Here's an unedited video of Jeff and Dan developing a guitar part in the studio for our song "Creature".
This is a great example of what the studio experience is like!
I thought it was interesting because I wound up sort of accidentally capturing this behind the scenes moment that really goes inside the creative process!
2018-04-30 16:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post
An important message about Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas from Jeff Aderman and Dan McGowan, specifically focusing in on the Riverbottom Nightmare Band and their broader cultural significance.
2018-04-27 20:52:19 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm back at Big Blue North recording guitars this week. Here's a video that I took with my phone of me playing a section of our new song "Creature" yesterday. Sadly, due to the dimly lit cave-like environment that musicians and engineers thrive in, in addition to my terrible phone camera quality, the video is, shall wesay, of "questionable" quality. I'm hoping to get a new phone soon so that these videos will turn out better, but in the meantime, enjoy the music!!
-Dan
2018-04-26 17:36:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Only two days before we were scheduled to perform at ProgStock 2017 (a new Progressive Rock Music Festival held in Rahway, New Jersey), The Tea Club was met with an unexpected tragedy. There was a death in the family of one of our band members.
We knew that we wouldn't be able to play the show as usual with our 5 piece full band. So, rather than cancel the show, we decided to carry on playing it, but as a 3-piece; just the Brothers McGowan and Joe Dorsey.
With only about 36 hours to do i...
2018-03-26 22:59:50 +0000 UTC View Post
From the journal of Dan McGowan, Thursday, October 9th, 2003:
"Today was the first day that all four of us practiced... We played Mr. Shlappy with Kyle on drums and Pat was flipping out. He was, like, playing, standing on his amp with his back on the wall, and he kicked over his amp and got some nice feedback from it. The sound it made when it hit the ground was pretty extreme. Kyle thought it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen... Everybody really likes that song. It's pretty kick ass. I...
2018-03-02 23:00:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons,
Just wanted to inform you all of a rare pre-General Winter's Tea Club release that surfaced on eBay today. After seeing it, I felt I should give this group at least a head start on it. Obviously, first come first serve. Obligatory disclaimer: nobody in the band is associated with this eBay account.
More information on this release: http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=37789
... 2018-02-06 02:07:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Two weeks ago, Pat and Dan joined Pastor Ben White at Circle of Hope, a church in Pennsauken NJ, to talk about prog rock, The Tea Club's upcoming album, and the spirituality of creating. They also performed a new song, "If I Mean When", from the upcoming album!
We apologize for the technical issues with this video! The video was taken from two phones, both of which ran out of room during recording at some point. There's a gap in the middle and a long one at the end where there...
2018-02-03 23:48:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Joe recording his piano part for a new song called "Sinking Ship" on a Steinway upright piano!
2018-01-16 20:58:25 +0000 UTC View Post
Jamie does some sick beat boxing and dancing on his last day recording bass!
2018-01-15 14:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Jamie records bass for parts of the new album's epic, "Creature", while Jeff Aderman gives the band a valuable life lesson.
2018-01-15 01:59:02 +0000 UTC View Post
What keeps The Tea Club going? Why, it's the delicious sugar free zero calorie soft drink La Croix, that's what. Dan McGowan talks about the importance of La Croix, and briefly contemplates "what happens when the La Croix runs out".
2018-01-12 22:58:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Jamie Wolff recording bass for "Rivermen" and "If I Mean When".
2018-01-12 22:02:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Whilst Jamie begins work on recording bass with Pat and Jeff, Dan McGowan is drawing the second issue of The Tea Club's "Grappling" comic book.
2018-01-11 22:05:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Dan Monda used 3 different drum kits to record this new album so that we could get different sounds for different songs (or even different parts of songs). He made these diagrams of each of the drum kits so you can see exactly what was used! This is the Vintage Drum Kit.
2018-01-11 19:06:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Dan Monda used 3 different drum kits to record this new album so that we could get different sounds for different songs (or even different parts of songs). He made these diagrams of each of the drum kits so you can see exactly what was used! This is the "Weird Lo-Fi" Drum Kit.
2018-01-11 19:05:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Dan Monda used 3 different drum kits to record this new album so that we could get different sounds for different songs (or even different parts of songs). He made these diagrams of each of the drum kits so you can see exactly what was used! This is the Main Kit.
2018-01-11 19:02:58 +0000 UTC View Post
Dan and Joe do a piano and vocal only run through of "The Knocking", a small section of the new album's nearly 30 minute long epic, "Creature".
2018-01-10 03:44:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Dan Monda has triumphantly finished drums and performs a celebratory dance.
Meanwhile, Dan McGowan tries to explain why we didn't upload a video yesterday, but is accosted by Jeff Aderman.
2018-01-10 03:20:22 +0000 UTC View Post
In which Dan Monda and Pat run through a section of "Creature", and Dan McGowan secretly records Dan Monda flipping out on the end of "Rivermen"!
2018-01-08 04:38:16 +0000 UTC View Post
The Tea Club gives a (silly) tour of the Big Blue North artist's residence "The Fort".
2018-01-08 03:20:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Disks, tubs, sparkles, and how they affect your drum tone. Dan Monda gives the most controversial drum tour of all time.
2018-01-06 05:00:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's an example of what musicians "actually do".
2018-01-05 03:40:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a little treat we threw together for all ya filthy animals! Christmas music can be very divisive. Case in point, the hilariously controversial tune by Sir Paul McCartney called "Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time". Most people either love it or hate it. I was never a huge fan of it, until I heard a version of this song done by the band Jars Of Clay, which I LOVED. I think it reveals that there's a really sweet little song to be found in Paul's Christmas hit. Here's my own arrangemen...
2017-12-22 23:29:47 +0000 UTC View Post
I love music that sounds “icy”. I think my affinity for it started with a song called “IceClock” from our first album, General Winter’s Secret Museum. It's become something of a Tea Club trope, with “Tumbleweeds” from Rabbit, “Mister Freeze” from Quickly Quickly Quickly, and “The White Book” from Grappling. For December, I thought it would be appropriate to share another frozen song from The Archive.
Jokingly (perhaps unfortunately) tit...
2017-12-02 20:23:45 +0000 UTC View PostThis little diddy is something that I started writing way back in the day, when I was probably about 14 or 15 years old. I wrote it immediately after learning a song from one of my favorite video games, The Legend of Zelda: A Link To the Past (very little has changed). I called it "Moonboat" after seeing a crescent moon that looked like a boat in the sky. And then I pretty much forgot about it.
This past year, while working on songs for our next album, I stumbled upon those chords again. Somet...
2017-11-24 02:06:25 +0000 UTC View Post
The original paper that I wrote the lyrics to this song on is dated December 5th, 2002. I was 16. I can vividly remember the evening that I wrote them.
I was looking out my window and watching the sun set. Technically, it was still the Fall. It didn't quite feel like Christmas, but the Winter was fast approaching. It was that strange in between time. All of the leaves had fallen. The trees were bare, but there was no snow. There was nobody home at my house, and nobody outside. There was an eer...
2017-11-07 23:24:03 +0000 UTC View Post
In the summer of 2006 I borrowed a mini-van from my then girlfriend’s mom (future wife and mother-in-law!) and drove up to Jersey City, NJ with my brother Dan and our friend and drummer Kyle to record demos at Big Blue Meenie Studios for what would become The Tea Club’s first album General Winter’s Secret Museum.
I was 22 and, far from being a man of the world, promptly got us lost. Remember, these were the days before smartphones (we didn’t have a gps either) so we were relying on pri...
2017-10-18 03:43:48 +0000 UTC View Post
