San Francisco jam band Tea Leaf Green will join the Dropkick Murphys and Common for this year's Spring Fling concert, Concert Board has announced.
To complete the Spring Fling ticket, "we needed a chill rock act, mostly because we were afraid that we might get noise complaints early in the show," said sophomore Concert Board Co-Chair Alan Munkacsy, who called their music "relaxing."
The title track of Tea Leaf Green's latest album, "Taught to be Proud" (2005), won "Song of the Year" at the 2006 Jammy Awards.
The band's music "got a good response at the Concert Board meeting, so hopefully that will transfer over to the rest of campus," Munkacsy said.
Spring Fling, which will take place on April 26, will feature a headlining performance from Celtic-punk band Dropkick Murphys and a set from the rapper Common. Student band FunkSoulLove will open with a noontime performance.
Muncaksy described booking Tea Leaf Green as "very last minute."
"We just threw names out ... and [Tea Leaf Green was] suggested, I think, by WMFO, and it just fit what we were looking for," he said. Munkacsy said Concert Board had considered the band Explosions in the Sky, but the scheduling did not work since Explosions will be in Tokyo on the date of Spring Fling.
Hailing from the Grateful Dead's hometown, Tea Leaf Green blends country and classic rock for a standard jam-band style. "They have more of a rock feel than the other acts," Muncaksy said.
Tea Leaf Green is composed of Ben Chambers on bass, Josh Clark on guitar and vocals, Trevor Garrod on keyboards and vocals and Scott Rager on drums. The band's popularity has grown since the release of its self-titled album in 1999, and it has recorded nine albums total, five of which are live.
Their four studio LPs are "Taught to be Proud," "Living in Between" (2003), "Midnight on the Reservoir" (2001) and "Tea Leaf Green" (1999).
Most recently, the group released the live CD "Rock 'n' Roll Band," a recording of its performance at The Fox Theater in Boulder, Colo.
Tea Leaf Green has opened for popular musicians such as the Dave Matthews Band, Phish's Trey Anastasio, Gov't Mule and Bruce Hornsby.
The band adopts an alternate name, Coffee Bean Brown, when playing smaller acoustic shows. Coffee Bean Brown performs with acoustic guitars and piano in addition to banjos, cellos and mandolins.
Munkacsy said that one reason Concert Board was concerned about finding a more relaxed band was that the group "didn't want any problems with the show before the main acts went on."
