The Tea Party (the band, obnobviously) reunion sticks!
Just saw this article from the Toronto Sun wherein the magnificently talented Mr. Jeff Martin of The Tea Party says of the band’s recent reunion shows: “This is not a victory lap, that’s for sure. This is permanent.”
The band got back together recently for a few shows, with the usual caveat of “We’ll just see how it goes.” Well I guess it goes good, cos Martin said this:
“I want to take it back to where I feel the band left off at its height of creative powers. I guess that would be somewhere between (1995’s) The Edges of Twilight and (1997’s) Transmission. That was the period where we weren’t succumbing to outside pressure. It was just us, for better or worse. The thing that The Tea Party was known for, the thing fans looked to us for, was that mix of the exotic Middle Eastern influences against the hard rock. That’s what we love to do and we want to explore that again. In January, once this tour is done, I plan on going to Morocco for a couple of weeks and starting to write again.”
YES! Just fucking YES!
CD REVIEW: Jeff Martin 777 – The Ground Cries Out
The Tea Party were, to some, one of the most important bands of the 90s. Their blend of heavy blues, post-rock electronica, middle-eastern scales and hedonist mysticism was the perfect sound for the times, and yet it hasn’t dated in the way many of their contemporaries have. if anything, the Canadian trio’s music now seems even more timeless.
The Tea Party broke up a few years ago but band leader Jeff Martin has continued to make music, both under his own name (the brilliant Exile & The Kingdom) and with The Armada. His newest venture, Jeff Martin 777, is a power trio which builds on the musical vocabulary of The Tea Party, rather than simply tries to repeat it. Martin’s cohorts in the venture are J Cortez (Sleepy Jackson/The Armada) on bass and Malcom Clarke (Sleepy Jackson/The Basement Birds) on drums.
FEATURED REVIEW
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I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), guitarworld.com, Tone Deaf, Beat and The Brag. I started I Heart Guitar in 2008. I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18 (I'm 33 now). I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week) and a setup tech. I live in Melbourne, Australia. You can check out my guitar playing at Reverbnation or on YouTube.
You can email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com