"The music I use is already timeless to me, when you're already using a lot of classic sounds already, another 10 years on top of that isn't very much really. I'm not one for trendy gimmicks. I prefer solid, simple ideas."
Ten years on from his breakthrough album Mr Scruff is still Keeping it Unreal, playing his trademark six hour sets, creating his own distinctive potato head visuals and generally, causing a ruckus. We caught up with the rumoured fish affectionado ahead of this month's Button Factory gig and found no truth behind those Troy McClure-esque rumours. Dang.
You're playing here on the 12th of June, what can Irish fans expect? Will it be a 6 hour set?
Yeah, whenever I play, I always play all night. It’s a lovely venue with pretty decent Guinness, a good sound system and great crowds, so I’ll just build on the last time. I always play a wide range of stuff and I’ve played a few times at the Button Factory and feel very comfortable there. So just have fun and let loose really. The usual Scruff thing ― just lots of different kinds of music and a really good party vibe.
You seem to have a lot of eclectic influences from almost every genre, is there any music you don't like?
What’s with the sea-life references?
It just came from charity record shopping and that sense of humour. I just happened to have a lot of under water references. There’s no particular obsession with the sea. It just what the charity shops were giving up to me at the time. People seem to think I’ve some obsession with whales and fish but it could’ve been about any subject, it just happened to be about the sea. It was just nice to give a bit of focus to those tracks by making them about a specific subject, rather than having just random daft spoken word. It was a sort of geeky comedy challenge to try make a story about a specific subject of hundreds of snippets from different records.
You've done a lot of musical collaborations, have you ever collaborated on the visuals?
Yeah I have done previously when I did a single with Fingathing. A lot of my videos have been in conjunction with a Manchester company called The Soup. I do enjoy that and it’s good fun. Although my cartoon style is quite limited, in terms of how far it can develop as it’s so simple, we do enjoy trying to push it in different directions and seeing what happens.
Why did you choose the World Development Movement as benefactors of 'Make Us a Brew'?
I work with a lot of different charities, but World Development Movement especially. I’ve been working with them for about 13 years, since they asked me to get involved with a compilation they were doing. Myself and my friend Guy used to DJ at a world music night called One Tree Island back in the 90s, and they asked us to compile a compilation album for them, the proceeds of which went to their charity. So I think the fact they approached me for my music, meant that from very early on we had a great connection. So we’ve just stuck with them really. We have moved the charities around, if we’re travelling and someone asks ― we give the money to a local charity instead. We must have supported 40 or 50 charities over the years, but WDM is the main one. They campaign for awareness for a lot of important issues that are neglected or people don’t know much about. I think it’s really important.
You studied art at Sheffield Hallam, did you come up with your potato head visuals there or was cartooning discouraged?
Those cartoons are a lot older than that. I was in my early teens when I started drawing in that style. When I was 15, I was pretty much drawing as I am now. So it came out a long time before I studied for my degree, and I’m still doing it now. So I just hit on that style and carried on, it’s almost like my handwriting now.
Sheffield is a city pretty renowned for its musical output. Was the scene there an influence on you?
Not really. No more an influence that any other place. A lot of electronic music came from Sheffield like Human League and Cabaret Voltaire and that kind of thing. Then later on the Warp label, which started in 1990, and all their output ― a lot of that crazy electronic music was hugely influential to me. But I think that would’ve had an influence anywhere. I was listening to it before I went to Sheffield. I was never a proper student there, I was working and studying part-time so I didn’t ever live in Sheffield or go out in Sheffield. I never really absorbed any of the cities’ musical culture in a direct way. It was all from records.
You’ve allowed your music to be used in a good bit of advertising. Have you taken any flak for it?
Kind of. ‘Get a Move on’ was in a lot of adverts in the late 90s. I’d probably think twice about doing that these days, now I know what these big companies get up to. I’m not used now in adverts in the last few years. It is used on telly a lot, but I don’t get say in that, like if its used in the background, when you release a record you relinquish that say in what people do with your music Sometimes it gets used in really average situations, but sometimes it’s like ‘Wow, that’s brilliant’. There are really cool people who say you’re a sell out ‘because more people hear you music, but in America, advertisements get people into my music as my music wasn’t played on radio. It’s an odd situation. Aphex Twin has this as well, when he advertised Pirelli tyres in the 90s. So you were getting quite experimental electronic music on mainstream TV, but all the radio stations were saying: ‘This is far too specialist, we can’t play this in the day time’. But you’d switch the telly on and there it was. I think telly is rubbish, I hate and I don’t watch it. But television adverts are one of the only ways that an independent electronic artist is gonna get their music heard in the mainstream. In one way you’ve got to get your music out there in any way, but I’m a lot more considerate of how the music is used nowadays, now I definitely think twice. You learn from experience.
‘Kalimba’ was used for Windows 7, was that a good experience?
I think so. All the web advertising is an odd thing. Oh, that was given out with Windows, wasn’t it? All that kind of stuff I just hear about it, I’m not really into computers or television, so these kinds of things seem to pass me by. But it’s one of things where someone buys a computer and the track is there, in one way it’s giving it away but how else are they gonna hear it? They’re not gonna hear it on radio. Unless I find it really offensive I kinda let my music be used for stuff. Windows was quite a good way of reaching people, and it’s not really tied to something. Your music isn’t being used to advertise a particular brand of sausage roll, it’s just there and people can share it with their mates or whatever.
Your earlier stuff like 'Keep it Unreal' haven't really dated. Why do you think this is?
I think because I’m not really that bothered at what’s going on at any particular time. I don’t really make tunes that sit neatly in any particular genre. A lot of the music I use is already timeless to me, when you’re already using a lot of classic sounds already, another ten years on top of that, isn’t a very much really. I surround myself by so much music that I don’t make the mistake of trying to make it sound too current or too trendy. My production style is very open. It’s a real mish-mash of stuff, so it can’t be pinpointed so easily, and hopefully has a bit more longevity. I’m not one for gimmicks; I prefer solid, simple ideas.
What are you listening to at the moment?
The new album by Quantic is really good. I managed to blag a copy of that a few months back and I’ve been playing incessantly. That should be out in a few months. He’s been living in Columbia for a few years, working with some incredible musicians. So that hasn’t been off my stereo. I went to Chicago last week and bought a load of mad, old, obscure disco records too, so that’s been great fun. I listen to a lot of old and new music all the time. I make sure I’m constantly hearing music that’s new to me so I can get excited about it and hopefully pass some of that enthusiasm to the people on the dance floor.
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