theteaclub

"Talcon Industries" - (January 2019 "Something New")

As you might know, in addition to the new Tea Club album, we have been writing our own video game music! We are planning on releasing an entire album‘s worth of this music (under a different monicker) as the soundtrack to a non-existent video game of our own invention. The music was purposely written to sound like it might be on Playstation 1 or PC futuristic space adventure game from the late 1990’s. The name of this game (and the album) is Talcon Industries. 

FROM THE ARCHIVE - "Nuclear Density Gauge" Home Recording (2009)

While we were writing for our second album Rabbit (2010), we were contacted by a friend of ours named DJ MOJO from Brooklyn NY. He asked us if we would be willing to write a song for him based on a poem that he wrote. He sent us these lyrics:

"Be clear like the face of a mirror
That contains no images
Behold yourself and see the truth
That the mirror reflects
Between the mirror and the heart
One difference keeps them apart
The heart contains secrets
While the mirror...

Happy 2019 Dear Patrons!

We spent last year in another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. In 2019 we'll be sharing all we found in that wondrous land of imagination with you! There's a sign post up ahead, your next stop:

A brand new Tea Club album!

Music videos for new songs!

Live shows!

The next issue of the "Grappling" comic book!

A side project of video game music by Joe, Dan, and Pat!

And of course, NEW CONTENT and stuff FROM THE ARCHIVE available O...

(FROM THE ARCHIVE) - Dan Monda for the Holidays 2018 "Remix Remaster"

The 2008 holiday season was a difficult time for Americans. We were desperately trying to dig ourselves out of the biggest financial crisis in recent history. There were no jobs.. There was no money..  no music... no love, no good will towards men to speak of.   

Just as hope was all but lost, something nothing short of miraculous happened.. something that changed everything.   "Dan Monda for the Holidays" was born.

2018 marks the tenth anniversary of this...

(December 2018 "Something New") - "Corpus Christi Carol" Live at the 2nd Annual Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert 11/16/18

Last month we had the opportunity to play at the 2nd Annual Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert in Brooklyn, NY. We already posted a video of our performance of Dream Brother right here on Patreon. Now here's a video from that show of Dan McGowan singing "Corpus Christi Carol" by Jeff Buckley with the amazing Mia Theodoratus playing the harp!

THE TEA CLUB CHRISTMAS SALE! 50% off ALL MERCH until December 31st 2018!

50% off ALL TEA CLUB MERCH until December 31st! Visit theteaclub.bandcamp.com and enter the promo code LACROIXSFORTHEBOYS to get 50% off all Tea Club CD's, shirts, and the Grappling comic!

(November 2018 "Something New") - "Dream Brother" Live at the 2nd Annual Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert 11/16/18

A couple of weeks ago, on November 16th, we had the opportunity to play at the 2nd Annual Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert in Brooklyn, NY. Here's a video of us performing "Dream Brother" by Jeff Buckley from that show!

(November 2018 "From the Archive") - "Graphic Historical Film Violence"

Our third album Quickly Quickly Quickly was released 6 years ago this month! During the same sessions for that album in 2012, we recorded an entire other album’s worth of material that was never released. 

We intended on releasing these songs as our next album, but instead we scrapped those recordings and began working on brand new material. However, rough mixes of those original sessions from 2012 still exist. One of them we've already posted here ...

(From the Archive) "Grappling" Comic Book #1 Free PDF!

After uploading rough drafts of the first few pages of the upcoming “Grappling” #2 comic book yesterday, I wanted all of you wonderful Patrons to get the chance to read the first issue, “Grappling Book One - The Magnet”. Some of you may have already bought this and read it, but hey, why not read it again? It’s a moody, creepy story with moody creepy artwork, and it’s not a bad way to spend some time right before Halloween ;)

For those of you who don’t know anything about the Grap...

(October 2018 "Something New") - First Five Pages of "Grappling" Comic Book #2

This is what will (probably) be the first five pages of the Grappling comic book #2. No digital editing has been done to the artwork, no colors or dialogue added yet. This is just the pencils and inks that I did. The artwork was scanned into the computer as is. You can actually see some pencils that still need to be inked on page 4, as well as some rough dialogue. But I wanted to let you all in on the unfinished process of making this very special project!

This issue starts with some ...

(October 2018 "From the Archive") - Animated Music Video for "The Eternal German Infant"

This is the first few minutes of the animated music video for “The Eternal German Infant” that I was working on from 2012 - 2015. It was supposed to be a video for the entire song, but this is all that I was able to complete. It STILL pisses me off that it's not finished.  

It all started when I was making the teaser video for our 2012 album Quickly Quickly Quickly (which you can watch 2018-10-09 13:42:30 +0000 UTC View Post

(September 2018 "Something New") - "Sentinel"

As you may know, Joe Dorsey and I have been working on writing video game music (we already posted one of these songs, “Sky Chase”, here on Patreon). It's been a great way to keep our songwriting chops up while we're rehearsing for shows and preparing to release our new album!

As we’ve been working on these songs, I’ve begun to feel like some of them have the potential to ...

PATRONS! We want to hear from YOU!

Patrons! We've been doing this Patreon for over a year now, and we want to hear from YOU! Check out this video and leave a comment or send us a message! :)

(September 2018 "From the Archive") - "Firebears" Live at the Terra Incognita Festival 2013, Quebec City, Canada

In 2013, we were invited to play Terra Incognita, a festival in Quebec City, Canada. It was also the first time that we played a show outside of the United States, which was a big deal for us. We actually had to get passports for one, and we also had to try and learn a few words and phrases to say in French, since the show took place in a mostly French-speaking part of Canada. Some of us were better at this than others. "Merci" and "merci beaucoup" were pretty much it for me! Te...

(August 2018 "Something New") - "Moonchild" by King Crimson Live 6/2/18

Here's a video from Dan covering playing "Moonchild" by King Crimson from his solo show in June!. 

Live at Circle of Hope in Pennsauken, NJ on June 2nd, 2018

"Say Yes" harmonies

Me and Pat wrote a harmony part to a song called "Say Yes" from The Tea Club's upcoming new album while in the studio. Here's an inside look at us developing it!

(August 2018 "Something New") - Joe Recording a Synth Solo For "Creature"

Here's a little clip of Joe recording a synth solo for "Creature", the epic track that will be on our new album!

Piano Warm Up for Creature

Here's some more piano footage. Joe is playing through some parts in Creature right before tracking. ***Studio Update: Dan and Pat are tracking vocals this week! Almost finished recording!

Joe Recording a Piano Part For "Creature"

Hey there Patreon patrons! Here's a little clip of Joe recording piano for a song called "Creature" that will be on our new album!

(July 2018 "Something New") - Joe Recording Keyboards For "Came At a Loss"

Here's a little clip of Joe recording some tasty keys for a song called "Came At a Loss" that will be on our new album! Whatdya think? Ya thirsty for more? ;)

(July 2018 "From the Archive") - "General Winter" (Unreleased Track from General Winter's Secret Museum)

Here it is! The lost “title track” of our first album! “General Winter” was one of the first songs The Tea Club ever worked on together when we formed the band back in the Fall of 2003. The lyrics tell a fantastical story of an ancient battle between a Spirit and a Samurai that me, Pat, and our original bass player Jim Berger came up with as teenagers. 

We did a homemade 4 track recording of this song in 2004, which at the time was titled “General Winter’s Boney Skull” and h...

"General Winter's Secret Museum" 10 Year Anniversary Interview!

It's here! You asked us questions about our first album General Winter's Secret Museum, and we answered! Thank you so much to everyone who participated! Enjoy! :)

(June 2018 "Something New") - "Sinking Ship" NEW SONG Live Acoustic 6/2/18

I'm VERY excited to share this song with you. It's a new song that is going to be on the next Tea Club album. It's called "Sinking Ship".

This is a stripped down acoustic version from my solo show that I played earlier this month. The album version will also feature the rest of the band.

I'll be posting more videos from the show here and on Facebook. We already posted a video from the show of me covering Chris Cornell's "Preaching the End of the World" on YouTube and Fac...

(June 2018 "From the Archive) - "Werewolves" and "Orange Crush" Live In Studio On Radio 104.5! (from 2008)

Back in June 2008, when we were about to release our debut album General Winter's Secret Museum, we got the opportunity to play on a popular alternative rock radio station called Radio 104.5 in Philadelphia! They asked us to play one of our songs from our upcoming album, as well as a cover of a song that they played on their radio station. We chose to play the first track off GWSM, "Werewolves". And for a cover, we decided on "Orange Crush" by R.E.M. 

The video is low quality, taken by ou...

"General Winter's Secret Museum" Recording Pictures!

Here's some pictures from when we recorded our first album General Winter's Secret Museum in 2008 at Big Blue Meenie Studios!

2018-05-26 03:16:49 +0000 UTC View Post

Studio Prep (and other things)

2018-05-19 22:47:48 +0000 UTC View Post

YOU Interview US About Our First Album!

Hey everyone! We want to do an interview about our first album "General Winter's Secret Museum" to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of it's release, and we're taking questions from YOU!

Pat and I will answer your questions in a video that we will release one month from today, June 15th! Just leave a comment or message us here or on our Facebook page with your question. Leave your name if you want to be credited with your question in ...

"General Winter's Secret Museum"-Era Press Pictures!

Here are some press shots that we took back in 2008 for the release of our first album General Winter's Secret Museum!

Pictured are Patrick and Dan McGowan, original drummer Kyle Minnick, and our bassist at the time Jason Barsotti!

2018-05-10 19:27:52 +0000 UTC View Post

(May 2018 "Something New") - "Sky Chase"

Here's a warm-weather jam for ya!

If you're not that familiar with the album making process, there is a lot of waiting involved during the tracking and mix stage. That's where we're at now with the new Tea Club record. So while this album is being finalized,we’re still hard at work creating new music, Tea Club and otherwise.

Dan and I have been throwing around the idea of writing and recording video game music for a while now. This track, "Sky Chase", is an experiment in making...

(May 2018 "From the Archive") - "An Electronic Tribute To Sean"

This year marks the ten year anniversary of our first album, General Winter's Secret Museum, which was released on July 1st, 2008!

In honor of this momentous occasion, we will be posting unreleased material specifically from this era of the band's history. This will culminate with us posting the unreleased and oft-asked about nearly 10 minute title track, "General Winter"!

The first thing that we're sharing with you all is a demo that we did bac...