I Love Tealights

Scoring The Decameron

2011-12-08T09:18:00.002-05:00

Here's how I've been spending my mornings when Mikey and I aren't recording or writing. I've been scoring the whole piece. The first 2 movements are almost complete, save for lyrics and a few percussion parts. The completed piece will take 42 musicians to perform and we won't have a conductor either. The idea is to have 4 - 5 separate click tracks running to each of the sections. Alright, I have to stop talking about this stuff and finish it!

Recording Again...

2011-12-08T09:07:00.002-05:00

Mikey and I have been at work pretty hard over the past couple of months. We decided to record an old song to be released within the next month or so to keep you at bay while we wrap up the Decameron. Wende finished up with the texts over Thanksgiving break and they are quite great! We are putting them to the music right now and will hopefully be finished with the piece and score by spring. We have also been talking with a local orchestra and are working out the details for the premiere (we'll keep you up to date as we find out more).

The good news is that we'll have a new song up on the bandcamp site very, very soon. The bad news is that...there is no bad news! Things are going great!!!

Enjoy this short, silly, and poor quality video of Mikey recording his guitar part to the new song. We're recording at his house with his pet snake, Snake. We are still recording string parts and an F. horn part but the trumpet & trombone tracks are finished and they sound pretty amazing.

Happy Holidays!

Our New Album

2011-09-08T08:21:00.004-04:00

The majority of the music for the album is done. It's been going so smoothly I'm a little concerned there might be some rough roads ahead; but I'll keep my fingers crossed. Beginning in late May we've created around 45 minutes of music with 9 individual songs that are grouped in movements of 3. Mikey and I will be meeting with our lyricist this weekend to hammer out the details of the texts. Our videographer will be joining us too. The idea behind this is to have a making of documentary to accompany the album once it's complete. Maybe we'll post some of that meeting after it happens...maybe? For now, you should listen to Leo Brouwer's "El Decameron Negro". This is the piece from which our story will be derived. This is just the first of three movements; enjoy!

We're making something different this time

2011-06-02T08:33:00.004-04:00

There has been a long period of silence from us over the past year it seems. The last thing we did was the Barroco Festival at the Goat Farm in November 2010. (That's happening again this year so be on the lookout). Mikey and Brett are in the beginning stages of a major undertaking that we think will be a great tealights record. We have brought in a writer to help with the lyrics as the story of the album needs to be told in a comprehensive way and none of us posses the literary prowess to accomplish something as big as this; let alone translate the original story!

So here's the deal, We'll release something soon, just as a teaser of the new writing style and aesthetic but we can't say when. We want you to know that we're still very much alive and kicking! Thanks for your continued support and we'll see you soon!

In the meantime, check out this video/song that brett made. It won a composition competition.

You are invited!

2009-11-04T07:22:00.004-05:00

Tealights are proud to host an event at the Goat Farm, Atlanta's own 19th century wonderland! Come out to see Little Tybee (amazing band from Atlanta) and, all the way from Charlottesville VA, Trees on Fire. Tealights has had the pleasure of joining both of these bands on stage and we promise that it will be a night to remember in the coolest concert venue this side of town.

THIS IS A DONATION ONLY SHOW--your admission plus some drinks will be compliments of us, but we do ask that you throw some cash our way for production, beverages, and of course, money to get Trees on Fire back to Virginia! Whatever you can give, we'll be grateful. We'll have beer and wine, but you're welcome to B.Y.O.B. too. Since nights are getting chilly, make yourselves at home and bring blankets, lawn chairs, etc. See you there and message us if you need further directions.

Tour Diary: Day 10 - Broke Down

2009-10-19T01:40:00.005-04:00

We're going to let the video speak for itself on this one. Basically, we were driving from Chicago to St. Louis to go to the Bluebird Music Festival and broke down in Bloomington. Here, watch!

Tour Diary: Day 9 - Chicago

2009-10-18T15:29:00.004-04:00

After South Bend we left for Chicago. The drive as one of the shortest ones yet. We drove through Gary, Indiana on the way and were amazed at how large the industrial parts of town were. The entire city was nearly engulfed in smoke from the factories. We arrived very early into downtown Chicago and spent the majority of the day in the Field Museum. We saw dinosaurs, pirates, and mummies! The hours flew by and it was time to get Chicago-style hot dogs and check in where we were staying. It was a really relaxing day in the city and the show went great that night at Murphy's Pub.

Tour Diary: Day 8 - South Bend, IN

2009-10-18T11:47:00.005-04:00

Our eighth day was spent driving over to South Bend, Indiana. We didn't expect the weather to be cold so soon, but that didn't stop us from exploring the beautiful campus of Notre Dame. We made it to our live radio interview with Notre Dame's WVFI and ended up performing another acoustic version of "Passport" for them. At this point, hanging on to our acoustic instruments and ditching 95% of the rest of our gear does seem pretty tempting...
Anyway, everyone at WVFI was more than accommodating and before we left, they surprised us with matching hoodies and plenty of buttons. They even let Mikey use their button machine to make a lovely button out of his mom's business card. We're sure she'll be proud. We then made our way over to Anchor Inn for our show and had a great time hanging out with Mary's hometown friends she hadn't seen in about 11 years. The whole night was a lot of fun and we had a great time afterward sitting at Frank's Bar playing Pull-Tab lottery games and listening to the townies make wookie noises all night long!

Tour Diary: Day 7 - Saginaw, MI

2009-10-16T01:28:00.009-04:00

Saginaw was, by far, the most interesting city we've been to yet. We knew it was going to be anything but glamorous--or even quaint--but we were optimistic nonetheless. We woke up earlier than any other day on tour and arrived in ample time to check into our hotel and see what was left of the town. After a brief argument concerning tempura at dinner, we met up at the venue to receive a spectacular diatribe of the history and decline of Saginaw, MI. We learned that you could buy 16 city blocks for one million dollars, that it's the current murder capital of the world, and that Hollywood was looking to buy up the city and move there! Shocking, right?! Not entirely. Apparently there is a "death train" full of deadly gases that isn't allowed to empty its payload anywhere in the country. It circles the city 3 times per day and only stops to refuel. We never saw any death trains, but we were all completely enthralled with how fantastic that idea was! So, we had our history lesson and loved every minute of playing at historic White's Bar. The people in this town are a pleasure to be with and were incredibly receptive and gracious. We had a great time later that night at the hotel and then left for South Bend in the morning.

Tour Diary: Day 6 - Long Distance Driving and Getting Sick

2009-10-13T19:45:00.005-04:00

Hello again,

Today the four of us had set aside the day to drive from NY to Cleveland, OH in order to get from our stay in Brooklyn on Sunday to our Saginaw, MI show on Tuesday. Day 6 left us driving 469 miles on old wheels going 55 MPHs! This was our first day on tour with no obligation to get to a show so we took our time and enjoyed ourselves. After a short time driving we all started feeling a bit sick and stopped to get some fresh air. Mary thought dancing like a sugared-up toddler would make her feel better, but it was all in vain. We had to stop and get groceries to eat healthy and get back on an under 4000 calorie per day regiment! We saw the entire state of Pennsylvania and picked up souvenirs for our family. We arrived at one of Nancy's friend's late that night and had to get up at 6:30am to leave for Saginaw.

Tour Diary: Day 5 - Manhattan

2009-10-13T15:16:00.006-04:00

This one was weird and our videos are kind of lame. We slept in for our first day on tour and then rushed down to the L.E.S. to shoot the Soldoutmusic.com video. We hung out with them for a few good hours and were accompanied by our photographer, Bartam Nason, and our publicist. We had some drinks, shot the video, and then went out for a photo shoot around the city. Check back for those soon. Later that night we played at The Tank in Time Square. It was a fun show but was interesting to see that just one block away, where The Tank was located, from the busiest intersection on the planet there can exist a venue that can be as intimate and quiet as the one we played. Located inside the 45th Street Theatre, The Tank is completely isolated from any outside noise! It was nice. Below is the Soldoutmusic session and a live performance. Enjoy!

Day 4 - Belated Video

2009-10-13T15:09:00.002-04:00

Tour Diary - Day 4 Brooklyn, NY

2009-10-11T13:19:00.003-04:00

Everything bad that could happen, did! The best of all of the worst case scenarios have happened. We left late from Blacksburg, the van shredded a serpentine belt, our tires are dry rotted and drive like they were the first wheels ever built, and WE MISSED OUR SHOW IN BROOKLYN! This show, a Resonator Magazine Showcase, was the event that we booked our entire tour around and we missed it! We'll have a video up of the nightmare that was October 11th as soon as possible, but first we have to go shoot a video somewhere downtown. We'll be back soon!

Tour Diary - Day 3 Blacksburg, VA

2009-10-11T04:38:00.003-04:00

Alright, day 3 was trying for us all. After being sleep deprived for the last few days we wee exhausted and at our wit's end with our driving schedule. After a lengthy drive from Wilmington to Blacksburg we pulled into the Virginia Tech community with next to nothing in our stomachs. Fortunately, we had enough time in between our interviews with WUVT and our show at Gillie's to have our first whole meal of the tour. The show went of without a hitch and we were warmly welcomed.Trees on Fire took the stage after us and played an amazing set. Their sound seemed to spawn from rock/jam/pop influences with truly inspired mixtures of everything from MGMT to Dinosaur Jr. and from Sufjan to old-world Klezmer music! Seriously, check them out; they're a treat to watch. We're going to be playing a show with them in Atlanta on Nov. 6th. If you'd like to attend please write us a message and we'll get you details. After the show we went to a friend's mom's house who graciously opened her home and wine closet to us to enjoy and regroup. Before we left she insisted that we all take souvenir rocks from the hills of Roanoke for good luck.

Tour Diary - Day 2 Wilmington, NC

2009-10-09T18:10:00.006-04:00

Day 2 we played at The Soapbox in Wilmington, NC. It was a long drive from Asheville and it's shaping up to be an even longer drive to Blacksburg. Last night we we're privileged enough to play with our friends Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun and a local duo named Scantron. TTM,TTS played some killer new stuff. Please go check them out. The Soapbox was one of the most well run and hospitable clubs we've played. The whole crew of bartenders, door peoples, and sound guys were exceptionally friendly and helpful. After the show we parted ways with TTM, TTS and spent the night with a guy who turned out to be an old friend. Legend has it that Mikey and Nancy, while in One Hand Loves the Other, stayed at the same house with the same guy three years ago without knowing he owned the house! We napped there for 6 hours and woke up at 8 am, feeling much like the underside of a bar-stool at the Clairmont Lounge, in order to get to the WUVT interview in Blacksburg on time.

Tour Diary - Day 1 Asheville

2009-10-08T10:25:00.005-04:00

Tour started off fairly well. We left about two hours behind schedule and we needed a jump after our first attempt to start the van once loaded in. Eventually we arrived at Bobo Gallery in Asheville, NC to play with the State Of (Miami) and Sugar Glyder (Charlotte). They were both incredibly talented groups! State of is a two piece girl band that use electronics and live drumming and Sugar Glyder is a rock band that sounded like a good mix of Anathallo and Minus the Bear. We love them both very much. Even though the night consisted of all touring bands the show went really well. The State Of will be in Atlanta on 10/30 and 11/1. The November 1st date is at Park Tavern, Please go check them out, they blew us away. After the show we tore through the mountains to a woodland retreat to make bologna and pimento sandwiches (see video below)!

We made a video

2009-09-27T22:53:00.007-04:00

Here's a studio sample/teaser of our first EP "Take Us By Sea". We will release it on Tuesday, Sept. 29th!

We're doing it! It's happening!

2009-09-26T22:08:00.002-04:00

Tealights began this blog to keep our progress archived and available to the public. Anything that happens to us; you can find it here.

We'll be posting some studio videos and pictures from the past soon.

Throughout October and November we'll be posting videos and tour journals.