Halo Kitsch – PRESHOW RITUALS

In this Preshow Rituals segment, the pop rock artist, Halo Kitsch, reveals what she does before taking the stage. You can check out the rituals, after the break.

As for my pre-show rituals… I’m not really one for routine. I’m absolutely in the early stages of gigging – I’ve only done 6 shows so far! I started closing a We Found New Music showcase by Grant Owens at Bar Lubitsch. I swore I was going to puke.. couldn’t watch the act before me, couldn’t even be in the room full of people until it was time to go on. But that was the day of my first incidental pre-show tradition. I bought three different throat sprays, two different cough drops, and my first pair of in-ear monitors. I took a couple of Advil, smoked a couple of cigarettes, and (like I do every day) drank a few Monsters. We tried switching Monsters for shotgunning Red Bulls right before a set but Ben (Zelico), my producer/drummer, said having too much energy made me way zany so I save that for special occasions now.

When I got to open up for The Regrettes on their “Get The F*ck Out of LA ” mini-tour, I started to think I might need some sort of vocal warm-up routine – haha. I’ve never had professional vocal training so I didn’t really know where to begin, but I ended up finding a lot of resources on Spotify. It just didn’t really come naturally to me, having never done it before. The drives to each show were hours… So when I could I’d drive alone so that I could sing along to my favorite albums in the car and I called that my warm-up (in addition to a last-minute cough drop and cigarette right before hitting the stage). My go-to’s are Red (Taylor Swift), Songs About Jane (Maroon 5), Heard It In a Past Life (Maggie Rogers), and anything by Kesha or Julia Michaels.

The more shows we did, the more questions came up about how to be ready… the more shows you do the more problems you run into I suppose. Like, before San Diego I had to go to the bathroom so bad and I am so nervous in public restrooms!! This one was the House of Blues – I was terrified. My band literally clapped for me when I came back into the green room. I also kept deliberating when was the best time to do my makeup?? Before soundcheck? After soundcheck?? I’ve come to the conclusion to make it sort of an all-day thing. Sitting on the floor, painting my face… I find it to be super grounding. So I’ll do a little here and a little there when I need a second to focus on something other than being anxious about performing. I swear doing my eyeliner is the only time I’ve ever used geometry in daily life. I guess so far, it really only boils down to doing my makeup, energy drinks, singing in the car, cough drops, cigarettes, laughing with the bandmates and lately I like to ask at every soundcheck where it’s safe to jump around the stage. Performing is addictive. Every time I get up there I want to raise the stakes. I love interacting with the audience, I love hearing my songs sung back to me. In those moments I forget about the drama and all the crap that it takes to make those moments happen. It’s pure magic. I can’t wait to do it again, especially with these new songs!! Follow me to make sure you don’t miss our next performance!

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