"I've heard it is cold as hell over there now," said keyboardist and vocalist Trevor Garrod.

Guitarist Josh Clark, drummer Scott Rager, bassist Reed Mathis and Garrod come from San Francisco, Calif.,”Infusing live jam band antics and rock, Tea Leaf Green finally visits Milwaukee and the Rave Sunday during its heavy touring.

"I've heard it is cold as hell over there now," said keyboardist and vocalist Trevor Garrod.

Guitarist Josh Clark, drummer Scott Rager, bassist Reed Mathis and Garrod come from San Francisco, Calif. Garrod said the San Francisco music scene was diverse and eclectic enough to allow Tea Leaf Green to make a name for itself.

"There's been a core group of musicians that are more in our scene," Garrod said. "We all have an attitude that there's room for everybody to be successful. It's not a really big competitive thing, no one is trying to sabotage each other's gear."

Tea Leaf Green should survive the Wisconsin cold. For the past 10 years, Garrod said the band has overcome difficult times by sleeping on strangers' floors and eating whatever they could find.

"It's a lifestyle, and if you don't really enjoy the constant travel, turmoil, adventure and romance of it, then you're not going to like it," Garrod said. "If I stay home for a couple weeks, I start to get a little antsy."

The band's former bassist Ben Chambers left after realizing the touring life did not fit him.

"He just stood up and said, 'I don't want to do this anymore. I don't like touring,'" Garrod said. "It's an understandable thing, but for us it was all kind of flabbergasting."

Garrod said the band respected Chambers' feelings and moved forward. They knew bassist Reed Mathis, a member of Tulsa, Okla. jazz act the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, and admired his abilities.

"We called him up and asked him if he wanted the job not really expecting him to say yes," Garrod said. "He's really given us a whole new breath of life and got us a lot more excited about the music."

Following the band's last studio album Taught to be Proud, Garrod said they recorded a new album with Mathis earlier this year.

"We're still kind of brainstorming (the album's name)," Garrod said. "It's a delicate process."

Garrod said the album is song orientated with not a single track going over five minutes. While the album will contain brand new songs and older live songs, the album is not a shift in new directions.

While the new album's track list leaked online, Garrod said he appreciates the time, energy and effort people put in finding out about a band's work early. However, he said he is still divided on the subject.

"I don't know if it's necessarily detrimental to sales or anything if it gets leaked. It's kind of fun for people to get the early leaked version," Garrod said. "If someone is gung-ho to find it, they will."

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