Mr. Scruff: Tea, Dance Music Addict

There are two things one needs to know about Mr. Scruff in early 2009.

First: He has a new album. Although Ninja Tuna was released in October, the U.K. DJ will be releasing several singles off the uncharacteristically (but thankfully) danceable record in the coming months.

Second: Mr. Scruff (real name Andy Carthy) makes tea. Fans already know this because he's been selling it at shows for years. But if you haven’t experienced live Scruff, you should know that he has a tea shop that's doing really well.

Combine Mr. Scruff's music with Mr. Scruff's tea and you have a perfect brew.

Visit Mr. Scruff's online tea shop and you’ll find four flavours of ethically and environmentally sound organic teas. Two of them (English Breakfast and Yerba Mate) are refreshingly traditional, while the others (Forest Fruits and Mint & Chilli) are a little off the wall. This quartet is worth mentioning in detail because their characteristics are easily comparable to the songs on Mr. Scruff's latest release.

"My favourite tea depends on the time of day," Mr. Scruff explains over the phone. "English tea is probably my favourite 'cause I'm a proper tea addict, but probably Mint & Chilli for second favourite because it's really addictive.

"You've got to want another cup immediately after you've finished the other one. To me, that's the mark up of a good cup of tea.

"One of our best selling teas is Mint & Chilli. That's just some dried chillis and peppermint. It's amazing, and everyone can’t believe how nice it tastes. I'd rather put two flavours together and have it work than try and blend 50 and have it not work out."

The same goes for a Mr. Scruff album. The new one has the same name as the new Ninja Tuna sub-label that was essentially created by Ninja Tune to handle Mr. Scruff’s constant flow of 12-inch releases.

"I think roughly half of Ninja’s output at the moment is my stuff," he confesses.

Ninja Tuna (the album) keeps things simple. It doesn't try to cover too much ground, but instead sticks to the solid basics of hip-hop, jazz and bass-heavy club tracks.

"Every track has to show off something different about the album," says Mr. Scruff. "It's almost like a different view on the same approach.

"You don't want it too much the same, but not too different as well. You know when it's right. All the tunes have been tested out during all my events, so it's just something that comes out."

Those events are usually six-hour DJ sets, and Mr. Scruff will play several of them in Europe in the coming weeks.

"I love going to clubs and DJing, so maybe because I'm doing that as a more all-encompassing thing, more than 15 or 20 years ago, maybe that's come across," says Mr. Scruff. "I think it’s important to have a lot of exuberance in the music, and I definitely really enjoy the album."

For proof of this Mancunian's level of enjoyment, watch this video for "Donkey Ride":

You can see Mr. Scruff here:

March 7 Manchester, England @ Keep It Unreal
March 19 Leeds, England @ Club Stylus
March 20 Norwich, England @ University Of East Anglia
March 21 London, England @ Koko
March 27 Ghent, Belgium @ Minnemeers
Mach 28 Paris, France @ Le Social
April 4 Manchester, England @ Keep It Unreal
April 17 Berlin, Germany @ Icon
April 18 Frankfurt, Germany @ Enzo
April 30 Prague, Czech Republic @ Roxy
May 2 Manchester, England @ Keep It Unreal