Who doesn’t love a little Tea and, well, some Green now and again? But combine the two, add a Leaf, and the sum of these words gives you one hell of a stellar rock ‘n’ roll band. With thoughtful lyrics set to incendiary rippin’ guitar riffs and a steady groovy drum beat, complemented by jazzy and soulful keyboard melodies and some heavenly harmonica, Tea Leaf Green is giving back to Rock ‘n’ Roll what the genre has been missing.
On Aug. 12, at the Truckee Regional Park Amphitheater, Tea Leaf Green opens up for Little Feat, making this show is a must-see event of the summer.
Just hours before deadline, Trevor Garrod, the main man on keyboards, took a few minutes out of his hectic music-making- east-coast-touring schedule to talk to Moonshine Ink.
Moonshine Ink: What does it mean to y’all to be considered ‘one of the most exciting and fastest growing rock bands today?’
Trevor Garrod: Honestly, doesn’t mean a whole lot. From my perspective I just go out and play shows every night. Music is exciting to me; none of that other stuff matters.
MI: When I think of timeless musicians, my list includes the Allman Brothers, Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, to name a few. Being revered as timeless yourselves, what qualities do you think make a band timeless and who do you think are timeless musicians?
TG: First of all I like your list and the simple answer would be that people listen to you and consider your music timeless. I consider Bob Dylan timeless…what he brought was the whole bag of folk music. When listening to Dylan you hear that he studied what other people did before him; he mimics them but still made his own sound. A quality that makes a band timeless is that they are a breath of history that is available to still access music from – not just from 20 years ago but even 100 years ago. One person important to me is Taj Mahal, I feel like he is underrated and brings a continuum of tradition reinterpreted. The music that he plays actually embodies a whole tradition.
MI: What do you think about the current state of rock ‘n’ roll?
TG: I think it is doing pretty good. I have a theory about music: Music gets good when society is in periods of economic or political turmoil. It’s kind of sad, but dark days produce really good music. It balances itself out in the whole. There are a lot of great bands I’m excited for right now. There is actually music out there that rocks me. First time in a while that I can actually say it’s true. Growing up for the longest time I listened to ‘60s and ‘70s rock bands. I never got caught up in the big hair scene or the grunge scene necessarily. It is the first time in a long time that I have been buying new CDs and not digging through old classic rock records.
MI: In a 2006 interview with online editor Josh Mintz, Ben [Tea Leaf’s bass player] said he feels like a traveling pirate most of the time, sailing down the concrete and that there is never really a destination, which can be a weird thing for the brain to deal with. Do you also feel this way? How does playing a more low-key, gorgeous mountainous outdoor venue like Truckee Regional Park Amphitheater compare to playing a bigger venue and does either affect the traveling pirate diagnosis?
TG: I definitely feel like a pirate sometimes. Like sailors going from port to port. Always traveling around. We don’t have the time to have a destination. I don’t know where the fuck I am most of the time. We don’t do the tourist thing, we go hang out at bars and mingle with the people. I kind of like just getting caught up into the regional-ity of all things. Like accents, since traveling to the south I have incorporated ‘y’all’ into my vocabulary. We don’t really have a word like ‘y’all’ in California.
There’s definitely a difference between outdoor and indoor venues but there is a set of good things and bad things in both locations. When I play outside I always stare at the sky, there is more time for the contemplation of natural events. At a club you end up just staring at the lights. Outside cleans up the act spiritually. Clubs are dirty and grimy which is when the pirate can take hold. There is a dichotomy I have been exploring recently which is pirate vs. monkey. One can either behave like a pirate or a monkey, but there is always a balance. Outside I can play like a monkey and in a club the pirate comes out.
MI: Rattle off for me some of your favorite festivals and venues played in the last year.
TB: Played a bunch of festivals from Bonnaroo to High Sierra. The one I had the most fun at would have to be Mountain Jam put on by Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule) in the mountains around New York, it was absolutely beautiful. It rained a lot and there was lots of mud wrestling going on. But I still love playing in San Francisco.
MI: Rock ‘N’ Roll Band [Tea Leaf’s live album, just released] had to have been a huge milestone for you guys in terms of giving fans a true glimpse at the day in the life of not only a rock ‘n’ roll band but Tea Leaf Green. What has this meant to you?
TB: I am happy to share. I feel like a damn lucky bastard that I get to stay up all night and play music, and that is all I have to do.
MI: You have played the Tahoe area before and the words on the street are nothing but sweet praises. When returning to the area what does this mean to you guys and how does it influence your drive to jam?
TB: The audience gives an untold amount of influence on our band, they can really make or break the show for us. The audience has some sort of power or symbiosis. As far as Tahoe goes, I have been going up to Tahoe as a little kid with my grandparents so I always love going back.
MI: As far as the Aug. 12 show goes anything you want to add?
TB: We are opening up for Little Feat who is a timeless band themselves. We’ve come across Little Feat in the past and chatted with them a little bit. We respect and appreciate them. As far as the fans go I think we’ve got it all covered. I do want to mention that the Tahoe show is the first of a seven-day California run. We haven’t played through California like that in a long time, so I am looking forward to it.
Catch Tea Leaf Green and Little Feat Aug. 12 at Truckee Regional Park Amphitheater. Tickets, $27 advance, $32 door, available at crystalbaycasino.com or by phone at 775-833-6333. Gates open 5 p.m.; show at 6:30 p.m. tealeafgreen.com.
