… I cornered Mr Scruff!

[conducted 28/06/09. Originally published on www.singleflush.com on 30/06/09]

I caught up with Andy backstage at the East Dance arena on Sunday.  He tells me how he finds planning sets boring; talks about his most recent album, “Ninja Tuna”; and whether there are any more fish songs on the way… He also asks me to pass on my regards to the Welsh Love God…

LR: So, how are you finding Glastonbury so far?

Scruff: I haven’t properly acclimatized yet, I’ve only been here about an hour and a half, it’ll be nice to get out there and have a bit of a wander around. Good weather as well!

LR: Yeah, you’ve got here just in time for the sun!

Scruff: Yeah, well I’ve spent the whole weekend up in Manchester – some mates have been helping me out with the garden, so I’ve been getting myself a bit of a farmer’s tan too!

LR: So you fit right in here! Your set tonight is quite a long one isn’t it?

Scruff: Yeah, I’ve got two and a half hours, which for a festival is pretty good. Last time I had an hour and a half, which is cool, but it’s good to get stuck in properly. Especially on a Sunday, you want to play a few different kinds of music, play some mellow stuff and some full on stuff. It’s good to get into it, relax, and have fun without having to look at your watch. I’m a deck-hog you see, so it’s good for me to have err… 150 minutes to play with. That took me a while to work that out there, you can tell it’s Sunday!

LR: Yeah! So, how do you plan your sets? How do you go about planning one this long especially, is it meticulously planned or ad hoc?

Scruff: I don’t at all, I just pack a load of records and see what happens. I know what I brought with me and I put them all in tempo order, and so I just go through the box. I’m not a band, y’know, I’ve got the whole history of recorded music at my fingertips pretty much. I’ve got a lot of inspiration from just making stuff up, just getting the atmosphere in the tent, just playing stuff and seeing what goes down well. When you’re in a good mood and you’re on it when you’re DJing it’s really good just to pull stuff out of the hat and see what happens. That’s always a really good situation to think of ideas, rather than doing it at home, and thinking ‘oh yeah, I’m going to do a really clever bit of mixing here’ – like that it just becomes a sterile, technical exercise.

LR: So it’s much more about pleasing the crowd, and kind of feeling their vibes?

Scruff: Yeah, it’s like a conversation. You don’t plan conversations – well, I mean you might have planned a few questions to ask me, and you know, I might have planned a few options to start off with… You just make sure you come with a very strong introductory record and make sure the one that you finish with has got a big fan-fair at the end of it, and whatever happens in the middle, happens. I just think planning stuff is so boring. It’s been such a nice weekend in Manchester and, you know, am I going to just stay inside listening to records or am I going to go outside and get some of this rare sunshine?! The weather won out this weekend!

LR: So, how many of your own tunes do you play in your sets?

Scruff: To me, my own stuff is just another record in the box. I know some people expect me to play some of my own, so I’ll play one or two, but generally it’s just if the mood’s right I’ll play it, if not, there’ll be something else that suits the mood better.

LR: Your new album, Ninja Tuna, is on a totally different record label to Ninja Tune, is that right? I mean, it’s to do with Ninja Tune obviously, but it’s your own label?

Scruff: No, it just looks like mine! But because I put out the album then about eight singles off the album in about nine months, we thought it was enough to sort of give it its own little sub-label, which is just my own take on Ninja really. It’s just a nice visual way to tie in all the releases, so people can associate them with the album. They still do all the hard work, I just do all the cartoons, you know, the fun stuff, and they do all the number crunching stuff!

LR: Sounds good! Who was your favourite person to work with from the new album, because you worked with a lot of different people didn’t you?

Scruff: Yeah, well everyone that I work with is someone that I’m inspired by, and get along with, you know, they’re mates and they’re really talented people. I’d like to work with them all again. I’d say Andy Kingslow [http://www.myspace.com/akingslow], who was my main collaborator in the studio – he’s a great instrumentalist – and I’d say he was probably the most important in helping shape the sound of the album. I tend to work with a lot of different artists. I mean, the last time I worked with Roots Manuva for instance was ten years ago, on the Keep It Unreal album, so maybe once every ten years we’ll get together and do a tune!

LR: Are you going to be able to see him play later or are you clashing?

Scruff: Yeah, I think we’re clashing, which is a bit gutting really. But I’m sure we’ll cross paths again. The festival season is young, so I’m sure I’ll see him in various states of drunkenness in several fields over the summer!

LR: So, any other plans for the rest of the festival? This is the last night I suppose, but is there anyone you want to see?

Scruff: Yeah, well I’ve just been to see Amadou and Mariam on the Pyramid stage, they were great fun. I’ve had a wander round, but after we’ve done a line check and had some food I think it’ll be time to go on.

LR: You’re not going to see Tom Jones then?

Scruff: I think he’s on quite soon actually…

LR: Yeah, that’s where we’re going next!

Scruff: I just bring so much stuff with me; it takes hours to set up. So I might hear the Welsh love God from here, but I won’t get to see him unfortunately!

LR: What are your future plans then, short term? Any more releases in the pipeline?

Scruff: Yeah, I’ve got a re-issue of Keep It unreal coming out on Monday, so tomorrow… although I suppose this won’t go out for a few days so, ahem, I’ve just re-released Keep It Unreal, which has been re-mastered and has six extra tracks on it from the original sessions that haven’t been out before. And after that, I’ll just get back in the studio, you know, have some fun. Probably get a few more tour dates this autumn. I’m looking forward to getting back in the studio, but I’ll just wait for the weather to get a bit worse first. My studio’s in my basement, so I don’t like the thought of getting in there on a baking hot day when I should be outside trying to get the blue shades out of my skin and get myself a little bit pink! The studio’s for hibernation – I’ll do a few tour dates this autumn, and then switch the drum machines back on!

LR: Are you planning any more songs involving fish?

Scruff: Probably not, I’ve done five so far!

LR: So you think that’s enough? I suppose people might start thinking weird things if you did too many more!

Scruff: Well I think people think weird things already! I just don’t want to string something like that out longer than it’s comfortable. If I get some really good ideas, then fine, but y’know, I’ve done five songs about fish, how many more can there be without re-treading old ground? When I was making them it was fun, I was creating something fresh, but now I think I’ve gone as far as I can go with it. It’s kind of a format, you know, spoken word verses and daft sing-a-long choruses. You never know though, I might find a different subject, acorns or donkeys or something…

LR: I’m looking forward to it! Well, thank you very much, and best of luck with your gig in a bit.

Scruff: Enjoy Tom Jones, say hello to him from me! I’ll be stuck in here sound checking, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it for later.