Mr Scruff - Interview - 2002

Mr Scruff has a vernacular all his own. just as Mohammad Ali’s speech was littered with fight-talk, Andy Carthy’s verbiage is strewn with words and phrases that reflect his the unique personality of his music: ‘get silly’, ‘daft’, ‘leap about’, ‘wonky’, ‘cheeky’, ‘irreverent’. Scruff’s music is the audio representation of these sentiments, and as his second long-player waits to drop, CMU spoke to him about soul, machines, DJing and 2D cartoons made in Flash: 

“When is was a kid I listened to a lot of the two-tone/ska stuff – the Selector and so on. I then discovered my Dads original Ska collection and old 60’s R&B finding; which made me curious about old music. Then in 1983 I heard an electro record. that kind of led on to hiphop and to early house: it was a natural progression backwards as well – discovering soul and funk and breaks.”

Growing up in the seclusion of his native Stockport, Scruff was developing a healthy appetite for the musical melting pot, producing mix tapes to sell in shops and for the radio.  

“By 1994 I had already been DJing for ten years in my bedroom. I was using anything I could get my hands on: drum machines etc. I was locked in my bedroom for some time before I did anything, so I discovered lots of music and tried a lot of things together, mixing it up. I was and still am playing hiphop, funk, soul  reggae, 60’s R&B, some mod stuff, some psychedelic stuff, deep house, African music, jazz, Brazilian and Cuban music – a lot of South American music, GOOD breakbeat, a bit of drum & bass and everything in between that doesn’t have a name. That was an important gestation period that set the tone of what I would later do.”

A marathon remix for DJ Food on the leading leftfield label, Ninja Tune, put Scruff in touch with a world of like minded people: and of course they loved the music that Scruff was now making: which had elements of hiphop, funk, jazz, breakbeat – but all wrapped up in Scruff’s own inimitable style. Tracks like the frenetic flute fuelled ‘Chicken In A Box’ and the delightfully humorous ‘Fish’ became personal signatures and stylistic landmarks.  

Mr Scruff’s 1999 album ‘Keep It Unreal’ saw one track in particular become a gradual classic throughout club land: ‘Get A Move On’. 

“It was slow-burner. It would have been awful if it had gone into the charts because it would have just burned out really quickly. As it is I can still play that record and get a great response. It’s the best way to get known: slowly.”

Although tracks like ‘Shrimp’ show that all the cheery-chirpy personality is still very much in evidence, this album shows a more serious side to the Scruff repertoire, with collaborations with the likes of Homelife and vocalist Nico.

“I’m confident this time, I wanted to keep that rough edge – in a sort of wonky way. It’s like in soul music: soul is the truth and if you edit it out and wobble it around then you’re not telling the truth. That human element is very important – the cheeky mistakes. Like with ‘Shrimp’, he [the friend who supplied the guitar organ/synth solo] came in and we just did the solo in one take – when you listen to it you can hear them getting their heads round. I’m very nerdy, but I try not to pin things down: self-imposed restrictions can be healthy - I don’t want to lose the soul in the in the machine. I have quite an anarchic studio technique.”

An essential part of the Scruff package is the artwork: potato-head men with gold chains who drive lop-sided buses with 2D dogs on strings. 

“I’ve been doing those cartoons for about 15 or 20 years now. They’re just daft. I think that my drawings show my irreverent approach to things. I want people to approach the music with a big grin, leap about and have a great time. Music – especially niche music – has a lot of unwritten codes, like record shops: they can be daunting and unfriendly. It’s nice to do what I like, and get silly.”    

After the highly successful national Keep It unreal Tour Mr Scruff has already got a few more dates up his sleeve, not to mention the continuation of his nights in Manchester and Brighton, “I play all night: and you get what you're given.”