The New Electric – PRESHOW RITUALS

In this Preshow Rituals segment, the pop band, The New Electric, share what they do before every show. You can check out their rituals, after the break.

I’m laughing right now thinking back to when I was a kid doing different kinds of live performances. In those days, I had these little rubber animal figurines and I would never forget to put one in my pocket before heading to the venue. Maybe my 8-year-old brain was into the spirit animal thing? I have no idea when or why I began doing that.

These days, my ideal routine is a little less superstitious. Following sound check, I love to fill up on a healthy meal, but I never eat less than an hour before showtime, so it’s not always a possibility. I’ll typically relax in the green room or on the bus and warm-up on a practice pad for about 15 minutes while avoiding the bottle of single malt and the tub of beers on ice — alcohol hampers the physical aspect of drumming for me, so I save the drinks for after the show. Next, comes my stretch routine, which helps me feel awake and gets the body ready to take the stage. Time and atmosphere permitting, I’ll throw in my in-ears and go through a 5-minute meditation using an app on my phone. Even just the deep breathing that goes along with meditation helps, as it tricks the mind into thinking you’re calm. As far as nerves go, I don’t get very jittery anymore, especially once we’re a few shows deep in the tour.

With a few minutes to show time, our manager Jeff leads us side-stage, where we get pumped up. On the recent Nick Carter tour, we had this amazing 8-bit Nintendo game intro that would play before we burst onto the stage. At that point, I check my wireless is functioning properly, exchange hugs, high fives or fist bumps with the guys, and run out into the lights!

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