Willow Robinson – PRESHOW RITUALS

In this Preshow Rituals segment, the singer-songwriter, Willow Robinson, shares what he does before every show. You can check out his rituals, after the break.

It is a time of suspense before the show because there is a lot of waiting around before you can get on stage. Usually, it culminates in a lot of pacing up and down with general piss taking of one-another. There is always a nervous energy in the air, at least for me, the rest of my band coolly sit around laughing, and step outside to smoke cigarettes, telling mad stories from all the crazy moments in their lives. But I’m in a completely zoned in mindset where nothing matters but the show, so I occasionally smile at them, but my thoughts remain on my performance and envisaging its success.

I drink water in huge quantities so my voice isn’t dehydrated and do vocal warm-ups for about 20 minutes, also loads of tea and steaming. Being a singer is taxing because your body is your instrument, so I have to look after myself. When in bands before and I was merely a guitar player, my pre-show ritual was a lot different, I’m sure you can imagine the details…

Soundcheck always feels like it’s over too quickly and I am left wondering if anything will work when the gig begins. I then walk from shadow to shadow trying to avoid people so that I don’t have to talk to anyone and can save my voice. I want to give everything I have when performing and that requires fully functioning pipes. I don’t drink a drop or smoke anything before I go on, just lots of water, and because of that have to take incessant trips to the toilet.

I sometimes do some push ups and jump around a bit; I grab my band members one by one and shake them around shouting ‘come onnn’! Sometimes I’ll go into a toilet cubicle, and do an empowerment stance haha. The theory behind it being; when athletes win a race they tip their heads up and throw their arms into the air, and if you hold this pose yourself for a few minutes before a stressful event, you embody your success before it’s happened, enhancing the chances of a great performance. I might also look in the mirror and say encouraging things, do a few air punches, bounce from wall to wall like a pinball.

Then we all tune up our guitars, walk to the stage, and play a great show.

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