The Tea Party

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Biography

The Tea Party is a Canada|Canadian rock and roll|rock band with blues , progressive rock , Music of India|Indian and Middle Eastern music|Middle Eastern influences, dubbed " Music of Morocco|Moroccan Rock and roll|roll " by the media. Active throughout the 1990s up until 2005 when the band broke up, The Tea Party released eight albums on EMI Music Canada, selling 1.6 million records worldwide, and achieving a #1 Canadian single " Heaven Coming Down " in 1999.

The Tea Party toured Canada on twenty-one occasions and Australia on twelve. In November 2002, The Tea Party toured Canada with symphony orchestras reinterpreting a decade's worth of shared songwriting. The band broke up in 2005 due to creative differences, but re-united in 2011 to play several Canadian tour dates during the summer. During the tour it was decided to continue and the band has now reformed.

History

Early years (1990–1995)

The Tea Party was formed in 1990 by Jeff Martin (Canadian musician)|Jeff Martin , Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Burrows after a marathon jam session at the Cherry Beach Sound|Cherry Beach Rehearsal Studios in Toronto . Each member had previously played together during their teenage years in a number of different bands in Windsor, Ontario , where they were originally from. They had decided to name their new group The Tea Party after the infamous hash sessions of famous Beat generation poets Allen Ginsberg , Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs .

The Tea Party released their The Tea Party (album)|eponymous debut album in 1991, distributing it through their own label Eternal Discs. The album drew influences from psychedelic rock and blues, and was produced by Martin; album production was something Martin would continue with for all of The Tea Party's albums, as a way of giving the band complete artistic control. In 1993 The Tea Party signed to EMI Music Canada and released their first major label recording, Splendor Solis (album)|Splendor Solis . The band employed open tuning s and goblet drums (Dumbek) to imitate Indian sounds, something they continued to employ throughout their career, while continuing in a blues influenced style. In 1994 the album released in Australia , with the single " Save Me (The Tea Party song)|Save Me " launching the band's career in the country. The band gained the support of national radio station Triple J , enabling the band's first tour, with "Save Me" becoming a staple of their setlists.Stuart Chatwood, In Tangents The Tea Party Collection 2000, CD, EMI Music Canada, Mississauga.

Success (1995–2000)

Further developing The Tea Party's sound in 1995, The Edges of Twilight was recorded with an array of Indian and Middle-eastern instrumentation. " Sister Awake ", the third single from the album, defines what the band set out to do, combining three-piece rock compositions with music from the world. "Sister Awake" is an acoustically based arrangement on 12-string guitar , sitar , sarod , harmonium and goblet drums . The Edges of Twilight is The Tea Party's most commercially successful album; with sales exceeding 270,000 units, the album is certified double platinum in Canada and platinum in Australia.

Upon returning from successful tours in Canada, Europe and Australia in 1996, The Tea Party recorded Alhambra (album)|Alhambra , an enhanced CD which features acoustic re-recordings of songs from The Edges of Twilight , and followed its release with a brief tour of Canada called "Alhambra Acoustic and Eclectic". English folk musician Roy Harper appeared on The Edges of Twilight reciting a poem and on Alhambra providing vocals for the song "Time".

Transmission (album)|Transmission released in 1997 saw The Tea Party's first foray into electronica with a sampled world music foundation and thrust. Transmission is a collection of aggressive songs influenced by upheavals around the band; the firing of their management and the feeling of a lack of support from their record company. Epitomising the feelings were the first single " Temptation (The Tea Party song)|Temptation " and the album's title song.

Triptych (The Tea Party album)|Triptych followed in 1999, the first single " Heaven Coming Down " rose to #1 on Canadian radio. The Tea Party's music took on a more orchestral sound, maturing from the blues base. Live at the Enmore Theatre , the band's only live album was released through Australian radio station Triple J during the band's tour for Triptych .

Later years (2000–2005)

The band released a singles compilation called Tangents: The Tea Party Collection in 2000, and then a DVD compilation of music videos (which Martin remixed in surround sound ) called Illuminations (DVD)|Illuminations in 2001.Band biography: Illuminations The Tea Party Collection 2001, DVD, EMI Music Canada, Mississauga. The Tea Party released The Interzone Mantras later in 2001, and in November 2002 joined symphony orchestras across Canada in adapting their live show.The Tea Party 2004, Band biography. Accessed 15 January 2007.

Seven Circles , the band's final album, was released in 2004. Both The Interzone Mantras and Seven Circles saw the band return to their earlier sound with maturity.

In October 2005 The Tea Party disbanded due to creative differences, with Martin abruptly announcing he was beginning a solo career. Afterward Chatwood stated on the band's forum "that Jeff Burrows and myself are sincerely sorry for the way this was handled. As far as Jeff Burrows and myself were concerned, the band was taking an extended break."Chatwood, S. 2005, Stuart Chatwood statement. Accessed 15 January 2007.

Post-breakup (2006–2011)

In 2006 Chatwood continued to compose the Prince of Persia video game soundtracks for Ubisoft Montreal .

Burrows joined Rush (band)|Rush 's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, and other Canadian musicians as drummer in the one-off project the Big Dirty Band as well as presenting the midday shift on CKUE-FM|The Rock , a radio station in Windsor. In 2008 Burrows announced that he, Edwin (musician)|Edwin , Mike Turner (musician)|Mike Turner and Amir Epstein would form the band Crash Karma , recording their debut album in early 2009.Morano, J 2008, Edwin Forms Band With Ex-Members Of The Tea Party And Our Lady Peace, Chartattack. Accessed 8 March 2009.Harper, K 2009, Edwin/Tea Party/OLP Band Is For Real, Chartattack. Accessed 8 March 2009.

Martin moved to Ireland and recorded his debut solo album Exile and the Kingdom (album)|Exile and the Kingdom , which was released in Canada and Australia in 2006.Bliss, K 2006, Jeff Martin in-studio session, Jam& #33; Music. Accessed 5 April 2006. He has toured parts of Europe, Canada and Australia, and released two live albums, Live in Brisbane 2006 and Live in Dublin (Jeff Martin album)|Live in Dublin , in November 2006 and May 2007, respectively. In August 2008, Martin announced the formation of his new band, The Armada (band)|The Armada . In 2010, The Armada broke up. Jeff Martin founded a new band called Jeff Martin 777 with Jay Cortez on bass and Malcolm Clark on drums. Their debut album The Ground Cries Out was released on March 1 in Canada and made it to #51 in the Canadian Albums Chart .

Reunion

On April 12, 2011, an official Facebook page was launched with a biography section that closed with "The band is scheduled to play a select number of dates in 2011. No other info was available at this time." The following day, the local radio station K106.3 announced the Sarnia Bayfest lineup including The Tea Party, which was later confirmed by drummer Jeff Burrows on his radio show on April 13. Burrows further stated that a Canadian summer tour was in the works. Accessed 13 April 2011.

On April 26, 2011, the in Ottawa, Ontario confirmed that The Tea Party is scheduled to play their "Subway Stage" on July 14. The band will also play at the Metropolis in Montreal on July 7, the Barrie New Music Festival on July 15, as well as Festival of Friends|The Festival of Friends in Hamilton, ON on August 6, 2011.

On July 9, 2011, the band performed to a capacity crowd at the annual outdoor event Roger's Bayfest in the port city of Sarnia, Ontario, with 60,000 people in attendance.

On August 6, 2011, the band had implied that they were going to be back together permanently. Martin said "We are the Tea Party and we're here to stay. And we're never going away again."

On December 2, 2011, during a show at the Métropolis (concert hall)|Métropolis in Montreal, the band announced that they would hopefully record a new album in 2012 and that there would be no more break up; Martin confirmed earlier implications by stating that "The Tea Party is back for good".

Domain Name

In September, Yahoo! reported that political groups associated with the Tea Party movement were trying to purchase the band's domain name. Stuart Chatwood stated ''"So much damage has been done to our name by the political movement that we're considering selling (The domain)"'' http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/sep/19/tea-party-domain-name Band to sell Teaparty.com domain name? It is estimated the band could sell the domain for over $1M U.S. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/teapartycom-could-make-a-rock-band-rich-09152011.html? chan=magazine+channel_news+-+politics+%26amp;+policy Teaparty.com domain could be sold for $1M U.S. The band purchased the domain in 1993, and has since added the phrase "No politics... Just Rock and Roll" to their site in order to distance themselves from the political movement. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/canadian-rock-band-tea-party-may-millions-selling-194251760.html On October 15, 2011, Sedo announced that they will be exclusively listing the domain for sale on their online marketplace.

Members

Jeff Martin (Canadian musician)|Jeff Martin – singer|vocals , guitar , sitar , sarod , oud , banjo , mandolin , dumbek , hurdy-gurdy , mellotron , esraj , percussion

Stuart Chatwood – bass guitar , guitar , keyboard instrument s, harmonium , percussion , mandolin , tambura , cello , lap steel guitar , bass pedals

Jeff Burrows – drum kit , percussion , djembe , goblet drums , tabla

Discography

The Tea Party (album)|The Tea Party (1991)

Splendor Solis (album)|Splendor Solis (1993)

The Edges of Twilight (1995)

Transmission (album)|Transmission (1997)

Triptych (The Tea Party album)|Triptych (1999)

The Interzone Mantras (2001)

Seven Circles (2004)

Video awards and nominations

The Tea Party were nominated for 22 MuchMusic Video Awards , and were awarded three People's Choice Awards for Favourite Music Video: two for "The River" and one for "The Bazaar". "Sister Awake" director Curtis Wehrfritz was nominated at the Juno Awards of 1996|1996 Juno Awards for Best Director; "Release" director Ulf Buddensieck won the Best Cinematography Award at the Juno Awards of 1998|1998 Juno Awards .

Copyright Citations

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