Tigress – PRESHOW RITUALS

In this Preshow Rituals segment, Josh Coombes of the rock band, Tigress, shares what they do before every show. You can check out their rituals, after the break.

Hello to everyone reading this! My name is Josh Coombes and I play drums for UK Rock band, Tigress. I am here today to talk about our pre-show rituals and what happens in the build up to walking out on stage!

Rituals can be a small thing or a big thing, whether that’s playing music live on stage, playing in a big footy game or even what you do every morning when you wake up! For us, that’s obviously playing music and also for us… rituals are a big thing. Maybe even a little OCD (I’m definitely talking about myself here).

I would say ours start about an hour before we play. This varies from member to member, however, as we all do something slightly different. I’ll start with myself. Having always been physical ever since I was a little kid, warming up is something that I have never really thought twice about. Whatever it may be for. I played football for my school from the age of 8-16 and outside of school in teams competitively. Warming up for those games then translated into warming up for shows behind the kit. It’s no different at all, especially the music we play and the way I play drums… it’s a full body work out, I’m telling you! I’ve been playing in bands and shows for about 13 years now and have always tried to get ready for each as best I can… the problem we sometimes find is if there isn’t that much space backstage or in the dressing rooms to do it… we work with it though and do what we can!

Injuries play a big part in our pre-show rituals. I think we’ve all had some sort of injury whilst in this band and I think it’s hugely important for other bands/musicians to realize that warming up is crucial in helping to avoid this. The technique is hugely important but so is putting on a show. If people wanted to just listen to you play, they can play the records on their computer or phones… however, going crazy on stage does have its downside. I’ve had problems over the years with my wrists and shoulders, as has Tom (Harrison) one of our guitarists. Sean (Bishop), also guitar, sometimes gets a bad back due to jumping around on stage with a heavy guitar… honestly, it’s like his side of the stage is just one big hidden springboard. The guy gets some serious air!! Jack (Divey), the band’s bassist normally just bleeds over his guitar. I think it’s from the strings, I’m not too sure, to be honest ha! He just loses himself in the moment or in his words… “I just rock out like a beast”. He comes off stage and the bass is a different colour! Katy (Jackson), our singer hasn’t had anything like that I don’t think from playing live, but obviously, her voice is her instrument so all her pre-show rituals go to that… doing lots of vocal warmups and not eating or drinking anything that can affect her voice in a negative way! She’s really good with that. She knows exactly how to look after her voice, especially on tour when there are a lot of shows to be played. Maybe check her Pokemon Go game as well… she’s pretty good on that too, to be fair.

About an hour before we play I get on my practice pad and go through exercises. Mainly based on drum rudiments so singles, doubles, various paradiddles and flams. I like to do at least half an hour if I can. I then get on the floor and start doing some pushups. The floor isn’t always the cleanest place backstage in a venue but hey ho! Lastly, lots of stretching. For me, it’s all about getting the blood flowing in the arms, hands and legs mainly, but the whole body does need attention. I’m not one of those drummers that just sit there… it’s a show after all! Tom loves a good star jump or jumping jack as some people know it. He stretches a lot too. Jack and Sean don’t really do anything like that, though. They both just get into the zone. We all do! We get into that “we’re about to go play a rock show, let’s smash it!” mentality and get changed into stage clothes. We also talk a lot of rubbish and have our inside jokes. We’re five best mates at the end of the day who get to do what we love and see places we never thought would be possible and have a laugh whilst doing it all! On our bigger shows, we like to get into a little huddle and tell each other not to mess up because that’s always a nice thing to hear right before walking on, isn’t it!? Oh and actually, there was a time when we used to listen to Cascada’s ‘Everytime We Touch’ just before walking on… Rock N’ Roll eh!?

Post-show rituals are speaking to anyone who wants to say hello over at the merch table and eating all the food!!

Keep up with the band on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!