What's on your rider?Alcohol and tea.
What would be on your fantasy rider?Catering from El Bulli. A masseuse. Alcohol and tea.
What's the best gig you've been to?Erykah Badu in Vicar St a few years ago was fantastic – an incredibly tight band, and her singing was mind-blowing.
And the worst?We were in a restaurant once where they were playing a video of a Shakira concert on the TV. That was pretty tough going.
What are your favourite and least favourite venues?Our favourites are the ones with great sound and great staff. Aesthetically speaking, the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco is a beautiful place. Our least favourite venues are ones where we've had bad experiences with bookers or unhelpful management. Fortunately, that doesn't happen very often.
Who is the most famous person to have shown up at one of your gigs?Jeppe Skovbakke from I Got You on Tape.
Chatting between songs – good or bad?Good in moderation, if it helps draw the audience further into the world you're creating.
Groupies. Would you?No. (Maybe).
How many roadies does it take to change your lightbulbs (ie, how big is your entourage)?We do everything ourselves. The concept of an entourage is foreign.
Any useful stage tips?If given bottled water by the venue, don't assume it's still water. Check before opening.
What's the worst thing ever thrown at you?A bottle of fizzy water, which our guitarist then opened.
If you could be in any other band, which one?We are actually all involved in other bands and solo projects that we love, so we're pretty busy as it is. However, if in some parallel universe The Cramps or Portishead or Kanye West or Broadcast were hiring, one or the other of us would probably be tempted to moonlight.
Who's invited to your aftershow party?Everyone! (BYOB)
What's your best tour story?There was the time our drummer got stranded on the Faroe Islands on the day we were playing a festival in Denmark, and we had two hours to find and teach another drummer our set. A valuable scheduling lesson was learned. There was also the time we showed up at the airport on the wrong day. Another valuable lesson. Then there's just the insanity that happens when a bunch of musicians are crammed into a vehicle for a long journey. No lessons will ever be learned in that respect.
In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea. The Unusual History of Ether plays Waterford on Monday and Dublin on Wednesday
