Aj Smith – PRESHOW RITUALS

In this Preshow Rituals segment, the indie pop artist, Aj Smith, reveals what he does before taking the stage. You can check out the rituals, after the break.

What a lot of people never talk about when it comes to the realities of touring is utter exhaustion. Sure, adrenaline kicks in on stage most of the time, brought on by the excitement of being in front of a crowd, and getting to do our most favorite thing in the world. But there’s a lot of exhaustion from the 12-hour drive the night before, sleeping in different hotels every night, so never quite adjusting to how the different beds feel, not always eating the best because you only have time to stop for fast food in order to make it to soundcheck on time, oh, and singing/playing your heart out and leaving every ounce of energy you have left out on the stage to make it the best show possible.

So honestly, there are a lot of moments where you’re backstage, about to go on, and as excited as you are, you’re just drained. So after soundcheck, after the band meal, after vocal warm-ups, and final review on any notes we made from the previous show that we want to make sure we do this time, I like to carve out a few minutes with my band to do a unique toast and energy builder. I come up with a different chant off the top of my head every time and we start clapping and jumping, huddling together, singing along to this random, made-up song to hype us up, get us in sync, and get our hearts pumping, our minds alert, and our feet hopping so that when we do hit the stage, we hit it full force. We don’t need a song out there to warm up or adjust. We’re ready to rock from the first note that we play.

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