The earliest influences for the band were The Beatles, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, REM, English Beat, Joy Division, The Rolling Stones and Led Zepplin.

When they were young lads, (around 12 years old) Jeff Burrows and Jeff Martin began playing together soon after Jeff M. got his first guitar, which was a Les Paul. Their fathers were both members in the same band, which is where they both began learning about their inherited passion: music. You can hear Jeff Burrow's younger brother, Brad on the Coach and Horses show and Jeff Martin's cousin played percussion for them at one time. It is obvious that these men come from families rich in musical talent.

Although Jeff Martin, the lyricits of the group, publically accounces no official religious affiliations, it seems that there has been a marked intrest in several different religions over the years. Splendor Solis explores Shamanistic views as well as Celtism and the Greek Mythos. Fire in the Head is the name of a book by Tom Cowan which explores a combination of Shamanism and Celtism. Through time, we can also see an intrest in the religions of the Near and Middle East with Inanna, the name of a Sumerian and Ancient Arabian goddess and the metaphorical refrences to the Bazaars of Istanbul. Jeff Martin attended Sandwich Secondary School in Windsor the same time as Jeff Burrows and Stuart Chatwood. Jeff M. graduated high school in 1988 and went on to the University of Windsor, which didn't last very long. Most of what he knows, he proudly admits, is self-taught. Born on October 1, 1969, this left-handed Libra plays the guitar right-handed! He says that he learned to play right-handed because of the lack of guitars for lefties.

Stuart Chatwood is the bassist/keyboardist of the band. Also a Libra, born on October 22, 1969, Stuart is known as the quietist band member, so there isn't much information on him to be found...sorry. What we can say is that he is a phenominal musician and that he puts so much into the music that it pulses with the rhythms.

Jeff Burrows went to secondary school with Jeff Martin and Stuart Chatwood and played in several bands with Jeff Martin before they officially formed The Tea Party. Being the Leo out of the group, born on August 19, 1968, he is a very witty and charismatic gentleman. Playing percussion with such talent as is rarely seen in musicians, Jeff Burrows adds that "special rhythm" that keeps you dancing and moving from the beginning to end of each and every song!

Jeff Martin's cousin played percussion for the band until he was pushed to the side when the band took on a secong guitarist, Dean Drouillard. This band broke up in 1987 when Jeff Burrows and Jeff Martin moved to Toronto to form the Stickmen with Tim, a new percussionist. Jeff Burrows took over percussions in 1990.

The Tea Party officially formed in 1990 on Toronto's waterfront at the Cherry Beach Rehearsal rooms. They produced their first release in June of 1991. There were 3,500 discs and casettes made of their self-titled CD, now commonly referred to as the "Indie CD".

The Tea Party was named after the times when Jack Kerovac, Allan Ginsberg and William Burroughs would get together to get high and read poetry. They referred to is as a "tea party".

The Tea Party signed with EMI Canada and released their major label debut, Splendor Solis, in 20 countries. In Germany, it was named Critic's Choice Number One Album of 1994 by the World of Music. To support Splendor Solis, the band went on a very extensive world tour playing over 150 shows in such countries as Canada, USA, Germany, Spain, Austria, France and Australia.

The later release of The Edges of Twilight saw another extensive world tour where The Tea Party received a standing ovation at the Montréal Forum when they opened for the living legends Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zepplin. This also gave them the feeling of opening for one of their major musical influences, which is an opportunity that very few bands experience.

The Tea Party was back in the spotlight with the release of TRIPtych, which did well very well on the charts. They had several releases that had quite a bit of air time on the radios, such as The Messenger and Heaven Coming Down.

Their collection release, Tangents, has proved to be yet another raging success. Their top release from this album is Walking Wounded. The video for Walking Wounded was filmed on location in Cuba and has had not only plenty of air time, but plenty of space on the music video stations.

Illuminations, which is The Tea Party's collection of videos on DVD, is also raging success. Illuminations features videos, band commentaries, instrument documentation and much more footage! There is even a "behind the scenes" for the making of the Walking Wounded video in Cuba. Illuminations offers several sound choices, such as Dolby5:1 and Surround Sound. Jeff Martin admits that it was exciting to be able to go back into the studio to remaster all of the songs for the different sound options. This DVD proves itself to be a wonderfully expressive collection for The Tea Party!

With this history of wonderful music, we anxiously await the release of their latest creation, tenatively named The Interzone Mantras, to be released in the late Summer of 2001.

"The Interzone Mantras" is an allusion to the writings of William Burroughs, who is also one of the trio whose "tea parties" inspired the name of the band.

In an interview with JAM! Showbiz discussing The Interzone Mantras, Jeff Martin had the following to say:

"For the first time in about three records, we have actually
written these songs in a band way, in a rehersal way, as
opposed to creating them in a studio."

"We are just kind of rediscovering how
much fun it is to play in this band."

"Right now, it is hard to tell...
With The Tea Party records, they start off sounding like something and
end up sounding like something else. For us, ('The Interzone Mantras') is
something very stripped down, very , very heavy guitar rock."

"But, it is very distinctly us. It is, again, a departure from our
other records...it is more guitar than I have done in a long time.
It is very fun for me."

A few song titles that we can look forward to hearing on the new release are: "Lullaby" which Martin says is "very, very strong", "The Master and The Margarita" and "Must Must".

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