Dusty Grant – PRESHOW RITUALS

In this Preshow Rituals segment, the hard rock band, Dusty Grant, reveals what they do before taking the stage. You can check out the rituals, after the break.

My pre-show rituals have evolved over the last couple of years. As I take singing and performing more seriously, I find myself doing a lot more preparation than I used to. It used to be that I would show up to the venue, load in, and then go order beers until it was my turn to play. Now, there is significantly more involved.

The day before the show, I usually go easy on singing to give my voice adequate rest and try to get to bed early. I also start drinking a ton of water to make sure my vocal cords stay hydrated. This also helps when you get dry mouth from being nervous.

On the day of the show, I usually get up and have a cup of coffee and do some light breathing exercises and stretches to prepare myself mentally for the day. I spend the morning going through my checklist to make sure I have everything I need for the gig. Once we arrive at the gig and load in, I typically try to find a place where I can have some peace and quiet before I perform. I tend to get pretty nervous, especially for big shows. It always brings me some calm when I can just relax a bit and pace and get it out of my system. When it gets within an hour of showtime, I usually get to work on my vocal warmups, guitar warm-ups, and drinking my magic tea! The other vocalist in my band and I have what we call “protocol”. This pretty much entails getting the proper hydration, warm-ups, and stretching in before we go on.

I definitely notice a difference in the quality of my performances when I take more time to prepare and take warming up more seriously.

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