Brendan Clemente Announces Tour with KBong
The past couple weeks I’ve been sitting in my cluttered, little, home studio in my basement in Saint Paul, Minnesota, practicing for the tour I’m headed out on in a few days. I fall into intense focus listening back to my recorded practices, take notes, and refine my set until I think it sounds good enough that people will enjoy it.
It’s absolutely crazy to me to think that earlier this year I was posting on Instagram about KBong, hoping that one day I’d be able to collaborate with him, and now here I am getting ready to go out on a major tour with him for 2 weeks.
I still shake my head in disbelief at the text message I received from him asking if I’d want to open for a few dates of his tour this year, and remembering back to when I first met him in California.
Meeting KBong in San Diego
After I graduated college in New Hampshire over a decade ago, I decided to drive my car across the country to California with a good friend. We just hopped in my car and left for good one day.
I didn’t fully realize it at the time, but what California really signified to me was a place where musicians thrived — where people went to follow their dreams.
I had always wanted to make a living doing music, but I had no idea how to go about doing so. When we arrived at the palm-tree-lined streets of San Diego I had a newfound excitement, and the possibilities seemed endless.
Still, I didn’t know anything about the music scene, so I just started going to shows as often as I could to meet other musicians. And I shit you not, at that time it seemed like KBong was in every single band in San Diego.
Every time I went to see a new band I’d see him onstage jamming, and since we saw each other at shows so often we ended up becoming friendly. His vibe was always surreal; watching him jump around passionately onstage back in those little bars and clubs in San Diego was just a preview of the charisma and talent that he’d eventually become world-famous for.
Growth and Mutual Support
Since those old days a lot has happened. Stick Figure went on to be one of the biggest and most successful bands in the scene, and KBong himself has grown tremendously, now commanding huge audiences on his own headlining tours around the country.
It makes me immensely happy seeing people that worked so hard still creating amazing music, and getting it out to the world so successfully.
Over the years as all this growth was happening for KBong, I had found my own band in San Diego, that I’d later leave to pursue a solo music career, as well as teach myself how to produce. During all this time KBong has been one of the most supportive people in my life.
When my band got to play Cali Roots for the first time, or whenever I released a new single, KBong was always one of the first people to message and congratulate me, and tell me how excited he was for my success.
Do you know how much that meant to me as a smaller musician, getting supportive messages from someone like him? It largely gave me the energy to move forward when I was worried I’d never see the success I sought.
And when he asked me if I wanted to open for him on this tour — do you know how big that was for me?
KBong could literally tour with anyone he wants in the scene, and I’ll be the first to admit that a lot of other people could sell way more tickets for the shows than a smaller artist like myself.
But true to his nature the entire time I’ve known him, here he is giving smaller artists like myself and Victoria Leigh a chance to open on big stages for him, and introduce his fans to new music.
I’ve Never Been More Stoked or Nervous in my Life
I couldn’t be more stoked, or nervous, for the next two weeks as I prep to head out on tour. I’m beyond excited and humbled to be opening for KBong, Johnny Cosmic, Man of the Forests, Alific, and the rest of their amazing band, but at the same time I basically haven’t played live more than a couple times in the past 3 years.
I generally consider myself more of a songwriter and producer, so my usual exposure to music is just sitting in my basement studio and creating. Heading out on tour to play live in front of people is a WHOLE different experience.
But as Mr. Cosmic has reminded me of a few times over the years, this is how you grow — you go out and you do new things that you’re not used to, that often seem really scary.
You go out, do your best, learn lessons, and then come back and do it again better. That’s how you grow, and this tour is the next big step in my musical journey.
Final Thoughts Before Heading Out
I just want to say that I’m permanently indebted to KBong and Johnny Cosmic at this point for bringing my music and career places I used to only be able to dream about.
From the bottom of my heart I am sending my genuine thanks to these two amazing souls, and I absolutely cannot wait to go and travel around the country to places I’ve never been, playing music for crowds of beautiful people.
I hope to meet a bunch of you on tour, and hope that you’re open to hearing some music from an artist like me that you may not have heard of just yet. See the link below for tickets, love you all!
I’ll be on the tour from Boise, ID to Redding, CA.
