Alex Steffan - aka DJ Butcher - has been repping the name since he first took to the turntable.

“I’ve had this name since I was about 12, when I used to make beats. I’d just chop up other people’s beats and then rearrange them.

“A guy I used to rap with said ‘you’re cutting that up like a butcher’ and everyone has called me Butcher from then on.”

A town planner by day, Steffan has produced for the likes of Pure Product, Eloquence and Truths and Triple J’s Unearthed treasure, Seven. Beat-boxing whiz kid Tom Thum (Illfigga) is his counterpart, who is truly a “master of all crafts”, according to Steffan. Tom goes by two aliases, also touring with beatboxing and break dancing group, The Tom Tom Crew, as Tom Thum.

“We both grew up doing graffiti on the south side of Brisbane then Tom started break dancing, beatboxing and freestyling and I picked up a turntable and started producing.”

Together they are The Crate Creeps, and inspired by Canadian hip hop producer Marco Polo’s ‘Port Authority’, thought it was about time they combined their genius and rounded up some of the world’s best MCs to produce a mash-up of hip hop and hard-hitting beats.

“There were 40 people in total associated with this album. We tried to collaborate with really down-to-earth MCs that we both enjoy as MCs and rappers. It’s just absolutely amazing that I’ve had the opportunity to work with these people.”

A tour of the east coast is on the cards for The Crate Creeps in the coming months with a gig at the Step Inn scheduled for August 31. Steffan says audiences can expect plenty of crowd interaction with MPCs, lighting, scratching, beatboxing and rapping, as well as appearances by some of the big names on the album.

“It’s going to be wild!”

‘It’s About That Time’ is out July 9.