Since the ‘90s, DJ and producer Mr. Scruff has gone from left field beat-matcher to a bonafide fixture in British festival culture, deriving his own brand of sample-led electronica from a deep appreciation of soul and funk.
When we met up with the Mancunian backstage at Bestival we wanted to know: how do you balance the different creative demands of turntablism and production?
“For me there is beauty in repetition, and I like that whether it’s more of an EDM quantised thing or James Brown or Fela [Kuti] playing the same groove for 15 minutes,” he said. “I think it’s beautiful when you get inside a groove and get lost in it, but it’s good to combine the reliability and the toughness of quantised music with the looseness and mistakes of the human spirit. I’m really interested in that interface; it’s kind of halfway between man and machine.
“And that goes the same in the studio. You hit a little groove and you run with it and the energy and the feedback that you get from that, and the noises that you’re putting together - they shine a light on where you’re going next. I like a bit of both - I obviously piece it together with samplers and computers, but you’ve got to be careful not to iron out too many of the mistakes, which are what get you excited about it in the first place. Leave some mistakes in there! Who cares if it’s a bit out of time and out of tune.
“That’s part of the thrill of the ride, like when you’re on a rollercoaster, who wants it too clean? It’s part of what people like on a night out - a bit of risk, a bit of adventure - and the reliability. The push and pull the human element.”
But surely the processes of production are very different to playing live?
“I don’t think that they’re different at all - they definitely inform each other,” he says. “My knowledge of what studio equipment does and the studio processes I use are really helpful when I’m DJing. I want it to sound good and loud without wanting to make it sound painful. I use a lot of effects in both but not too much.
"The thought processes are similar in a studio, you make sure that you set up right, which is the equivalent of doing a sound check in a venue, you make sure you have all the stuff around so that technically you’re sorted. You might spend a couple of hours just setting up microphones or putting out headphones and monitors for guest musicians, and then you don’t have to stop in the moment to go and find some cables.
“The same goes for DJing. You might spend a couple of hours there in the afternoon - you might move some speakers around and need to EQ monitors. [You need to] make sure you’re liaising with the engineers properly and then once the doors are open, you’re just free wheeling and enjoying yourself like everyone else.”
This focus on the technical particulars probably informs Scruff’s attitude to playing familiar venues. His Keep it Unreal residency at Band on the Wall in Manchester celebrated its 18th year in 2017, while Camden's KOKO has become a second home for him down south. He’ll return on the weekend, alongside sets in Cardiff and Bristol.
“KOKO’s been a bit of a London residency for me over the last eight or nine years,” he says. “I’ve played there over 20 times and it’s just such an amazing venue. It’s got a brilliant sound system and mirror balls about the size of the Death Star. The dance floor’s actually quite cosy - and with a lot of big venues you sometimes feel a bit separate from the audience, but the stage at KOKO is quite low so people get in your face, it’s good.”
Mr Scruff Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu October 12 2017 - CARDIFF Clwb Ifor Bach
Fri October 13 2017 - BRISTOL Old Fire Station
Sat October 14 2017 - LONDON KOKO
Fri November 03 2017 - YORK Crescent
Sat November 04 2017 - NEWCASTLE Wylam Brewery
Sat December 02 2017 - MANCHESTER Band on the Wall
Fri December 15 2017 - DUBLIN Sugar Club
Sun December 31 2017 - MANCHESTER Band on the Wall
Fri January 26 2018 - OXFORD Bullingdon
Sat January 27 2018 - PORTSMOUTH Wedgewood Rooms
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