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Pre Gig Band rituals

A drummer I play with on a fill-in gig used to go out on first break and get high... then one night a few weeks ago he didn't come back from the break. He gets out of jail next month I think. He cost the band a half nights wages, a bunch of future gigs, and pretty much screwed himself for gigs for a while until everyone forgets his little escapade.
Careful who you're relaxing with!

Because he was smoking weed? Is possesion an arrestable offense in WI?
 
After the general set up sound check etc we get away somewhere quiet for 15 mins before hitting the stage. Drink some water or a jager bomb, stretch and then get the minds grooving. Our drummer will tap out 4 beats on sticks and then call out a number of beats (usually something random like 15 or 33!) We have to silently count the beats in time without tapping feet etc and all clap on the predetermined beat. We'll do it fast and super slow (trickiest) on random beat counts. Looks hilarious to people watching 4 guys standing silently and then all clapping randomly!! Seems to work well at getting us counting - and its made a little trickier trying to do it with another band or music playing.
 
pre-show rituals....

hmm.
most shows we play are with multiple bands (5 or so) so all our gear has to come out of the trailer and sit somewhere in the venue for a while.
usually during whatever band is previous to us we will all go and set up off stage (make sure cables/pedalboards are ready to go, extras are in place... i.e. ebow and headlamps for our intro) check batteries and stretch like there's no tomorrow (headrolls, backbends, deep knee bends, and then simpler finger exercises) make sure everybody has water. set up banners. play a bit to warm up the fingers before going on.

no drinking of the alcoholic sort (except our guitarist has a beer from time to time before a show now that he is legal)

we like to be very prompt about getting on stage and being ready very quickly so as to make the sound guys job easier, the crowd stay and generally look professional. (sometimes at the expense of other bands who are there)

tune while the drummer is getting everything in place.

play some basic notes to get levels right...
really quick sound check.

and go.

after show?
finish off whatever is left of the water... and possibly other waters that were left behind. (maybe not the best idea, but if you're thirsty... well... you don't think about it)
haul everything off stage. change shirts. cool down for a while. tear down once cooled down.

haul everything out to the trailer and do it again the next night.

[spunj13]
 
before every gig we all go out to La Costa in brentwood best burritos EVER. Than depending on where we are playing I will grab a serria nevada or just water. I have found a beer or two seems to losen things up. I dont know how I dont "feel" a buzz but things just work better that way. But with the whole band we usually bring everything in set up the drum kit, than everyone does thier thing and does the sound check and we are ready to go and try to work the crowd before and after the show. For some reason people want to talk to you after you play and dont give two cents to who you are before.
 
me and my drummer have a little bit of a routine.

it's more of a joke because we kind of have an ongoing joke about being a gay couple but before every gig we make sure that we slap eachother's asses. if we don't, we don't go on.
 
If it's a club gig, stretch and warm up my fingers, a couple "tokes", wash my hands and gatoraide throughout the set and a Jagerbomb about midway through the set.

If it's a BIG show then I add visualization techniques to stretching and warming up the hands, probably not "toke" or drink before/during though.

Perhaps it is wrong for me to change my little ritual but IMO there is a difference between playing for 25-120 (headlining) and playing for 300+ as an openner for a Diecast or Hatebreed.
 
Every show, a couple of us help our drummer set up his kit and everyone gets all the cables they can connected to their rigs.

On our big shows, we break open glowsticks to throw to the crowd.
Its really a cool little thing the audiences always love.
Except I hate getting pelted by them. :/
 
After all the gear is set up and all the technical things are good to go I usually have enough time to call my girlfriend (if the venue is far from home), then I usually listen to Air That I Breathe by All That Remains, then its off to help set up, tune up, sound check and do business as usual.