NIGHTBREAKERS – PRESHOW RITUALS

In this Preshow Rituals segment, the pop rock band, NIGHTBREAKERS, reveals what they do before taking the stage. You can check out the story, after the break.

As a band, we all get together to look for food a few hours before load-in. Some of our go-to’s are Chipotle, McDonald’s, and Popeyes. Once we get back to the venue, we’ll start the load-in process. After that, while we wait in the green room, we’ll all break out our laptops and hop on our Minecraft server for a bit.

Zakk – Before shows, I really just try to get myself into the right headspace. I’ll usually put in some headphones in the car on the way there and just sort of vibe out. Once we get to the venue, I’m usually the first one out of the car to stretch my legs and find out where we load in. Then, it’s off to set up the merch table. Since I’m the singer, before the show I can’t really eat or drink anything that’ll mess with my throat, so I usually get a bottle of water or a nice hot green tea just to hold me over until after the set. About a half-hour before we go on, I’ll usually find a quiet place away from everyone where I can do vocal warmups. Doing these are so critical to getting the most during the performance. After this, I’ll usually round up the guys and get ready to jump on the stage.

Spencer – I start my day by waking up around 9am to workout just to help wake me up. Once I get home, I eat, shower, and start to pick an outfit. Picking an outfit is by far the hardest part of my morning, even though it’s usually just black skinny jeans and a plain shirt. Once I’m dressed I meet up with the guys to head to the venue. After getting to the venue, I proceed to slam an energy drink to power through load-in since I am in charge of packing and unpacking our trailer. Once we load in I tend to jam out to other bands to help get amped up to play another amazing show.

David – My pre-show ritual has been the same for six years now. First, when I get to the venue I eat two hot dogs and I drink a vanilla milkshake. Then I run a mile and Zakk gets mad at me because now I’m sweaty before the show. After I get yelled at, I take the time to reflect on my entire life before hitting the stage with the boys.

Logan – So for me, I like to start unloading and setting up my drum kit side stage as soon as we get to the venue. That way, everything is ready to go as soon as possible. After that, I have some time to make sure our live set is put into place in Ableton Live so our backtracks, light-show, and other equipment are all programmed to go along with our setlist for the night. Now at this point, I’ll change into my show outfit and run through a few rudiments on my practice pad all while start sipping on my energy of choice, a blueberry Red Bull. Until we hit the stage, you can find me hanging with the guys and watching the other bands to get hyped for our set.

Dan – Before every show, I have 3 main pre-show rituals. The first one is a pre-show nap. Usually, after load in or sound check, I head back to the van and take a 30-40 minute nap in the back row. After that, I usually order Chipotle through Uber Eats and eat it in the green room while watching the other bands set. My last pre-show ritual is stretching my hands and warming up on the guitar.

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