Clint: "They're Persecuting Me!" - "Prosecuting You, more like," say RTE

Pop Will Eat Itself are claiming that they had the plugs pulled on them after causing £1000 worth of damage to studio and hired equipment during a TV performance of "Ich Bin Ein Auslander" on "Gaye Byrne's The Late Late Show" last Friday (March 31).

The incident was the culmination of an afternoon tension between the band and RTE (Eire TV) programmers and producers. There is now talk of legal action if the band don't pay up for the damage caused. Trouble began in the hospitality room of the station when the Poppies were asked to leave because they were making too much noise and disrupting the show, which was going out live next door. At one point Lily Savage, one of the other guests on the programme, threatened to punch one member of the band if he didn't quieten down. An RTE insider described the atmosphere in the studio as "tense". He told The Maker, "They were just being noisy, so they were asked to be quiet. They had wrapped sellotape tight around their heads and they looked pretty menacing. Clint and some of the others were glaring at the audience and some of the programme's production team thought there may be a fight. There were definitely some dilated pupils in evidence, so you can draw your own conclusions." At one point, Clint was allegedly running around in leather trousers with no shoes or socks, shouting, "They're persecuting me, they're persecuting me..." "It was only a live vocal and they were playing along to a backing track, so they didn't have to be as diligent as they might had it been a live performance," a Late Late Show spokesman said. He described the Poppies as more "loud" than "offensive". The band's spokesman said they were only being "jocular" but had apologised to RTE. "You know what TV people are like," he said. "They're not as relaxed as journalists. Five blokes with horrible hair drinking beer tends to intimidate them."

The performance is available here