Mr. Scruff
"keep it unreal"
Location: Manchester
Website: http://www.mrscruff.com/
Bio:
A lot of things have happened since a young Andy Carthy started
answering to the name Mr Scruff - making a name for himself under ... (more)
the
shadow of Manchester's mid 90s club scene. Not only has he released
three critically acclaimed albums, selling over half a million records
worldwide, with countless tours and club events he has cemented his now
legendary DJ status. This is a DJ that can sell out the 1600 capacity
London KoKo armed only with his records, some turntables and a few spare
packets of teabags.
More than that, Scruff has established himself as a general guarantor of
quirkiness and quality so that when his range of speciality teas were
launched they became the 5th best selling grocery product in the long
and illustrious history of Selfridge’s Food Hall (see
www.makeusabrew.com for more tea shenanigans). His ‘CUP’ tea shop in
Manchester packs in the punters and the now legendary traveling tea
stall is a firm favourite at Scruff gigs & festivals all over the UK.
Meanwhile, his wobbly potato people adorn t-shirts, brollies and even
people’s bodies (Ninja Tune has been sent documentary evidence of this
phenomenon…).
But who are we to tell you the full-story? Over to you Andy…
Greetings! I am Mr. Scruff, DJ, Producer, Cartoonist & Tea Drinker.
As a DJ, I play across the board, including Soul, Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz,
Reggae, Latin, African, Ska, Disco, House, Funk, Breaks, Soundtracks &
loads more. I make music that draws on these influences, with a large
dose of cheek & good humour. There follows a rambling overview of what i
have been up to for the last 20-odd years.
The event that first sparked my curiosity about music was in the early
1980’s when, as a young 2 Tone fan, I discovered a stack of my father’s
original Blue Beat 7”s, including several Prince Buster songs that had
been covered by my then favourite band, Madness. I suddenly realised
that the new music I had been listening to had roots that reached far
back, and this knowledge inspired me to explore the wider musical world
which had just been revealed to me.
I encountered mixing as a 12 year old in late 1984, when a friend of
mine played me his uncle’s electro records, notably the Streetsounds LP
“Crucial Electro Volume 2”. At first, I assumed that the reason for
there being no gaps between the songs was to fit more on the vinyl, it
didn’t occur to me the mixing was a creative part of the presentation,
and had been carefully thought out.
Soon after I was constructing my own crude pause-button mixtapes,
inspired by the Electro compilations and various radio shows on stations
such as Piccadilly, and Radio Lancashire & Southside. These shows
exposed me to a wide range of dance music, which at the time was a
blanket term to cover anything from electro and hip-hop to soul, reggae
and early house music. Back then there were far fewer records being
released each week, so DJs had to be versatile and play across the board.
As an enthusiastic young music fiend in Stockport, these stations were a
lifeline to quality new releases, and exposed me to a lot of older music
that I had missed. Little by little I was building a collection fuelled
by this knowledge, all the while improving my DJ skills. By 1987 I was
proficient at turntable mixing and editing, although I was still using
primitive home hi-fi gear. In the summer of 1988 I had my first mix
played on Waxmaster’s show on the Manchester pirate station WBLS.
Fuelled by this exposure, I took a part time job at Kwik Save and
ploughed all my earnings into vinyl. By this time I had a good knowledge
of electro, hip hop, house, & 80’s soul, and was busy expanding my
knowledge of blues, disco, funk, soul, reggae, jazz, African and Latin
music. More pause-button mix tapes followed, as did demo tapes of my own
early productions. My first break came in 1994, when I met Barney
Doodlebug, a DJ/Doodler who was originally from Bristol, and now runs
the international Doodlebug events. He gave me my first Manchester gig,
in Dry bar on a Sunday night, and he also passed a demo tape of mine to
local label Rob’s Records, which resulted in them releasing my first 12”
single.
I gained regular bar gigs, as well as a short stint at Manumission
alongside fellow Stockport lad Treva Whateva. Following on from this, I
became a frequent guest at Headfunk, alongside residents Chubby Grooves
& Tom Simba (who went on to form Groove Armada with Andy Cato). This
night mutated into Eardrum, a DJ/jam night that I was resident at
alongside Chubby, Mark One and Andy Votel. Other Manchester residencies
included One Tree Island with Stefano, Guy Morley, Jah Conguero and Funk
Boutique; and Dubism, with Guy Morley and Dom from Blood and Fire.
On the recording side, I released further singles for Rob’s Records
subsidiary Pleasure, as well as sides for Echo Drop, Grand Central & Cup
of Tea. My work for Grand Central with Mark Rae inspired some 4-deck
club performances, including friendly ‘battles’ with DJ Food, which
introduced me to the Ninja Tune fold. My first remix was a DJ Food
megamix for their ‘Refried Food’ box set in 1996. Then more gigs followed.
Some of my first DJ gigs abroad were with Grand Central in the mid to
late 1990’s, and following my signing to Ninja Tune in 1999, I did
several European tours with the likes of Roots Manuva, The Herbaliser,
Dynamic Syncopation & Mixmaster Morris. The release of my Ninja album
‘Keep it Unreal’ also kick started my Manchester club night of the same
name, borne of a desire to play exactly what I wanted, rather than
having to fit in with the music policies of other club nights. After a
short stint at Planet K, the night moved to the Music Box, where it
remains to this day. The success of this night inspired me to take the
idea on tour, so that instead of turning up with my records and playing
the standard 2 hour guest DJ slot, I would recreate ‘Keep it Unreal’ in
different venues, and play for the whole night. A similar situation
occurred in Brighton, where after 7 years of regular gigs with Tru
Thoughts’ Robert Luis, we started the monthly Etch residency at the
Concorde 2 in 2001.
Another logical step for me was radio. It was such a vital part of my
own musical education that I jumped at the opportunity to guest on shows
such as First Priority’s late night function on Kiss 102 in the mid
1990’s, as well as the many RSL stations that had one month licences. It
was on these that I joined forces with Treva Whateva to present the ‘Hot
Pot’ show. The show then progressed to the national Student Broadcast
Network for a few years, and then onto Manchester’s Key 103 in 2002 for
an 18-month run, as well as a year long stint on the Virgin Trains
onboard radio channel.. I am not doing a regular radio show at the
moment, although my mixes do feature regularly on shows such as
‘Futureboogie’ on Kiss 101, and ‘Unfold’ on Juice 107.2.
I am now in a position where as a DJ I can play a lot of esoteric and
unusual music, as playing for the duration of the night enables me to
create a very relaxed atmosphere, before increasing the energy levels at
my own pace, taking in many kinds of music along the way. Over the
course of a night the music can include blues, jazz, soul, funk, 60's
R&B, disco, boogie, deep house, reggae, ska, rocksteady, dancehall,
electronica, electro, hip hop, african, latin, drum & bass, breakbeat,
and any combination of the above. The only real criteria is that the
music has to have soul!
Although I am a fairly technical DJ, it is vital to remember that the
most important skill for a DJ is to play great records in the right
order. Each record must complement the one before, and introduce the one
that follows. Beatmatching is an obvious way of linking records, but
there are other common factors, such as lyrical themes & complimentary
keys that a DJ can use to aid the transition. Each piece of music has a
mood and an energy level, and orchestrated carefully, you can create an
atmosphere where every record that comes in is precisely right for that
moment.
Anyway, enough of the past..what’s next?...Having been holed up in the
studio for the last two years, I am finally ready to unleash some new
music! The first release will be "Donkey Ride/Giant Pickle", to be
released as a 12" & download on Ninja Tune, around May 2008. There will
be several single releases this year, so keep those ears peeled!
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