The Borderline - Friday 13th March 1998
The evening darkness is just starting to eat away at the day as we arrive at a suspiciously quaint looking club to see and chat with Ether.
Ether are Rory (singer, guitar), Brett (drums), Gareth (singer, drums) and Paul (keyboard player).
The club is located off the busy Charring Cross road in between specialised music shops and an acoustic café and looks the kind of venue Ether were made for, perky and jolly and pretty damm cool.
Wiping the sweat off our brows and attempting to smell our armpits we walk in avoiding the piercing glaze adopted by the ticket collector and are instantly greeted by Colin Daniel; Ether`s Tour Manager. He looks more like a band member than a manager, dressed casually He warns us we are due for a wait as Ether have only just arrived and haven’t soundchecked yet.
The Borderline is a downstairs venue that could quite possibly be another back street dance night-club or late-night bar. The addition of the low cut stage however makes it cosy and lively for the crowd and band. Opposite the stage is an intimidating sound booth caged up like an animal enclosure at London zoo. Also caged (unfortunately) is the long bar located on the far wall. Its ambient lighting and flashing makes it even more inviting than usual.
We are offered cola and digestives (an appetiser?). Frowning with disappointment and hesitantly sipping the cola we sit ourselves down and watch the soundcheck.
Ether, (formerly The Boot Freaks), have came a long way in a pretty short amount of time, from their humble beginnings in The Worf at Cardiff Bay well back in April `96. They now have two Top 40 singles: "If You Really Want To Know" and "She Could Fly" and the current single "Watching You" has just been released.
After the soundcheck we get to chat with Bretts (the eccentric drummer) on life, love and records. Floating in and out of conversations, Bretts explains "that an album is due around June to coincide with the Summer festivals" trying to quiz him on dates and places he tells us "that nothing has been confirmed yet but hopeful we`ll play all of them…Phoenix, T-In-The-Park, Glastonbury etc."
The rest of the band are around drinking Stella and eating the laid on food, chilli, chips and what looks like melted cheese. (The Main course?)
Ether have toured with everyone and we asked them "Who the best were, the most fun?
"Probably the Ben Folds Five, they’re very good, we liked them. Seeing them play was cool but most of all we liked the lads. It’s been good playing with everyone. The Supernaturals were good and Grasshow were excellent though what happened to them nobody knows.
The Meredith Brooks tour was the most interesting. We’ve seen so many countries. Germany, Holland, France, Switzerland and Belgium. Hopefully we can do it again maybe with her supporting us and maybe Sting, yeah Sting is my all time favourite" Bretts states categorically. His emphasis is amusing and we end up chatting about Sting and whether his post-police stuff is any good. Arguing over the lyrical content of "Fields of Gold" and my personal favourite all-time Sting song "Shape Of My Heart".
Bretts is a keen music collector we learn "…..l`ve actually got about 500 records, its hard to pick ones which l love"
"What’s on your Walkman at the moment" we ask with the time-honoured question.
"I think Rage against the Machine and that was about `9 this morning" he laughs "….and Elvis Costello, yeah he’s always there somewhere, you know!"
The conversation is suddenly drowned out by the wonderfully unknown Transistor soundchecking and the rest of the chat is conducted at high volume above the guitar checks and feedback. It all gets a little challenging and low-key, people asking them for autographs and pitching them for T-shirts (us included).
The band enter the stage around 10 amidst a torrent of noise and alcohol-induced crowd chanting, the front row is occupied by photographers and mad fans and the dancefloor is packed. Checking the guitars they burst into song, (the dessert?). Their easy to listen to retro-styled set rocks the crowd into an ecstatic frenzy. The underlying tone of the keyboard brings back memories of Madness and seminal `80`s funk but the unmistakable voice of Rory and Gareth put them the better side of the pop market. The more credible and the most Welsh.
As we head out into the neon-nfested London night we know Ether are destined for stardom but in a way we hope they don`t. Maybe then they can be our pet-band, to play at our Weddings, Funerals, Christenings and Birthdays. The soundtrack for our lives.
Interview: Thomas Scurr & Bethany Miller
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Last Updated 06/10/98