The Mad Tea Party (originally Ami Worthen's Mad Tea Party) is an eclectic uke-abilly band based in Asheville, NC. The high energy group was formed by Ami Worthen (vocals, ukulele, and other occasional instruments) and Jason Krekel (guitar, ukulele, slide whistle, kazoo and other assorted items), who performed and recorded as a duo for several years. The duo quickly caught the attention of the indie scene in their hometown. National Public Radio stations across the country began picking up their 2004 album 73% Post-Consumer Novelty. Lora Pendelton joined the band on bass later that year. The trio released Flying Saucers in 2005, also to great response on NPR stations.
Mad Tea Party regularly tours on the southeastern circuit and occasionally opens for Southern Culture on the Skids.
Mad Tea Party's album Big Top Soda Pop came out in October 2006. It was enthusiastically received at college and NPR stations nationwide, and charted on the CMJ’s Top 200. Pendleton left the band at the time of the album's release, and Joe Edel stepped in for a year. The band returned to a duo format in 2008 and soon after signed with Nine Mile Records. Their song "Baby, It's Time to Vote" (from their 2004 album 73% Post-Consumer Novelty) is particularly popular during election years, as well as with high school SGA elections.
Famous quotes containing the words mad, tea and/or party:
“Lord Byron is an exceedingly interesting person, and as such is it not to be regretted that he is a slave to the vilest and most vulgar prejudices, and as mad as the winds?
There have been many definitions of beauty in art. What is it? Beauty is what the untrained eyes consider abominable.”
—Edmond De Goncourt (1822–1896)
“My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky;
It’s time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at tea-time and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)
“In inner-party politics, these methods lead, as we shall yet see, to this: the party organization substitutes itself for the party, the central committee substitutes itself for the organization, and, finally, a “dictator” substitutes himself for the central committee.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)