Saturday 15 May | The Warehouse | 10pm | £12.50 Tickets

Genre-hopping Manchester DJ/producer Mr Scruff is back in town touring his Keep It Unreal night and anyone who’s caught one of his marathon sets in the past will know what to expect, this time around we’ve got a whole five hours to look forward to as well…

We caught up with him to talk tunes, gig preparation (there’s lots of it in his case) and how he ended up running a tea company…

Hi Mr Scruff, I’ve just had a look at your schedule for May, four gigs in four days in Scotland! Looking forward to it?

Yes indeed, it’s a while since we’ve been on the tour bus, and we’re gigging for most of May.  I’ll be doing a total of 20 hours of DJing in Scotland over those four days, so I’ll be on top form & really focussed.

Next month is the 11th birthday of Keep It Unreal in Manchester, that’s quite an achievement for a clubnight these days, tell us a little bit about how it all began…

In 1999 I was asked by a Manchester venue if I’d like to do a regular club night.  Up until then, I’d had many residencies & guest spots around Manchester, but this was the first opportunity that I had to do my own night.  The first night in June 1999 was the launch party for my Keep It Unreal album, and we’ve done one every month since then!

…and do the sets you play at the Manchester night differ at all from what we can expect when you’re up this way?

Every set I play is different, but the attitude & approach is always the same…I play all night, and cover loads of styles of music.  Expect the unexpected!

Right, three records (old or new) you’ve picked up of late that truly excite you:

Soul Jazz Orchestra ‘Rising Sun’ (Strut LP)

Flying Lotus ‘Cosmogramma’ (Warp LP)

Ramadanman ‘Glut’ (Hemlock 12″)

You’re well-known for arriving early and making sure everything’s up to scratch before your gigs, what’s happening during this time?

We spend about 3 or 4 hours setting up. I bring all my own DJ kit, much of which is custom-made, and we set that up on a heavy table weighed down with concrete slabs to prevent jumping, feedback & to tighten up the low-end frequencies.  We then set up all the visuals kit on stage as well, test the in-house PA, do a soundcheck, program the lights, hang up drapes if necessary, set up the teashop & do any final tweaks to get the mood just right.  All this extra work is worth it, as I know that it’ll sound great, and nothing will go wrong during the night, which means I can play all my favourite tunes & they’ll hit the spot!

Punters in the club on Saturday will notice your famous tea stall, how did things jump from that to the full-on business which is now Make Us A Brew?

We started the tea stall about 10 years ago as a daft thing to do in the back room of my regular Manchester venue. When we started to tour the Keep It Unreal night around the UK from 2002, we took the tea shop as well, and people responded really well to it. Fast-forward a few years & we were selling thousands of cups of tea at festivals, so we thought ‘why not do our own teabags?’, and so, four years ago, the ‘Make Us A Brew‘ tea company was formed.

Any new records/studio stuff on the horizon from yourself? I’ve noticed it’s the 20th anniversary of Ninja Tune (christ!) this year too, anything special planned for that?

I’ve just released a new single on Ninja Tune…Mr. Scruff Vs Kirsty Almeida ‘Pickled Spider’ (video below), plus Ninja are planning some very special surprises for their 20th anniversary which I’ll have a hand in (possibly a Ninja Tune zimmer frame!)

……

So there you go, I’d quite like one of those zimmers myself actually (aye, only if it was a limited edition) anyway, hopefully that’s whetted a few appetites (and whistles) for what should be a fantastic night,  as always there are plenty of mixes etc to check out on Scruff’s excellent website to get you further in the mood…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z8p7sHkz3I]