"I like tea and I like drinking tea," says Carthy. "People drink tea all
day, especially in Britain, but when they go out at night they can¹t get it
anywhere. Not everyone wants to drink tea in a club but for some it¹s an
energy drink like Red Bull."

Based in Manchester Carthy even went so far as to replace the chill out room
at his club night, Keep It Unreal, with a tea room. It even goes on tour in
the United Kingdom with him.

"It¹s just a cheeky thing to do, people don¹t expect to find it in a club,"
says Carthy. "I quite like the general incongruous thing of having a tea
store in a night club. Also there are people who really enjoy having a cup
of tea in a club. It¹s something to be different, not to be wacky, just
something that I like ­ me being me really."

Carthy has taken his love of tea to the extreme selling his own brand of Mr
Scruff tea, Grandad¹s Choice, through the Fairtrade group. Basically the
organisation allows consumers to buy directly off the organic tea farmer.

"It¹s nice to get involved in a bit of the Fairtrade business," says Carthy.
"I¹m not a big one for politics but it¹s nice to do you bit and raise
awareness without shoving it in people¹s faces. Everyone does t-shirts and I
thought let¹s do a few unusual bits. I like tea so that was a reason to do
the tea bags."

It¹s not just tea Mr Scruff enjoys; he¹s also a vinyl addict. Picking up on
skar and hip hop in the early 80¹s his collection now includes house,
electro, jazz, reggae, disco, funk and Latin. Hooking up with the Ninja Tune
label in 1996 he has released two albums for the imprint. It¹s his eclectic
DJ sets though, which often clock in at six hours, where he really made his
name.

"Whenever I used to play guest DJ spots it was always three hours plus,"
says Carthy. "When I got offered a residency I thought, why don¹t I just
play for the whole night and stop hogging everyone else¹s night. For me two
hours is nothing, I¹m barely getting warmed up. Playing venues for the first
time it means I can get to know the crowd and the venue and not just have
done that when I¹m finishing up. It¹s not the usual approach but it¹s
something I¹m comfortable with and have developed."

Carthy doesn¹t plan any of these marathon sets. How then did he managed to
scale down to 80 minutes for his first mix-CD, Keep It Solid Steel, and
still manage to make it sound like a Mr Scruff club set?

"It¹s a lot more planned than a normal set but I made sure the flow was
natural and fitted together," says Carthy. "Ironically it took me 18 months
to get a mix which I felt was natural and flowing. That¹s how I started
DJing ­ painstakingly putting together mixes that take a long time but sound
very natural."

The effort has paid off, even Madonna is a fan of the mix.

"Oh please, I¹m going to pass commenting on that. It always raises an
eyebrow but I¹m sick of talking about Madonna."

You haven¹t been asked to play any of her parties then?
"Not that I know of but it¹s not something I¹d be interested in."