TONY CLAYTON-LEAasks Nick Kelly...
What's on your rider?Mineral water, shot of brandy, white towels, a bottle of not too terrible red wine.
What would be on your fantasy rider?Mineral water, shot of brandy, white towels, a bottle of really good red wine.
What's your pre-gig ritual/ routine?Have a good holler.
How do you get to the gig – limo, taxi, walking?Bicycle, if I'm not bringing the piano.
What's the best gig you've been to?Sufjan Stevens at the Olympia. Fabulous songs fabulously sung, and the band wore gossamer fairy wings.
And the worst?Hard to say which of the three times I've seen Bob Dylan was the most underwhelming.
Who is the most famous person to have shown up at one of your gigs?A three-way tie between Walter Mondale (Tokyo), John Cusack (New York) and Vaclav Havel (Johnny Fox's).
Most embarrassing on-stage moment?Many years ago, The Fat Lady Singsplayed a gig in Wexford, where, weirdly, the average punter's age was 13. The only two blokes above counter height were drunk and started a fight during our encore, whereupon the venue manager turned on the house lights mid-song and announced in a hurt voice that owing to the bad behaviour of "certain individuals" the gig was over. The bum-fluffed audience skulked from the hall, leaving us standing on the stage, flooded with fluorescent light, chorus dying on our lips. Never played Wexford since.
What's your crowd-pleasing number? Arclightor The Loneliest Ghost in Père Lachaise.
Groupies – would you?My core groupie is an affable man in early middle age running somewhat to paunch, whose cheery exterior masks unplumbable depths of anguish. I like him, but not in that way.
Have you a special stage wardrobe?The louder the shirt, the more it drowns out the bum notes.
Do you like to meet fans after the gig?My fans are my record label. We have board meetings.
What's the worst thing ever thrown at you?Impossible demands.
Who's invited to your aftershow party?All my lovely friends who never ask to be on the guest list.
Nick Kelly plays Whelan’s Upstairs, Dublin on Wednesday.
