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Issue 40 - 2012

Monthly newspaper and online publication targeting 18 to 35 year olds. The ultimate guide to the hottest parties, going out and having fun. Music, fashion, film, travel, festivals, technology, comedy, and parties! London, Barcelona, Miami and Ibiza.

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MR SCRUFF Issue 40 / 2012 when I am trying to look for a record on the shelf at home Genres are only good for HOUSE / TECHNO 33 www.guestlist.net 7 Zoe Savitz | zoe@guestlist.net Hey how's it going? Are you looking forward to a UK tour ? Yeah, good thanks. Indeed, I sort of tour all the time, not heavily, but quite constantly, so it kinda never ends really. More tour-ettes than tour! Because I play for quite a long time at every gig, I don't re- ally like doing say more than 3 or 4 in a row cos you just get knack- ered and can't do as good a job, if you see what I mean. So it's more just like weekends and it doesn't really feel like a tour because I'm at home in Manchester most of the time. So you never left Manchester then? Yeah, well, I do enough travelling so I don't really need to move anywhere else cos I'm away every weekend in some place or other, so it's nice to stick in one place. I've lived here for a long time and it's a great place for music and culture in general, so I don't really wanna live anywhere else. You played at KOKO in London on 19th May, what did people get? Emmm, I think with my shows the format's the same in terms of me playing, it's just the music that changes every time. You know the sound's going to be really good, it's going to be a re- ally good mixed crowd, the at- mosphere is going to be great with really friendly people, a lot of bass and just a very wide and wonderful selection of music. keep it very simple, no flashing lights, nice and dark, some simple visuals. Stuff like that. We've got a formula that no-one else really seems to be doing, just kind of touring and playing all night. I Ok, brilliant! And I've got to ask, where did the name Mr Scruff come from? It just came from me spending all my money on records and not on clothes when I was younger. Where's your favourite place in the world to play? I'm not really sure, I have played in some amazing places. I think Japan is pretty special, and Chi- cago. A lot of DJ's say Japan is one of their favourites. Yeah, just the culture there is amazing. For me there are loads of amazing places to visit, but for me Japan seems to be spot on when it comes to club ven- ues and sound systems, and the whole approach to how they make the venue work. New Zea- land is pretty amazing. Manches- ter of course. There aren't many DJ's out there that can say they are a DJ, producer, cartoonist and tea- drinker. So how did you get into the tea business? I had my own residency in Man- chester - it's still going on - it's been going on for a long time now. I started it about 13 years ago and it was just really from going out to other all-nighters and stuff like that. At a lot of the places I used to play in in the early 90's it was just nice to have a cup of tea late at night. So, I started doing that at my own clubs. About 12 or 13 years ago, when I started taking my own club night around the country which is me playing all night and taking over the venue, which is what I am do- ing in KOKO. We took the con- cept of the Manchester residency and re-created what makes the Manchester one really social, and the tea was part of that. It's just a daft little thing to do, but it seems to have grown out of control - which is great! It is nice to have a cup of tea after a night out and during a night out as well. Your music and your drawing passion. Which came first? I'm not sure really, I've been well into both as long as I can remem- ber, so I've always been into radio and messing around with bits of equipment ever since I was a kid and it's been the same with draw- ing. It's just two hobbies that I have that I never stop doing. I still feel like a big kid. My favourite song of yours is 'Get a Move On' I'm guessing you made the cartoons in that video? What's the concept? Yeah, basically there wasn't much concept behind it. I went into this video editing company, I did the images for the video and sort of co-edited it I suppose. A mate of ours called Warren was just do- ing us a favour and said, right we don't have a massive budget, so he helped us out and just edited a few of my daft cartoons, and spiced it up in time with the mu- sic. It turned out alright, I'm quite pleased with it. I spent the pre- vious 20 years editing sound, so it came quite naturally, timing is everything on that video. It's always nice to listen to a DJ and hear the influence of differ- ent genres which you can feel in your music. What genre would you put your music into? Genres are kind of convenient but I think if I tried to put it in a genre there will always be a few bits that don't quite fit. And to be quite honest, a lot of my favourite records by other people are ones that are a bit wrong or don't fit into a genre. I love orthodox spe- cialist music and proper exam- ples of genres of music - there is also lot of weird stuff around the edges that work. I like the mis- fits and the people that fall into the gaps and pigeon-holes. Every person in every music genre has their own take on it. Genres are only good for when I am trying to look for a record on the shelf at home, but when you are in a studio or you are DJ-ing, you're not thinking about the genre, you are just thinking about how the music makes you feel, and the energy of the music. Have you got anything exciting in the pipeline? Hopefully getting this album fin- ished. Hopefully it will be out later this year. by the KOKO gig. You can listen to it on my soundcloud page. I'm looking forward to going back, I think it's probably my 15th time there now. It should be out Wow, is that your favour venue in London? Well, there are two. KOKO, partly because it's just a really really nice building The first time you walk in there you can't help but be blown away by it, simply be- cause of the scale and the kind of opulence and the sound system is amazing there as well and also as a performer the staff are all really great and that's really nice cos the moment you get there you are having a laugh straight away. The other venue is Plastic People. They've got an incredible sound system there and the guy Ada who owns the club is a real music head and that is very rare. For more information go to http://www.mrscruff.com/ band called The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, which is due out very soon actually, I've got a re-mix of the

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