Singers! NEVER Do This Before Going Onstage

What's something no rock or metal vocalist should ever do before going onstage?

We asked the vocalists of I Prevail, Killswitch Engage, PeelingFlesh, Armored Saint, Badflower, ERRA, Exodus, Filter, From Ashes to New, Shadow of Intent, The Devil Wears Prada, The Funeral Portrait and GWAR and found out!

All of these frontmen were featured in our 2025 season of How I Learned to Sing and How I Learned to Scream (depending on the style of vocals they're each known for), which was filmed at this year's Sonic Temple festival in Ohio.

In the video compilation below, we've isolated our question about what a singer shouldn't do before going onstage.

It's one of several questions we asked each of our guests, with the traditional episodes started with a recollection of the first time they heard harsh/extreme vocals. From there, we travel through the timeline to the present day, touching on what it was like trying to scream on their own the first time, troubles with high or low screams, how their voice held up on their first tour, dos and don'ts before and after a show and, for the extreme vocalists, their take on cupping the mic.

READ MORE: How Peelingflesh's Damonteal Harris Learned to Scream

We know a lot of you out there are in bands, too so if you're a vocalist you may want to heed the advice of these professionals.

A couple pieces of advice include not scorching your throat with your old high school dab rig (PeelingFlesh's Damonteal Harris), no drinking wine (The Devil Wears Prada's Mike Hranica) and definitely no cocaine (Armored Saint's John Bush).

Some of these vocalists even sprinkled in some advice on what you should do before a show!

Watch the full video below to find out.

Singers! Don't Do THIS Before Going Onstage