From Zeppelin’s bizarrely prim pre-show ritual of hot tea and freshly ironed linens, a divergence from their destructive (and beyond-the-pale) antics — to Keith Richards’ sacred tradition of breaking the crust of his own shepherd’s pie slice, musicians have long embraced strange rituals in the green room. Wild, mild or just plain weird, superstition precedes uncertainty. From lucky Volkswagen socks to slapdash showers, it’s clear that Central Coast musicians have their own spin on strange routines, lucky charms and peculiar habits.
I will write out setlists for my drummer (Cameron Porter) before we go on, and I’ll let him choose whichever one he wants. We usually do them on our patches so we can throw them out to the crowd after the set.
— Alejandro “Pancho”, vocalist/guitarist, The Let Downs
I never wear shoes while playing drums during a show. Every time I’ve worn shoes I’ve had a bad show. That means I always practice without shoes as well, so it’s not foreign when the time comes to play live.
— Casey Brandt, drums, Toad
One of my superstitions is that I always make sure I reapply my lipstick, which always ends up on the microphone more than my lips. Also, not on purpose, but I usually start the show with almost a sultry “Good evening, everyone.”
— Annie Pagel, lead vocals, Toad
Sometimes I’ll listen to this Ween song called “I’m Dancing in the Show Tonight.” It’s kind of like a silly, goofy, offhand parody on an old Christmas song about this guy that’s basically preparing for a show he’s dancing in. It’s based on this Christmas song, called “Is My Hair All Right?” or something. I can’t remember what it is, but yeah, it’s like a parody on that.
My lucky socks have a bunch of old Volkswagen vans on them, and they say, “Get lost.”
— Mathew Hendricks, guitar & vocals, Solar Garlic (also Toad, Joe Glad)
Kind of — I try to drink a lot of water and then pretend that I’m not about to play in front of a bunch of people.
— Alex Garton, guitar, Solar Garlic
In the name of superstition — I know this article is about superstitions as well — one time we had an accident. We are a Phish cover band, and we accidentally wore a Phish shirt on stage one time. And we would consider that to be one of our worst shows. And so we vowed to never wear any merchandise of the band that we played the songs of. Ever again. We don’t wear Phish shirts on stage. No!
— Casey Brandt, drums, Toad, (also Solar Garlic)
I’ll put on some jazz and get up slowly and bring that energy into my day. The thing I love to do before a performance is to put on jewelry that I’ve received from important people in my life (family mostly) to feel like their support and spirit are with me.
I have to make the sacrifice of ditching coffee to avoid shakiness. Instead, my latest fixation has been to drink chamomile tea with honey (and maybe the smallest amount of whiskey is optional).
— Hazel Gerson, 20, vocals, The No-Shows
Sometimes we’ll go surfing before a show. That gets everyone pretty excited.
A lot of us will take showers before the show — kind of like … too late, almost. Like, we’re supposed to be there in like 20 minutes, and someone’s like, “Oh, I still need to take a shower.” So that’s … that’s the thing that we do a lot. It’s just like not being prepared. But also it’s like we still want to, like, smell good.
— Julius Hoffman, 24, vocals, Skipping Breakfast
Like a pre-gig ritual of forgetting something. Oh, we’ve never played a gig where we had everything … Someone’s forgotten the bass one time. THE BASS. I forgot the snare drum.
— Lance Evenson, 20, guitar, Skipping Breakfast
Our little pre-show tradition is getting burritos! We’ve gotten them before almost every show.
— Sam Zack, Stemender
