The fundance kid

Fish. Fish. BLEARRGH. Fish. Fish. HERRINGS!” Or so goes one of the tracks (‘Ahoy There!’) on Andy McCarthy aka Mr Scruff’s new album. Not the most normal of subjects to finish your eagerly awaited second long-player with, but Mr Scruff isn’t the most normal of musicians. When hotpress calls, the droll Mancunian informs us he’s just back from a couple of days “pottering about” in “that London”, he mentions cups of tea at least three times in our half-hour chat, likes a few pints and is obsessed with all things typically English – donkeys, pies, chippies and so on. Not typical pursuits of a man in his late 20s, are they?

“Well, 30s actually – and I’ve got the waistline to prove it,” says McCarthy. “There’s just so many quirky things about the UK – things like odd place names, pickled eggs and all this stuff, it’s great. I just find it odd and I like odd things.”

Humour is a key element with Mr Scruff. His last album, Keep It Unreal, was a mixed bag of hip-hop, downtempo and housey bits (and where the first tribute to fish cropped up, called… er… ‘Fish’) – all served up with felt like a wry grin.

“I’m lucky enough to have wrangled myself into a situation where people expect me to be silly and play a wide variety of mad records, to me that’s fantastic. It’s not forced – and because of that, it stands out. We’re not trying to do a ‘corporate-yet-youthful’ concept… we just like to be silly and people are attracted to that. It’s very natural and relaxed.”

Relaxed he may be, but McCarthy is definitely an artist that has managed to do things on his own terms. While all around seem to be losing their heads (heard Paul Oakenfold’s new album?), Scruff’s only concession to the obvious has been the licensing of the rather big ‘Get A Move On’ to an advert for a French company.

“Making money and risk-taking are not compatible,” he says. “That’s about playing safe and making money. I mean, what makes a night sometimes is a DJ playing a record that clears the dancefloor – that’s something you’ll remember as opposed to the latest uplifting house anthem.

If hearing mad music is your bag, seeing Mr Scruff DJ is probably advisable. He rarely plays less than four hours and nearly always plays to full houses (Of his recent sell-out Irish tour, he says: “The crowds were great… they always seem to drink quite a bit too”). Indeed, such is Scruff’s draw that his DJ gigs have transcended the traditional ‘sweaty bloke with record box’ routine into being something more than that – something approaching concert status. How the hell did this happen?

“I don’t know really. I think it’s to do with the cheekiness (this is a word that crops up regularly in our conversation), the variety that’s there – people aren’t sure what to expect. People come in with a grin on their face because they’ve heard the daft ‘Fish’ song, or read a flier or whatever.”

His gigs are a world apart from that of the mass-market superclub – how does he feel about the much-reported demise of said institutions?

“I think it’s about time. There’s so much money and greed involved that people are bound to find out eventually. A lot of the bigger stuff to me is the same as S Club 7 or Pop Idol or something like that.”

And so to the new album. The wonderfully titled Trouser Jazz featuring more of McCarthy’s unique doodles that are fast becoming a trademark.

“They’re just my little daft friends and they do what I tell them,” he reveals.

It’s a mixed bag of beats, breaks and oddities – from the jazz-noodle of recent single ‘Shrimp’ to the tongue-in-cheek lunacy of ‘Ahoy There!’, the gang’s all here.

And finally to the real dirt, the catchline, the money shot. Mr Scruff – connoisseur of pies, noodle jazz, dancefloors and tea – answer for us the question everyone wants to know: what’s your favourite jam? (check the website!)

“Er, I like odd ones, one with odd flavours… like cinnamon and plum. I like trying different sorts of tea and different sorts of meals. Yeah, I think my musical curiosities have crossed over to food quite a bit.”