Ranging from the techno-punk stylings of ‘Security’, through the cinematic-string soundscape of ‘Infernos’, to the five and a half minutes of typical Freestylers filthiness that is ‘Painkiller’, which sees them team up with Oz drum and bass bods Pendulum, the album is a unique concoction of styles, pinned together in many cases by the vocal talents of long term studio partner, Marcel aka SirReal. Marcel’s anacreontic lyrics espouse the virtues of everything from living the fast life to drinking Carling Black Label, on a slew of the album’s highlights.

Rustic Entertainment presents The Freestylers with Kid Kenobi and Mc Shureshock
3 Zone Grand Event
Saturday 9th June 2007
Doors Open 9pm

Tickets
Tickets $55, limited earlybirds for $45
Available from Cosmic Corner (ChCh & Dunedin)
This event will be a sell out so early ticket purchase is recommended.

For more information, photos or interviews please contact Jaclyn Philpott, email: jaclynnz@gmail.com or by mobile phone on 021 345 485.