Stockport Superstar Mr. Scruff (aka Andy Carthy) kept it unreal in Bournemouth on Thursday night (7th October) with a 5 hour set of his trade mark eclectic mix of northern, soul, rare groove, reggae, jazz-funk, hip hop, beats, latin, leftfield and his own hits.

Mr. Scruff has the enthusiasm for tea that would turn the head of the most die hard Pot Head Pixie from Planet Gong

The hottest gig in town at the Old Fire Station was a sell out. Even people from the Southampton gig the night before came to see if they could get in. As the venue is the main Bournemouth Uni hang out, the vast majority of punters were not surprisingly students. They were up for a big night out before they went home for the weekend and they didn't leave disappointed.

Mr. Scruff keeps a low profile during his sets whilst 2 large screens either side of him display cartoons of odd potato men and general doodlings of his philosophy on tea drinking. At one stage there was a visual 'Shout out to the Bournemouth massive' followed by the various local towns such as Poole, Christchurch, Wimborne and the not so well known Dorset villages of Winterborne Zelston and Gussage All Saints; names attractive to the Mr. Scruff sense of humour.

He's also got a humorous take on self-promotion as there's not too many in the music world that advocates drinking tea as much as Mr. Scruff. Mr. Scruff likes tea. Mr. Scruff has the enthusiasm for tea that would turn the head of the most die hard Pot Head Pixie from Planet Gong (one for the teenagers?). You can even buy a Mr. Scruff teapot along with the other usual tour merchandise. See www.mrscruff.com for further details as proceeds from the Tea Shop are donated to charity.

The reason for this sudden giging activity is the release of a mixed CD (whilst not everyone cup of tea, it's quite amazing that for an internationally known name DJ, this is the first ever commercially available mixed CD) and the more DJ friendly 3 x unmixed LP entitled Mr Scruff presents Keep It Solid Steel, Part 1. The tracks the Scruff has picked for the first instalment are a clear reflection of the vast variety of music he plays and the idiosyncratic fun of his gigs.

A total of 4 Parts are planned in the series. You might find included on one of the later editions a 50s style jazz orchestra style number. If so, you can thank Diz from Southampton who brought a 12î of a now defunct local band which she thought would fit the bill; and clearly most things do. Even though some industry-marketing gurus will tell you not to call a follow up CD Volume 2' after a successful Volume 1, you know this is not going to be the case in the Keep It Solid Steel series.

The following night he played under his 'Keep It Unreal' moniker at The Forum in Kentish Town, London. Obviously, he would rather be DJing than hanging around the South Coast to watch his home town football team lose against Bournemouth 2-1 on the same night. However, on the evidence of the gig and the CD/LP, there's a sunny future for the Stockport lad on all fronts; including the tea drinking industry.