Gruff Rhys
What's on your rider?Four tins of Pale Ale, a tub of elbow grease, 10 Euro Zillions scratch cards and the local newspaper.
What would be on your fantasy rider?World peace, the end of famine, four pints of mild, etc.
What's your pre-gig ritual/ routine?Group hug with myself.
What's the best gig you've been to?Austin, Texas's best ever group, The Butthole Surfers. They were so into it they smashed all their instruments after the first song.
And the worst?The Butthole Surfers. They couldn't carry on as they had destroyed all their equipment in the heat of the moment.
Who is the most famous person to have shown up at one of your gigs?Slash from Guns N' Roses. For real, top hat and everything!
Most embarrassing on-stage moment?Being on stage in general is embarrassing, so once you get over that fact you can pretty much use any embarrassing incident to your advantage. If you trip over on stage or something the crowd go wild! If you piss yourself or suffer a blood injury they'll go ballistic!
What's your crowd-pleasing number?I have a giant number 7 carved out in polystyrene, painted red. The crowd goes nuts when I hold that one up. The reaction to number 39 is pretty muted in comparison.
What's the most you've ever paid for a gig ticket?Too elfin much, I'm telling you! I had to buy tickets for my family for The Pussycat Dolls' show at The Cardiff Motorola arena. The show was a dismal failure on every level, and didn't even fit on the usually "sure, so bad it's good" shelf of kitsch.
Groupies. Would you?As a youngster I used to confuse the word "groupie" with "roadie". Needless to say, it led to a number of unsavoury incidents.
What's the worst thing ever thrown at you?A copy of the 1984 album Make It Big, by Wham.
If you could be in any other band, which one?I'm thinking of joining Fleetwood Mac after their next reshuffle.
What's your best tour story?I was mistaken for a vagrant by the staff of the Hudson Hotel in New York City. I was thrown out, alone, into the night.
* Gruff Rhys plays Dublin’s Academy on Monday
In conversation with
TONY CLAYTON-LEA.
