In conversation with
TONY CLAYTON-LEA
What's on your rider?I wish we had some more interesting stuff, but it's actually pretty basic. Some booze, some hummus, some fruit. We have a few smokers in the band, so we have American Spirit cigarettes on there, but we've never gotten it.
What's your pre-gig ritual/ routine?I hate to be boring, but we really don't have any sort of rituals or routines. We do a lot of eating and drinking and sitting around, so that's mostly what we do before the shows.
How do you get to the gig – limo, taxi, walking?We tour in a Sprinter van in Europe, and in a big old Ford van in the States.
What's the best gig you've been to?The best in recent memory was Cass McCombs at the Primavera club tour in Barcelona.
And the worst?Snapdragon, a bar band playing a block party on St Patrick's Day in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was amazing how horrible they were.
What are your favourite and least favourite venues?Cafe du Nord in San Francisco is one favourite. Also, Parkteateret in Oslo. The least favourite would be the Grog Shop in Cleveland.
Who is the most famous person to show up at one of your gigs?Neil Young. Seriously.
Most embarrassing on-stage moment?I've told several horrible jokes that have been lost on audiences. I've also had to take a pee in the middle of a set a few times, and had to excuse myself, which is always a little embarrassing. I think I had to do that the last time we played in Dublin, actually.
What's your crowd-pleasing number?It's usually the pots and pans we pass out to the audience for I Woke Up Today.
What's the most you've ever paid for a gig ticket?I paid a few hundred bucks for the Coachella Festival several years ago. And I paid $100 to see Radiohead while I was in high school.
What's the worst thing ever thrown at you?Maybe our own pots and pans after I Woke Up Today.
What's your best tour story?We decorated the interior of our tour van in the US with cutouts from Playboyto screw with the Canadian border patrol once. They kept us at the border for hours with no toilet breaks, and tried to convince us that a grapefruit rind we had was actually psychedelic mushrooms.
Port O’Brien play Crawdaddy, Dublin on Thursday
