|
Formerly
a fine art student part time at Sheffield Uni, Scruff decided
to explore his strange passion both in rounded line drawings
and music. An electro-ska-hip-hop kid and bedroom bod from
what hip hop fellas call time, Carthy started making tapes
in 1983 using the very finest in pause button technology.
His passion for hearing music that he couldn't hear out anywhere
else led him into the world of DJing - first of all as a kid
with one deck - then hearing electro albums and being determined
to mix. The result was that by 1994 he was out DJing in clubs.
Despite
DJing being his first and foremost love, Scruff had always
messed about with the recording process; age 8 he started
making up tapes of pretend radio shows (oh where are those
tapes now?) and then faffing about on drum machines; by the
age of 13 he was having a laugh with mates being in silly
bands with silly names. The very end result of all this was
a good few vinyl outings on Robs Records and Pleasure, including
the now-legendary track, "Chicken In A Box" - simple
maybe, but simply bloody barmy-good. "A happy accident,"
he claims. "Well, more like an educated guess..."
Whilst his total love of DJing informs his music making ability,
he doesn't consciously try and make something that will work
on the dancefloor; he's more likely to want to know "Do
you like it? Does it make you go wibbly. Does it frimble?"
Questions we should all be asking ourselves.
Since
his first vinyl excursion he has recorded for over 25 labels
including Warp, Sirkus, Disorient, Blood & Fire, Cup Of
Tea and, of course, Ninja Tune. He has remixed Nightmares
On Wax and Bim Sherman and refused to remix Nigel Kennedy.
He's worked with Mark Rae and Grand Central. He has DJed all
over the bloody shop, turning down more gigs than he takes
on. If they won't let him have a long spot, he doesn't bother;
a 'take-the-money-and-run' merchant he certainly is not. He
has dug in crates and found obscure records with references
to marine fauna. He's done bloody loads, basically, all of
it with more than a vague hint of humour. France Telecom (the
French equivalent of BT) were suitably impressed and used
his single "Get A Move On" as part of their national
TV advertising campaign - the Scruffy one didn't see it as
something to get excited about. And he's got more fans. Most
notably, Madonna recently said in Mixmag of music she was
playing at home, "And Mr Scruff I love, that weird little
album ('Keep It Unreal') that's got so much personality".
Mr Scruff was characteristically unimpressed.
A
brief summary for those who always want more:
Resident
DJ: Monthly @ Keep It Unreal, Planet K, Manchester; Monthly
@ Off Centre, 333 Old Street, London; regularly @ Extended
Family, Islington Bar, London
Regular
Guest spots: Phonic Hoop, Brighton; The Bomb, Nottingham
Grand
Central show on Radio Nova (broadcasting across France
on Sats)
Preferred
set length: 5 hours Favourite colour: unknown
Influences
(in order of appearance) - Blues, 2 Tone, Ska, Nasty pop music,
Electro, Hip Hop, Soul, House, Funk, Jazz, Reggae
The
Mr Scruff Master Plan: "I'm not trying to do anything
very specific"
Addictions:
vinyl - likes to educate himself in all music - if he
hasn't got any Indian film music then when he's got the money
he'll make sure he gets some
Drawings:
you must have seen the characteristic Mr Scruff line drawings
which have graced the pages of many magazines from Jockey
Slut to The Face. He's recently taken this one step further
by animating them into video
www.mrscruff.com
|
