Scoring The Decameron

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...

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

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

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!

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

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

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.