The Slackers – “My Last Star” [Video]

New York City’s longtime ska/reggae legends The Slackers have released their newest single “My Last Star,” now available everywhere fine records are sold as a 12” UV Printed Single from Pirates Press Records.

“My Last Star” began as a dream that Greg Lee of Los Angeles’s Hepcat had the week before his death in March of 2024 (expanded Greg story below). Greg dreamed of a Slackers song. The Slackers have completed this song, and released it into the world.

Now that the song is finally out for all to hear, and The Slackers, along with a team of close associates head up by writer/direct Pat Byrne, have crafted a poignant music video to accompany this beautiful collaboration with – and tribute to – their longtime friend.

The Slackers are currently stationed in the Los Angeles County area, where they are gearing up to perform five shows in six nights from May 7th through the 11th. These shows in Hepcat’s hometown will function as the record release for “My Last Star,” and they will be playing the song every night.

The band’s area residency offers a unique opportunity for LA area fans and press alike to connect with the New York band face-to-face, and the band in turn are eager to share the new single and the story behind it.

And that story is truly extraordinary, like something out of modern myth!

In Greg’s dream, an old neighbor picked him up in a classic car, turned on the stereo, and played a Slackers song that – at the time – did not exist on our plane of reality. It sounds like the stuff of myth, but the song was so crystal clear in the dream that when he awoke around 2 or 3 in the morning, he immediately wrote down the lyrics he had heard, still humming the tune.

“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 and I vowed to finish the song and make the dream a reality,” says Slackers saxophonist David Hillyard. “I took the vocal demo to The Slackers, Vic [Ruggiero] harmonized it, and we wrote music around the words. With this song we came full circle. Greg had given us a gift and we needed to give it back to his family, friends, and musical community. We are the medium for his message.”

“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. The single is also available digitally on all major platforms, as well as from the band’s page on Bandcamp.

PURCHASE “MY LAST STAR” ON 12” VINYL