THE TEA PARTY (the band) Special on: Geek U.S.A Podcast

Geek U.S.A. a relatively new podcast from 2 guys I have seen post on the Mike Portnoy forum for many years, recently did a special about the history of The Tea Party.

Quite a good discussion, much of which I knew, but also a lot of stuff I wasn't totally familiar with.

They talk about each album, which I don't think I've ever written in-depth about The Tea Party's career, but I have included some stuff about, especially a couple of years ago when The Ocean at the End came out.

My history, as briefly as I can about TTP. I enjoy the early albums quite a bit. Splendor Solis and especially The Edges of Twilight. When I got into The Tea Party, I want to say around 2002, 2003? maybe a year or 2 earlier.

edit: come to think of it, I think their name came up on the Rush newsgroup back in 1995 even. But I know it was years later when I saw some discussion on mp.com and some other places like the Colorado Art Rock Society, progressiveears.com and maybe the dreamtheater.net message board.

But what happened after I started checking them out, I tracked down some of the albums after
The Edges of Twilight: Transmission, Tryptych. from memory. I found digital versions of
The Interzone Mantras and Seven Circles I think.

edit: Per my rym, I actually did find a CD of The Interzone Mantras, which maybe I did, but it may take some work to track down.

And the S/T debut album/ep? also digital.

But the thing about this podcast is how in-depth they are, because I haven't listened to any of their albums other than The Edges of Twilight, Splendor Solis and The Ocean at the End in probably well over a decade. And this podcast makes me want to.

I just recall Transmission being electronic and industrial and not giving as much time to (and also I would frequently see it used at Cheapo, probably the CD I saw the most. And I guess it just came out on vinyl).

Tryptych, my memory is horrible about. I liked it I think, but I wish I could remember more about it.

Interzone: I liked more than the previous 2. More of their early sound.

Seven Circles: the podcast they took to shreds, and I don't remember hating it, but also maybe remember less about it than Tryptych.

I would have liked to have them added though, per how good The Ocean at the End is/was, hopefully they do another record at some point, especially per their anniversary tours and active time with TTP again. Although I also always wondered if the title "The Ocean at the End" was alluding it to be a 1-off ending to the band.

And among the news/gossip/state of the band, what happened with Jeff Martin and the copyright stuff from 2016, while not positive, still is something to be aware of. I mean the solo work and side projects from 2005, I only recall spending time with Crash Karma, and being somewhat underwhelmed. But I have also meant to check out some of Jeff Martin's solo stuff for awhile as I know many TTP fans really enjoy it. Maybe a bit like Mike Vennart and Oceansize, in some ways, etc.

Also about Geek U.S.A. they focus on maybe Scifi stuff most, but have done some other music like Dream Theater a couple of times. I also have checked out some of their Scifi stuff like Star Trek and movies/tv related. They praised Deep Space 9, which I was of course up to hear, but also wonder if they may eventually talk about Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, and hell why not The Big Bang Theory or even Psych? among others So beyond their music podcasts, I do check out some of their other discussions.