Pass the Torch

In Australia’s mainstream music business, the name MC Shureshock is a familiar one. Within the country’s thriving dance music scene, Shureshock’s reputation is legendary.
 
The performer (real name Cameron James Brown) is a heavyweight of the dance culture, a triple-threat comprising talent, versatility and durability. Shureshock has crashed the national sales charts and entertained hundreds and thousands of fans at home and abroad. 
 
It's no surprise that the plaudits have come hard and fast over a stellar career, during which time Shureshock has joined forces with many of the globe's finest DJs, from Carl Cox to Goldie. And this year is proving to be another frenetic one for the artist, who is striding towards the next phase of his recording career.
 
Originally from Brisbane, Shureshock honed his mic talents on the city's vibrant rave circuit in the early part of the 1990s, initially performing under the moniker MC NO3.
 
His skills matured and evolved. By decade's end, the artist was tuning into the emerging underground breakbeat sound stemming from the U.K., a fresh style which fused hip-hop party jams and electro synth lines with rumbling basslines. It proved the perfect platform to suit the performer's vocal range, who by this stage had emerged as Shureshock.
 
The emcee spread his creative wings to form Zephyr Timbre, a local five-piece outfit that quickly built a national reputation with its blend of tight rhythms, sultry vocals and party-rocking percussion. Darlings of the Triple J radio network, Zephyr Timbre secured spots on the Big Day Out lineup and supported Jamiroquai on the U.K.outfit's 2002 Australian tour, a trek which saw Shureshock perform in the prestigious Sydney Opera House and on the stage of Melbourne’s imposing Rod Laver Arena.
 
Breakbeat would re-assert itself as Shureshock's central musical focus. At the turn of the decade, he met with collaborator Kid Kenobi (Jesse Desenberg) who later was voted Australia's No. 1 DJ in the Technics InTheMix Top 50 for three straight years.
 
By the middle of the 2000s, MC Shureshock and Kid Kenobi were recognized as Australia's premier MC-DJ tandems, having completed sell-out tours of the U.K., U.S.,Canada, Brazil, China, Switzerland, New Zealand and Singapore. Closer to home, the Shureshock-Kenobi tandem has been a regular fixture on the Australian festivals circuit, playing the Big Day Out, Park Life, Field Day, Good Vibrations and many more. It’s an enduring partnership which in 2010 celebrates 10 years in the game.
 
Shureshock has taken his vocal skills to the studio and into the charts on a raft of Ministry of Sound compilations, including the popular "Clubber's Guide to Breaks" series and the "Kid Kenobi Sessions" and, more recently, mc'ing on the first-release compilation via Kid Kenobi's new label Klub Kid's. Shureshock holds the remarkable honour of being the only MC to lend vocals to a globally-released Ministry of Sound compilation.
 
Now based in Sydney, Shureshock is very much an in-demand vocalist and performer in the international dance music community. The likes of Fatboy Slim, Stanton Warriors, Krafty Kuts, Goldie, Andy C, Freq Nasty, The Crystal Method, Sub Focus, and DJ Q-Bert have all worked with Shureshock, as have Australian artists Bexta, DJ El Hornet from Pendulum, Greg Packer, Q45, Will Styles, The Humpday Project , James Taylor and The Vinyl Slingers.
 
With a debut solo album in the works, Shureshock has spent much of 2010 locked away in the recording studio. Coming up is a solo single "You're the One" on Funktrust record label. And there’s a string of collaborative tracks on the slate, including remixes with Will Styles, The Humpday Project, Greg Packer and DJ Mark Walton. Shureshock's first solo E.P "The Shureshock Project" sees him team with Danny Rhodes and Greg Packer to deliver a drum ‘n’ bass series of EPs, to be released on Interphase from July 2010. Shureshock's vocals will also feature in "Mighty Dub," a new single from Kid Kenobi's 2010 solo EP, while a venture with Japan-based producer and DJ Jaxx Da Fishworks will yield the track "Fat Tiger," due in 2010 through Sushi Records. U.K. audiences will sample the Shureshock-fronted recording "Do it Right Now," lifted from British producer Pimpsoul’s July 2010 debut through Bombstrikes. And Shureshock will guest on Aussie DJ/producer Cutloose's debut album "Raspoww," released through San Francisco-based D-Fault Records.
 
“I’m really focusing on building a body of work,” explains Shureshock. “It’s all about creating music which reflects my passions, as opposed to reverse-engineering tracks for clubland. And I’m doing it all with the producers and musicians that I really respect. There’s a lot of love inside the camp, and the results I’m getting are pretty exciting.”
  
In a nod to his versatility, Shureshock has jumped off the stage and in front of the camera for www.unseentv.com.au, hosting spots and interviewing artists behind the scenes at the DMC Championships and at various Australian dance music fests.
 
Away from the spotlight’s glare, Shureshock devotes much of his time to community endeavours. During 2010, Shureshock has played a mentoring role for the teenage youth music projects through Sydney’s Milson Point Community Centre. And later in the year, he will impart his know-how to the next generation when the "MC Shureshock" Personal Tutoring program launches through The Ableton Live School.
 
Shureshock’s busy itinerary has taken the star to indigenous communities in Far North Queensland, where he contributed to a project that aims to preserve ancient languages and dialects threatened with extinction through the use of music and dance.
 
“That has been part of my vision for twelve years,” notes Shureshock. “As much as it is for helping other people, exploring that side has enabled me to relate with a dance-floor of different cultures and worlds, people I hadn’t met and wouldn’t have had the chance to meet.”
 
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