LISTEN HERE: The Steadies live up to their name after tragic loss
Earl Pereira – the former Wide Mouth Mason bassist who set out on his own with the reggae-rock band The Steadies in 2010 – came close to quitting after the sudden death of his guitarist Justin Lee in 2017.
“I’d been working my ass off so hard, and things were just starting to go, me and Justin building this band to take it internationally,” Pereira says. “And we did: We toured Asia, China, Korea, we were on such a high, and then we get home and he passed away about a month later. It was a brain aneurysm. It’s so devastating.”
It was an especially difficult time for Pereira since he was also going through a divorce. “I had no wife and no best friend to play with anymore. I thought to myself: What the hell am I doing?”
So he was planning to do something else with his life when he came up with a song about his friend. Key lyric: “I hope I see you again, you’ll always be my best friend. You showed us how to live free, with a smile and love and energy. It’s not the end.”
That’s how Justin was, Pereira says. “He never really believed that you actually die. Your energy is just transferred to the universe. You can’t be seen anymore, but you’re part of everything. You’re present.”
Pereira also realized he was still rather good at writing songs, and so after a suitable break, The Steadies were back in action again, with drummer Kurtis Schultz, and guitarist Jesse James Clark. The single Not the End is included on the band’s third album Tiro De Leone (“Tail of the Lion”), whose Edmonton album release show happens Saturday, Nov. 16 at 9910 – part of an extensive Canadian tour.
Says Pereria, “I think Justin would probably be pretty pissed if I quit what we started.”
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