Koady Chaisson dead at 37: The East Pointers rocker passes away ahead of world tour

The rocker, who played banjo in the indie group, was 37 and is survived by his two bandmates who were about to depart on a world tour as a group.

Koady Chaisson was 37 and about to depart on a world tour with the East Pointers

The trio formed in 2014 and along with bandmates Tim Chaisson and Jake Charron, Koady toured across many countries. Credit: Instagram

The East Pointers formed in 2014, and also include vocalist and fiddler Tim Chaisson and guitarist and keyboardist Jake Charron.

Their banjo-infused sound includes hits like Wintergreen.

As a group, they performed across Canada, the United States, Australia, and the UK, recording three studio albums. and recorded three studio albums.

Their last two efforts were produced by Canadian musician Gordie Sampson.

In 2016, The East Pointers won the Canadian Folk Music Award for Ensemble of the Year. They also won the Juno award for Traditional Roots Album of the Year  in 2017 for their first album, Secret Victory.

The gang won other awards too, including the East Coast Music Award for Songwriter of the Year in 2020 and Song of the Year at the same awards ceremony a year earlier. 

Koady is also survived by his wife, Khloe Goodyear, and no cause of death has been released.

THEIR UPCOMING WORLD TOUR

The band wrote about their singular sound and proud Canadian roots on their website.

They describe themselves as "furiously energetic, musically complex and technically brilliant" and the seventh generation "of traditional Prince Edward Island and Ontario-based Celtic players and writers."

The band's website, as of Friday, still touted multiple upcoming concerts in the United Kingdom and the United States, with their world tour kicking off in February. 

They were planning to go to Perth, Glasgow, and more - showing that their influence and fandom was widespread.

Their band's Instagram page is verified and described their outfit as "Just a few b’ys playing a few tunes."

THEIR UPLIFTING SPIRIT

Koady and his band loved spreading positivity in their songs and online.

They recently completed a cold-water swim that raised $2600 for charity and saw Koady pose on Instagram swimming in some icy-cold waters himself.

"There were some warm days that were hard and cold days that were easy! My final thought... Cold water is a great life hack!" he wrote after spreading the word about the successful event.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, The East Pointers stayed quite busy with other events, like a livestreamed weekly reading from the Prince Edward Island classic novel Anne of Green Gables.

Koady read the first chapter of the famed L.M. Montgomery book in their so-called "#Annedemic" project.

The band went on perform a live reading of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol live in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island in December.

A second performance the very next day was cancelled because of COVID-19 restrictions. 

KOADY'S LOVE WITH CHLOE GOODYEAR

Koady met his wife, Chloe Goodyear, on tour in Australia.

They were married and living in Canada, and Chloe regularly posted loving photos of Koady on her Instagram page.

She has not yet released a statement.

"Annual Koady Chaisson birthday/sober anniversary appreciation post. Now with 200% more cats," Chloe wrote to her page in December 2021 with a photo of her late husband, implying Koady was sober and they were cat parents to at least two kittens.

She wrote over a photo of Koady who was then sporting his well-known long locks in 2018:

"Happy birthday to the lovely Ol’ Koad - he’s in Japan on the first foray for TEP and I miss his ridiculous goofiness and kind love. Have a wondrous year sweet darling."

TRIBUTES COME POURING IN

Fans and peers spoke out about Koady, and Chloe's loss, on Facebook on Friday.

"Sending so much love to Chloe, I can't even imagine what she's going through, my heart goes out to his family, friends and band mates," one friend wrote in a message on Friday.

"We used to get confused for each other at Australian festivals all the time being the "long haired foreign banjo playing guy", I had so many laughs with him about that hanging out at Woodford Folk Festival, he was such a lovely guy. The world can be so unfair.

Another musician, who runs a production studio, wrote over a video of Koady in the car singing to Facebook:

"I had an instant connection with Koady. We bonded over hockey, living sober, music, making homes in the country and so much more. He honestly felt like a brother even though I had just met him. It was a dream come true meeting the band and Koady was an inspiring old soul to me even though we were the same age. It feels like a horrible nightmare."

Koady Chaisson of The East Pointers proudly swam in icy cold waters for charity earlier in 2021. Credit: Instagram

Koady was married to Chloe Goodyear and the pair met in Australia when Koady was on tour there. Credit: Instagram

Chloe loved posted photos with Koady to her Instagram page, sharing stories of their love. Credit: Instagram