Salt Ashes – PRESHOW RITUALS

In this Preshow Rituals segment, the electronic artist, Salt Ashes, shares what she does before every show. You can check out her rituals, after the break.

My pre-show ritual usually starts off with getting to know the in-house sound engineer at the venue. It’s so important to get to know them a bit and maybe buy them a drink, have a chat… This guy is going to help make us sound great tonight so I really want him to give a shit, otherwise forget about hearing yourself!

During sound check I’ll spend time standing in different parts of the room listening to the sound, making sure everything’s coming through with my preferred levels for people to want to move and really get lost in the music. I like to have the beats and bass really cutting through to vibrate in the audience’s bodies and makes them dance.

After the sound check, and a lot of ‘pleases’ and ‘thank you’s’ and general gratitude towards the sound dude, I’ll take myself off to a quiet place to warm up my voice. This is so important to me, even though I’d prefer to be drinking a gin and tonic and laughing loudly with my band mates, as it totally changes the flexibility in my voice and maintains my stamina throughout the show. I usually grab some kind of hot drink at the same time to help those vocal chords get steamy.

Then, if I can, I like to stay away from people; Go into a quiet room, sit still and just zone out with no distractions. It might sound odd but it’s what gets me focused and calm before I step out onto the stage.

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