John Lee Hooker and ABBA in the same set list? That’s the gritty-sweet dichotomy of Mad Tea Party, an Asheville-based duo that plays raucous, retro indie-rock.
Bespectacled guitarist Jason Krekel and ukulele hottie Ami Worthen are more than band-mates; they’re also a combo off-stage.
“We met about 12 years ago,” Krekel says. “I was in a band and Ami was hanging out with the band and was just starting to play music. We hit it off right away and started recording four-track stuff around the house.”
To fill out Mad Tea Party’s sound, Krekel plays a kick drum with his right foot and triggers a snare with his right. He also occasionally bops a hi-hat with his mid-60s Silvertone guitar.
Worthen—whose onstage attire resembles vintage Go-Go’s garb — runs her ukulele through a guitar amp, and, occasionally, a flanger pedal.
“Ami’s ukulele is carrying on a lot of the eight notes—like a snare drum,” Krekel says.
In July 2008, Nine Mile Records released Mad Tea Party’s fourth disc, “Found a Reason.” The set includes “Every Way,” a saccharine stomper reminiscent of mid-period White Stripes, complete with overdriven vocals, gut-bucket guitar and heartbeat percussion. Dick Dale panache and ukulele ripples coexist on the surf instrumental “Big Noise from Krekel.” On “Blues Sip In,” Worthen sings sunshine couplets over a torn-and-frayed shuffle.
The band’s 2006 effort, “Big Top Soda Pop,” received airplay on NPR stations and dented the CMJ Top 200.
At one point, your band added a bassist; why go back to a duo? The last bass player moved and then we were thinking if we should try to find another bass player. We had some studio time booked and I’d been doing the one-man band thing for a while and we went into the studio and recorded the one-man band and ukulele, and it was just kind of magical and came together. I’d always been a fan of the power-duos anyway. When we laid our first track down it was like, “Great, we don’t need another person.” It’s a lot easier travelling as a two-piece.
When I listened to some of the tracks from “Found a Reason,” they sounded simultaneously catchy and rough-hewn. It’s real danceable, too. It’s like being on a conveyor belt of something; it takes on a life of its own sometimes. It combines all the elements of the music we really love. We started out being into the early-20s and ’30s blues and jazz and old-time music. But I also love early rock ’n’ roll, like Chuck Berry, and all the surf bands, The Ventures, The Bel-Airs. Ami has a real pop sensibility to her and she grew up on the ’80s pop music. She loves Fleetwood Mac, Cindy Lauper and Madonna. We both love garage rock and all the new incarnations of it. King Khan & BBQ Show, Detroit Cobras…We’re all just children of the iTunes age now. So music is more accessible to us now.
A lot of bands from the Appalachian area have a strong sense of roots music. Why do you think that is? Well, right now it’s really popular. I remember when we started five years ago there wasn’t as many people doing it. On the road, we’re seeing a lot more bands that are picking up the mandolin. It’s funny, because we’ve kind of pulled away from it and have gotten more into rock ‘n’ roll.
Mad Tea Party plays Gottrocks at 10 p.m. Jan. 9.
