The Red and Black

Issue date: 10/4/07 Section: Out & About

Media Credit: COURTESY TEA LEAF GREEN Tea Leaf Green quickly has risen to the top of the festival ranks with its jam-based rock. [Click to enlarge]

The green tea movement had not quite hit the United States in 1997 as Josh Clark and his band searched for an identity.

Eleven years later and still under the name Tea Leaf Green, the members say they never considered the allusion to the popular antioxidant-bursting beverage. In fact, they are used to people thinking it's an allusion to a not-so-legal thing.

"The worst thing about (the name) is when people think it's a marijuana reference, which it's definitely not," he said. "We didn't sit down and say 'let's name (our band) after pot.' I just thought the name would look good in cursive."

The band, composed of Clark (guitar/vocals), Ben Chambers (bass/vocals), Scott Rager (drums) and Trevor Garrod (keyboards/vocals), will be performing at the Georgia Theatre Friday night.

Tea Leaf Green's ascension in the jam scene began in November 2005 when Phish frontman Trey Anastasio heard the band's stuff and asked the members to tour with him.

"He showed us a lot of theaters in the Midwest and we were able to get a taste for the production," Clark said. "It helped us get work done on a different level."

Besides Anastasio, TLG has shared the stage with a variety of artists at festivals all over the country. This past summer, the band traveled to the likes of the Bonnaroo, Allgood, Wakarusa and High Sierra festivals.

Clark said the band started touring about six years ago and has developed a so-called "tour clan."

"There's a great community in the festival circuit where everyone gets to know each other," he said. "Everyone's kind of a big family out on the road and it's a great feeling to have friends far away from home who you can play (music) with."

Tea Leaf Green is a rock jam-band that focuses much less on the jam aspect of its songs than most bands in the scene.

"All the sounds (TLG possesses) are pretty much rock and roll," Clark said. "We like to improvise on our songs, but I don't know how far (we'd) get just by playing instrumentally. I'm more interested in a lyrical message and having jam fill in the details."

TLG released its last album, "Taught to be Proud," in 2005. That year, the single "Taught to be Proud," written by Garrod, won song of the year at the sixth annual Jammy Awards held in Madison Square Garden.

"If I knew it was going to win, I would have drank less," Clark said. "I thought we had no chance, but I guess people voted for us."

But how did people find out about such a great song? According to the band's Web site, the taping of shows is highly encouraged. With audiences recording the shows and putting them on archive.org for streaming and downloading, TLG's music managed to emerge without the aid of a record label.

"I guess the people are our record label. They record (the concert), spread it and that gets more people to our shows," Clark said. "That's the philosophy we developed, and that's why we never depended on album sales."

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