Andy Carthy is one of those people who puts the ‘art’ back into the word artist. As Mr Scruff, he’s constantly innovating and improving his own sound, drawing inspiration from everything he sees and hears. His music is cheeky and fun, a stark contrast to the way he thinks about his work and the processes surrounding it.

The name Mr Scruff comes from his scruffy facial hair, and the cute line drawings that adorn all his CDs and records. He joins quite a few artists on the Ninja Tune label who each illustrate their own albums. Although everyone on the label seems to have a strong visual identity, within that, everyone seems to do their own thing. “I don’t think Ninja Tune particularly asks me to do my own covers, and I not really though about that before,” he says. “It’s obviously something Ninja must encourage in some way, but do it very cleverly because none of the artists notice,” he laughs. “I think it’s fun to illustrate your own music and if you can visually represent what you do in some way, it can help it make a lot more sense.”

He seems very pleased to be on the Ninja Tune label, and has a lot of good things to say about them. “I think Ninja are very good with who they sign in terms of being good at what they do and good ambassadors and sell records etc etc, but who are also going to stick their neck out and try something different, and it’s why Ninja has been going for nearly 20 years now,” he says proudly.

Known for his quirky and long lasting sets, I wondered if he ever gets stuck in a rut over being pigeonholed as ‘that quirky guy’. “There’s nothing overtly silly on the new album,” Andy counters. “There are a couple of daft track titles but that’s what happens when you’re in a studio day after day with the same few people, you start being stupid. There’s a lot of humour bouncing around when we’re making tunes because we’re doing something that’s fun and enjoyable, much the same way you make jokes around the office or whatever. There’s a mixture of moods on the album, and I think it’s important when DJing or making an album to cover a variety of moods.”

“I just make the music I’m comfortable making at the time, and it’s always influenced by so many different styles of music, it helps me avoid ever getting stuck in any rut. I’m not a member of a particular scene which is maybe governed by certain politics about what you are and are not allowed to do,” he adds, “so I’ve always had fun in the studio and just made sure I’ve created music which is interesting and engaging, and personally challenging for me.”

“The last thing I’d want to do is, say, after recording Get A Move On go ‘that’s done really well, I’m going to do another tune that sounds similar’ in the hope it will also do well. Because then I’ll be simply known as the cheeky jazz house chap and that’s all I’ll be able to do,” he smiles. “I like hopping around and trying different things, and it’s always things I’m into and I’m comfortable trying. And,” he adds, “the humorous and cheeky elements to my music mean when I do my gigs the crowd is always lovely and very up for it and friendly, always smiling, a good mix of people.”

The Fish Song, is one of my favourites, and I wondered how it came about. “I started it off with a tune called Sea Mammal which had one fish sample in it. Then only about a week later I found heaps more spoken word records with fish samples, so rather than kicking myself, I thought I’d just do another tune. That tune was called Whale, and at that point I realised I had a bit of a series going on here, so after that was Fish, and it just rolled on from there.”

“By the time of Fish,” he explains “people were sending me fishing instruction records and sea shanty records in the post! So it started off one daft sample and suddenly turned into this bizarre obsession. I mean I like fish and eat it and all that,” he chuckles, “but I think without that first sample the song could have been anything, or nothing at all. The fish stuff gave me a subject so I could make up stories out of a hundred different excepts from spoken word records. I think without that subject it could easily be quite random and rambling, and when you do have that subject you find it a lot funnier and entertaining.”

Much of his music is sample based, but it feels as though there is a lot of spontaneity and the jamming feel to the music, and Andy has an incredibly fascinating process happening in order to obtain that great vibe. “The reason I choose samples is there’s one moment in another person’s music that will just stick out and when I’ve got my sample radar on, bits of music will just stand out and go “Sample Me!” I think it’s holding on to that reason they jump out that’s important. There’s something about that bit of music that made me want to grab it, and that’s really capturing the spirit of creation. That piece of music is maybe where 4 or 5 musicians are creating something special, and you grab a few of them from other records. When putting it all together, it’s making sure all the parts really talk well together.”

“When I do work with an instrumentalist in the studio, it’s one on one so I don’t have that jam vibe,” he explains “but what I try to do is imagine each musical component as a different person. I’m always making up my own cartoon band in my head when making music, and imagining the glances these guys are giving each other. So I’m not imagining the bass player, I’m imagining the bassline as a character with a personality and facial expression.”

“Successful music is all about the interplay between the instruments and you can’t really have that without them paying attention to one another,” he continues. “Even though it’s all using a lot of equipment and sampling and knob twiddling you’re imbuing it with personality. It’s a way not to get too nerdy and technical about it, but can be as simple as giving the instruments names and imagine them all look at each other and having fun in the studio,” he grins.

Travelling around, playing massive 6 hour sets in hundreds of cities must take its toll, but Andy doesn’t see himself stopping for any reason any time soon. “I constantly feel there’s so much to learn and there’s so much music I’ve not heard. There’s just a constant source of inspiration for me, whether it’s new stuff coming out or old music I’ve not discovered yet and people I’m working with in the studio. Unless I get a bad back from carrying records!” he laughs.

Catch Mr Scruff getting on swimmingly at the following shows…

31st Dec – Rocket Bar, Adelaide
1st Jan – BBQ Beats, Brisbane
3rd Jan – Great Northern, Byron Bay
4th Jan – Days Like This, Sydney
8th Jan – The Prince, Melbourne
9th Jan – The Bakery Artrage Centre, Perth
12th Jan – Becks Bar, Sydney Festival

Going to the first ever Days Like This in Sydney? Registered members of ITM can buy their tickets for a tasty discounted price of $94.80+BF.. And be sure to check out ITM’s Festival Pages for more info on all the party action that’s going down over the NY period.