[4] After a brief spell working with Mark Rae, he moved to the larger Ninja Tune label and subsequently released the albums Keep It Unreal and Trouser Jazz.

", is built around "Bird's Lament (In Memory of Charlie Parker)" by Moondog[5] and has been used in several commercials, ranging from Lincoln and Volvo automobiles to France Télécom and GEICO insurance.

In November 2006, Ninja Tune confirmed that the eighth Solid Steel record would be mixed by J Rocc and the ninth would be Volume 2 from Mr. Scruff.

Other Solid Steel mixes have been released by fellow Ninja Tune artists including The Herbaliser, Hexstatic, DJ Food, and Amon Tobin.

He has a wide array of remixes to his name and has also produced tracks for others – notably "Echo of Quiet and Green" for sometimes-collaborator Niko on her 2004 album Life on Earth.

[10] Mr. Scruff began selling tea from a small room at the Manchester club, the Music Box (where he was resident DJ around 2000), with the proceeds going to charity.

Mr. Scruff subsequently started an online tea company, Make Us a Brew, and produced his own range of fair trade teabags which used to be sold in department store chains Selfridges, Waitrose and Booths.

[12] He was the joint owner (with his manager Gary McClarnan) of Teacup Kitchen, located in Thomas Street, Manchester,[13] though this closed in March 2020 with the first COVID-19 lockdown and never reopened.

However, marine references continue in his work, including the track "Shrimp" from Trouser Jazz and the title and cover art of his albums, especially Ninja Tuna (2008) and its companion release, Bonus Bait (2009).

Mr. Scruff and Treva Whateva (his Ninja Tune label-mate and friend from Stockport) recorded a weekly hour-long radio show (with frequent guest, Jon Hill), some episodes of which can still be found on samurai.fm.