yyy In conversation with . Tiger Cooke plays The Workman’s Club, Dublin on Thursday
What’s on your rider? Water, beer, gin, tonic water. One lemon. Bananas.
What would be on your fantasy rider? Margaritas.
What’s your pre-gig ritual/ routine? Soundcheck. Eat, preferably about two hours before the set starts. Figure out a setlist. Start warming the voice slowly. Loosen up with some stretches and try to keep the adrenalin and nerves at bay.
What’s the best gig you’ve been to? One of the most enjoyable ones recently was watching Levon Helm’s band play in Saratoga, New York. He’s quite a frail old fellow now, having battled cancer for a few years. The crowd was going wild when he made his way across the stage with his nine-piece band. He may look frail, but he’s still a master at the drumkit. When he sang Ophelia, he brought the house down.
And the worst? Yann Tiersen.
I loved the music he wrote for Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain, so I had high hopes. It wasn’t exactly the worst gig, but I had built it up a lot in my head, and it never came close to my expectation.
What are your favourite and least favourite venues? Favourite: Steve’s Guitars, Carbondale, Colorado. It’s a really cosy old converted shop that is absolutely covered in guitars, banjos, ukuleles, charangos. Least favourite: We played a bar somewhere in Maryland last year. It was supposed to be an outdoor festival, but there were thunderstorms so it was moved to a nearby bar that was packed with diners who had no idea that they were about to be serenaded. By force. It was a very unpleasant experience. I think we were mere chicken wire away from a scene in The Blues Brothers.
Most embarrassing on-stage moment? Trying to play a newly penned song to a crowd in Germany while reading the lyrics that I had scribbled down earlier. It worked perfectly during soundcheck!
Chatting between songs – good or bad? It depends on the band, really. I do a bit, if the mood takes me. An awful lot of people are terrible at onstage banter, so when they do talk, you wish they hadn’t. I think it depends on the crowd and the vibe.
If you could be in any other band, which one? I would have really loved to be in The Band. For them the song was king.
