The Slackers My Last Star

A posthumous collaboration between The Slackers and Greg Lee of Hepcat - a truly one of a kind benefit release

"My Last Star" began as a dream that Greg Lee of Hepcat had the week before his death in March of 2024. Greg dreamed of a Slackers song. The Slackers have completed this song, & now the world can hear this truly one of a kind collaboration.

"I hadn't seen Greg so excited about a new song in a very long time," says Lee's longtime partner, Mandie Becker. "I found the lyrics when I was organizing his things. I knew he had a voice recording on his phone, too. I decided the best situation was to offer it to The Slackers so we could all hear the song on the stereo from Greg's dream."

"I was floored when I received Greg's vocal demo with the lyrics & I vowed to finish the song and make the dream a reality," says Slackers saxophonist Dave Hillyard. "I took the vocal demo to The Slackers, Vic [Ruggiero] harmonized it, & we wrote music around the words. With this song we came full circle. Greg had given us a gift & we needed to give it back to his family, friends, and musical community. We are the medium for his message."

The longer history behind this collaboration is a story of decades of friendship, collaboration, artistry, and mutual respect between LA's Hepcat and NYC's The Slackers, who although from opposite coasts, have both been leading lights and creative forces in the underground Ska scene since the early 1990s.

"My Last Star" is available as a 12" UV Printed Vinyl Single from Pirates Press Records, with art by The Slackers' in-house artist Catt Gould. The 12" also includes instrumental and dub versions of the song. As a matter of fact, snippets of Greg's original vocal demo from his phone are subtly mixed in toward the end of the instrumental version, underscoring his posthumous presence on the record. Greg's songwriting royalties, as well as a portion of the proceeds from the sales of "My Last Star," will be passed on to his four daughters.

Track Listing

My Last Star My Last Star Dub Version My Last Star Instrumental Version