Kelsey Blackstone and Gōst Pepper - “With a Little Help From My Friends” Tour - Introducing the Friends

As she embarks on her "With a Little Help From My Friends Tour, Kelsey Blackstone was kind enough to bring us behind the scenes and show us how an independent artist pulls off a tour like this. I hope you enjoy it. -S36.

I’ve wanted to go on tour like this since I was a little kid, so this is kind of like a dream come true. I originally started my band back in January of 2020 - little did I know what the future had in store. We had plans at that time to go on a tour for the summer of 2020 as well, and when that looked like it definitely wasn’t in the picture anymore, we knew that it would be a long time until we got that opportunity again. 

Some of the friends that I work with in the band now are friends that I’ve had since my very first months in Boston in 2018. It’s been so special to get to experience their growth and see the development of their own art over the years - they’ve seen mine too and we really support one another.

So let’s first start with how I figured out what to call the tour. When you don’t have a tour set up around a new or upcoming release, then it becomes more of a: ‘how can I introduce my music that’s already out there and my music that I’m going to be putting out to as many new faces as possible?’ As I was thinking about why I make my music and what it’s like to perform on stage, I was reminded that I would not be able to make this work without my friends in the band. But this also includes friends like you, Ron, helping to spread the word about my music and what I’m trying to do in Boston and beyond. It also includes the people that I get to meet in the audiences we perform to. But it doesn’t just stop there: our friends on this tour also include the very lovely people who have agreed to host us. Most of our lodging is provided by our friends in different cities, venue owners, friends of friends - just kind individuals. This tour would definitely not be possible without them either, and so, the ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ tour was born!

The friends on stage for this tour include Sean Marcelin on guitar, Elliot Rick on bass, Anderson Jno Baptiste on keys and synth, Kaylin Frisaura on trumpet, Matome Phala on drums, and Aidan Donnelly on saxophone. Gōst Pepper (that’s his stage name, he also goes by Adam!) is the other band on tour with us. Adam/Gōst Pepper is the one that produced my song, ‘My Superstitions’! This will be both of our first times touring and it’s going to be really exciting to have everybody with us. 

Last but not least, I can’t forget to thank our friend, Pat, and the Save the Cat Agency for helping us book this tour. Pat has worked with a lot of local bands and helped send them on tours, so we thought that going to someone like them, with their experience, would be really helpful for us. I’m happy to say that we were absolutely right and Pat is the best.

You can catch our tour kickoff show on Wednesday, 8/2, at O’Briens Pub in Allston! NY favs Seeing Double will be there too.

Thank you to Kelsey for sharing this with us. And for sending along the tour poster, designed by Anna Ferrari, and the picture by Sam Melanson If you want to learn more about Kelsey, check out the interview she did with us here at Section 36 Music in March 2022.