A Tribute to Greg Lee
I didn’t think I could cry so much over losing someone I’d only met a couple of times. The world lost a beautiful person and wonderful performer this week, and this one is hitting me really hard. Maybe it is the sudden, unexpected nature, or the realization of how young he still was (53). Maybe it is the loss of one of the kindest, most genuine people I’ve met in the music world. Maybe it was reading about the family he’s left behind:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C4vAaDwrYDM/?igsh=cjg0bTZ2dTN3ZmQy
I’m kidding myself, really. I know what made it worse. It was the extra emotional charge of being a new father and the fact that Greg’s voice, and his music with Hepcat, has been the consistent thing that has soothed my infant son for his whole life to date. I loved the idea of someday getting to bring my son to a Hepcat show. This is a small thing in the grand scheme of life, but I loved the thought of it.
I first met Greg Lee in February of 1998. I hosted a radio show with my good friend, Mike Masnick, and we were able to interview all kinds of amazing bands that year. I think Hepcat was at their absolute performing pinnacle in 1998. They were on tour with the Slackers and Gadjits and their set was stunning. I had set up the interview through their record label and we went backstage after the show. The band was exhausted and really not up for interviews, but Greg stepped up and was incredibly kind. He already felt like the elder statesman at that point, which is ridiculous in retrospect. He would have been 27. Some combination of me having an early-20’s distorted view of how old people were, Greg’s general demeanor, and the fact that he was so established and respected in the ska world must have led me to the conclusion that he was a lot older.
I haven’t looked at that setlist in a long time. In retrospect, that is a perfect freakin’ set. I wish I had a recording of that show.
Anyway, I was talking to the lead singer of the Gadjits in the crowd that night. At some point, we were talking about Boston, where they were playing the next night, and where, coincidentally, some friends and I were also planning to go for a hockey game. He said he didn’t know anyone in Boston and would put me and my four friends (!) on the guest list, which was very cool of him. After the game, we booked it over to the show. The Gadjits and Slackers had already played by the time we got there and it turned out we weren’t on the guest list after all. Since they were well into the show at that point, the guy at the door just let us all in and we saw all of Hepcat’s set. About halfway through, my friend, Adam, turned to me and said, “Do you want to go to the New York show tomorrow? I’ll drive you back to Ithaca afterward.” How do you say no to that? So I got to see Hepcat on three consecutive nights at the peak of their powers.
I got to see Hepcat one other time, in 2004, before Hepcat shows became special, one-off events, and usually in California, where I was not. A few years ago, they started doing some shows a little farther from home, and I got another shot: in 2021, they played both Riot Fest in Chicago and the Supernova Ska Festival in Virginia. On the same weekend. I had other reasons to be at Riot Fest that year, so I chose that one, and my wife and I went to Chicago. It was incredibly freeing to get to see them play again and the one time my wife got to see them perform. The band posted a picture from outside their hotel that morning on their way to the festival. I saw it at some point during the day and realized it was the same hotel where we were staying. When we got back to the hotel that night, I suggested we jump into the hotel bar for a second, and there was Greg, having a drink with Greg Narvas. I said hi and we talked for a while. He told me amazing stories about Roland Alphonso and Tommy McCook from wha Hepcat was touring with the Skatalites. I ended up sending him the audio of the interview I’d done with him 23 years earlier.
Every time I get to see a band after many years of not having opportunities to see them, I am conscious that it could be the last time. I was really hoping that wouldn’t be my last Hepcat experience.
Even before my son was born, I figured out that he responded to the trumpet. I played him all kinds of music, but he didn’t respond to anything the way he responded to Hepcat. I posted some clips a few months ago on Instagram stories. I’m not sure the band saw them, but part of me really hopes that Greg got to see them, as I think he would have loved them. I put them together again as a Reel.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4zEm5tRAtH/?igsh=NG1icGd1YTBrMTYx
To this day, “I Can’t Wait” calms him down consistently. It’s incredible. I so wish he could have gotten the in-person experience someday.
The world is a little worse now without the beaming light of joy that Greg Lee projected onto it. “Raise your glass in respect, and tip your brim”, indeed.
Greg’s partner has organized a gofundme for the family, in case anyone wants to contribute.
I still don’t want to believe Greg is gone and I am heartbroken for all of those who were closer to him than I was. But for now, “turn out the lights, let me finish it. And when the music’s done, I’ll go quietly.”
