the Tea Club

The Tea Club is a band from New Jersey consisting of Patrick McGowan, Dan McGowan, Jamie Wolff, Joe Dorsey
and Dan Monda.

The band has recorded and released 4 full length records. They have toured with Beardfish and Thank You Scientist and shared the stage with notable groups Trioscapes, The Flower Kings, John Wetton, Jimmy Gnecco, Consider the Source, and Tom Brislin to name a few.

In 2008 the band was discovered by producer Tim Gilles (Anthrax, Taking Back Sunday, Hades, Bear vs Shark, Thursday) who recorded produced, and mixed their first album at Big Blue Meenie Studios. General Winter’s Secret Museum was released in July of 2008.

Following a brief east coast tour, The Tea Club returned to Tim Gilles and Big Blue Meenie Studios to record their second album entitled Rabbit which released October 9th, 2010.

The band spent the rest of 2010 and 2011 touring the east coast, including performances at the Progday Music Festival in North Carolina, the Philly Film and Music Festival, and the NJ Proghouse Music Series.

The Tea Club again returned to Big Blue Meenie Studios to record their third album.Quickly Quickly Quickly released on November 15th, 2012 to overwhelmingly positive reviews and made several “Top Albums of 2012” lists.

In 2013, the band traveled to Canada to play at the Terra Incognita Festival in Quebec City, and booked a summer tour which included a performance at the IMR Music Festival 2013 in Atlanta, GA.

The Tea Club spent 2014 writing and recording at Big Blue Meenie Studios. These recordings became The Tea Club's fourth album, "Grappling", which was released on November 17, 2015. Grappling was met with critical acclaim, with many reviewers calling it the band's greatest achievement, solidifying the band as a major presence in progressive rock.

The Tea Club started 2016 by doing a 2 page interview in PROG Magazine, where they were described as a band with “an incredible future”. The band played several shows throughout 2016, including a show with Toby Driver of Kayo Dot and multiple shows opening for HAKEN on part of their “Affinity” Tour of the USA. They also released a live in studio music video for their song “The Magnet” from Grappling.

Later in the year, The Tea Club released Grappling Book One: The Magnet, the first issue of a comic book series that elaborates on the stories told in the lyrics of their Grappling album, written by Patrick McGowan, drawn by Dan McGowan, and colored by long time collaborator Kendra DeSimone.

The Tea Club ended 2016 by touring the East Coast with Thank You Scientist and Moon Tooth.

The Tea Club spent 2017 writing material for their fifth album, which they are currently recording at Big Blue North in Utica, NY. They are planning to release the album in late 2018.

All four of The Tea Club’s records have garnered critical acclaim with features in multiple U.S. magazines including Prog Magazine, Metro Philly, Indie Music Reviewer, Orgivation, Progression Magazine, and Jump as well as publications in the U.K. including IO Pages, Big Bang Magazine, and Harmonie Magazine.

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Praise for "Grappling":

"... A challenging, modern and frequently scintillating album... With a little luck, exposure and continued self-belief, this Philadelphia band could have an incredible future..."
-Prog Magazine

"...The music on Grappling is clearly an amazing step up for The Tea Club. Once again I find myself almost at a loss for words other than to say if you’ve never listened to The Tea Club you MUST check them out. They get my highest recommendation..."
-Jerry Lucky, author of "The Progressive Rock Files"

"...The Tea Club are the real prog rock deal..."
-The Organ 'Zine

"One of the best progressive rock records this side of 1975... Truly a must listen for pretty much everyone that likes anything even remotely progressive related..."
-Kevin Zecchel, The Monolith

“...If you resurrected Poe and Lovecraft, gave them guitars and synthesizers and called them a band, then set them loose on the world, you probably still wouldn’t get a cast of characters as unique, twisted, and fantastical as Dr. Abraham, Simon Magus, The Eternal German Infant, and Big Al. New Jersey gem The Tea Club, on the other hand, continue to do just that...”
-Justin Carlton, The PROG Mind

"...Grappling impresses with its courage and its venturing in a scene all too often contained within comfortable parameters that are already approved..."
-Lorenzo Barbagli, altprogcore.com

"...With Grappling, The Tea Club prove they have reached their full maturity as a compositional force, and are ready to assume a leading role in the overcrowded modern prog scene..."
-Raffaella Berry, Fire of Unknown Origin

"This is not about skill or sound... this is about vision..."
-Robert Walton, ProgArchives.com