We met the members of the preppy electropop band Passion Pit backstage before one of their three sweaty, bass-heavy shows at New York City’s Terminal 5 this past weekend. And as go-time grew closer, we asked them what a bunch of Boston College grads do as a preshow ritual. “We have a cheer that we do before every show, and it gets more and more ridiculous every night,” says keyboardist/guitarist Ian Hultquist. “[Bandmate Ayad Al Adhamy] is really good at doing impressions and accents. One of them’s a Scottish accent, and he just says everything’s ‘roote to scoot.’ [Yelling in thick Scottish accent] “Roote to scoot, mate!” And what does that mean? “Nothing,” says drummer Nate Donmoyer. “It’s just gibberish.” Adds Hultquist, “I don’t know how it started. We just all put our hands in the middle and say it louder and louder, and then we go onstage. It works.”
