Singer//Songwriter/Sax Virtuoso And Multi-Instrumentalist JAKE CLEMONS Releases New Single “Stop The Wars”
Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and Montreal-based Jake Clemons has released his new single “Stop the Wars,” a poignant, heartfelt track that offers the positive counter of a shared new golden age where we can all agree to move forward together. The song was recorded live by The Jake Clemons Band at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, and mixed by Grammy Award winner Robert Orton (Lady Gaga, Mumford and Sons).
“In my writing process, I like to look at things as they are in reality. We are all connected. We are all brothers and sisters. We have one Earth, one place for all of us to live and make things work — and we don’t have to fight. At the end of the day, we could all live for this higher purpose of caring for each other and for where we live. We can replace that insatiable hunger to tear things down and instead build our connections to be stronger and reinforce the beauty of who we are,” said Jake.
“I believe in making a musical offering that speaks on a spiritual level, and not just addressing the recognition of a problem. My hope is that ‘Stop the Wars’ connects with as many people as possible. I want this song to resonate with people in a way that compels them to attach their feelings to the intellectual aspect of it and motivates them to respond on a human level. At the end of the day, I believe in the light.”
“Like most of my songs, ‘Stop the Wars’ speaks to the human condition, and the most tragic part of it is that it’s constantly relevant, said Jake Clemons. “We’ve been watching over time how those dividing lines are always being placed as ‘us versus them’ and the divide has just been constantly driven deeper and deeper and deeper. So, I wrote this song from the perspective of the human condition of constant struggle that ranges from domestic fights and arguments with neighbors to politics and dropping bombs. Why does it keep happening?”
No stranger to international audiences and the ways of the world at large, Clemons will once again be heading out on the road with The Jake Clemons Band, performing at Shorty Fest at Tipitinas in New Orleans on April 28th, before beginning a stadium tour with Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band for 16 shows in Europe between May and July, 2025. Upon return from Europe, Jake will perform at The Minnesota Yacht Club Festival in St. Paul, MN (July 19th ) before announcing more shows.
Jake Clemons’ vast array of musical endeavors over the past decade has made him a globally familiar figure. He has toured the world performing his own music with The Jake Clemons Band and has spent the last 13 years as tenor and baritone sax player with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, also appearing on Springsteen’s 2020 album Letter to You and the companion Apple TV documentary.
Jake Clemons has recorded and performed with The Killers, Eddie Vedder, Glen Hansard, Tom Morello, Prophets of Rage, Roger Waters, US Girls, Arkells, and Grouplove (among others). He can be seen on the Disney/ABC presentation of the 2023 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, performing as part of the George Michael induction before playing the U.S. National Anthem in front of 65,000 for the international broadcast of the NHL Stadium Series Live from MetLife Stadium New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers game in February 2024.
His previous releases include the Embracing Light EP, Fear and Love (which reached #25 on the Billboard Americana charts), and his most recent full LP release Eyes on the Horizon, where he once again created a new chapter, this time taking it a step further by adding his voice to those seeking to find clarity in a complicated world and expanding both his musical vision and philosophical perspective. Referring to Eyes on the Horizon, Jake says: “We always have to carry that hope with us, we have to use it to look towards the horizon.”
On June 19th, 2024, Jake released both the single and music video for “Born Like Me,” (featuring Allison Russell and Tom Morello) to commemorate Juneteenth. Of “Born Like Me,” Jake says:
“’Born Like Me’ as both a song and a music video is one of my most deep reaching artistic efforts to date. The song was written at a time when the turmoil of the unjust executions of our American brothers and sisters were being captured on camera and highlighted amongst a wide media backdrop. The stories of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s last moments among the living drew me in to recount the harshness of their earthly departures. This was happening to the folks ‘born like me.’”