Just Us Folk

If you ever visit Prince Edward Island, there are two kinds of seafood you should try, lobster and Colville Bay oysters. Both of those tasty treats from the ocean are referenced in the new East Pointers album, Schoonertown.

The new release is a bit of a concept album that follows a lobster fisherman as he navigates his way through early adulthood. The songs of the trials, tribulations and embarrassment of those years take a bit of inspiration from the East Pointers themselves, Jake Charron and Tim Chaisson. What kick-started the whole project is the song, ‘Anniversary’, which is a tribute to former East Pointer, Kody Chaisson who passed away in 2022 at the age of 37 from an aortic aneurysm.

“Koady was a big part of why we started the band in the first place,” said Jake recently. “We always joked about starting a band but it wasn’t until Koady was in a pretty rough place and hit rock bottom while on tour with the Ennis Sisters that it happened.”

Tim quickly called Jake with the news Koady needed some help. The trio gathered in PEI and soon recorded their first EP, Secret Victory. On his birthday Koady gave up drinking and drugs and began living his best life. Part of his recovery was raising money for the Unison Fund which supports Canadian musicians in times of hardship. He did it through “Stay Cool, Swim Cold”, where he jumped into the cold ocean waters every day in December of 2021. His friends and family have carried on the fundraising efforts every year since in tribute to him.

“It was amazing to see his transformation from that low point to where he ended up,” Jake said. “We’re proud of ‘Anniversary’.”

While the songs on Schoonertown might take their cue from Tim and Jake’s youth, framing them in a fictitious setting makes them a bit more universal. So what you’ll hear on the album are songs about first love, family gatherings, community celebrations, loneliness and more.

“It’s kind of nice to reflect back on those stories,” Jake said.

Since the release of Secret Victory, which won them a Juno Award for Traditional Album of the Year, the East Pointers have toured the world, from Japan to New Zealand to Europe to the U.K. and more.

The East Pointers recently returned from the U.K. where they brought their PEI energy to the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, Scotland.

“We’ve done quite a few tours over there in the past ten years. It’s such a cool spot,” Jake said.

Since 2020, the East Pointers have shared their energy with those at home through their own music festival. Starting out as the Harvest Home Festival that year, the two day event was cancelled because of COVID in 2021 and because of Hurricane Fiona in 2022. Now known as the Goolaholla Festival, it returns this Sept. 25-27 on the Rollo Bay Fiddle Grounds in Souris, PEI.

“It’s a lot more work than we expected but we have a lot of help obviously,” Jake said.

When an artist or group starts to tour around the world they never know what kind of influence they may have on their audiences. A couple of years ago at the Celtic Roots Festival in Goderich, ON the Australian trio Appoline mentioned how seeing the East Pointers made a big impression on them.

In 2021 the New Zealand TV series Under the Vines premiered, using the East Pointers’ song ‘Wintergreen’ as its opening theme.

“Australian actress Rebecca Gibney is the female lead on that show, and I know she’s a fan of the band. I don’t know if it was her suggestion or if the producers found us another way. But it’s pretty cool to see that come together,” said Jake.

As mentioned before, Koady was a big reason for starting the East Pointers. When he died suddenly in January of 2022, Tim and Jake were faced with the question of continuing as a band or ending it.

“In a trio that tries to make as much sound as possible on stage, Koady was such a big part of what we did,” Jake said.

At the time of his death, the group had an album’s worth of songs prepared. Using various banjo takes Koady had already recorded, Tim and Jake were able to release House Of Dreams in September of 2022. A follow-up EP, Safe In Sound, came out in November of 2023.

While touring as a duo won’t be the same as when Koady was with them, his spirit is still a big part of the East Pointers. Jake and Tim have the philosophy that there are three people in the band but only two are on stage.

“We miss him all the time,” Jake said. “But his humour, his brilliance and all of the fun stories are overpowering the initial grief.”

For more on the East Pointers and Schoonertown, go to https://theeastpointers.com.