Watching The Tea Party Make Angels

Wednesday December 05, 2001 @ 03:00 PM By: ChartAttack.com Staff

When ChartAttack was graciously invited to sneak a peek at the video set for The Tea Party’s new single, "Angels" (most added single to Canadian rock radio, incidentally), we jumped at the chance. After all, it's not often that we're allowed to leave the sweltering Chart offices and go off on a field trip.

The basic location for the film shoot was a giant warehouse space located behind the Canada Square Studio in downtown Toronto. Unfortunately, because the studio warehouses and interconnecting halls make for a veritable labyrinth-of-no-return, we kind of got lost until thankfully abetted by a guy who "had never heard of any band named The Tea Party, but I know where people always film videos."

He certainly did. Once at the right spot, we could see The Tea Party guys (Jeff Burrows in front of the camera, Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Martin milling about) all dressing the part of rock stars and looking very genial and amiable. We didn't want to bother the men at work, so we just hung back and tried to get a feel of what was going on.

The video itself, directed by Craig Bernard, seems to be playing with the concept that Martin (enigmatically ethereal character that he can be) is/has some sort of guardian angel who watches over him and tries to save him from a superficial and empty life. Or something like that (the treatment alludes to such spiritually reflective films as Wim Wenders' Wings Of Desire and Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru, if that helps). If you want to oversimplify things, the video basically features Tea Party members at a swank party, looking at their reflections in the mirror and on the other side, their reflections sing back to them. Suffice it to say, it's pretty difficult to effectively explain, but once you see it, it should make sense. And, what with all the pretty, green-screen effects, it should look real cool, too.

According to one anonymous crew member, the shoot had hit a few snags along the way. Still, he explained that this sort of thing was typical for Canadian music videos. In the US, a carefully-written video treatment is filmed exactly as per instruction — here, things tend to be a bit more organic, a bit more "compromise as you go," if you will. There's a lot of stopping and starting, a lot of patience and understanding.

But it wasn't the band members we felt sorry for when it came to the waiting around. At least they got to be interviewed by people once in awhile (like those cute MTV Canada poppets). Our sympathies lay with the extras, hanging towards the back of the warehouse, expectant for their big scene and sweating to death in their hip, clubbing attire. Oh, the price one must pay to be close to their favourite band.

Speaking of which, the trio will be playing Mike Bullard's show tomorrow night and will also be doing two intimate sets in Toronto the day after. The first will be a single-song performance for the nation's music station (Dear Santa: If you have Ed the Sock interview Jeff Martin, I will be the happiest boy in the world) and the other, a short set at the Now Lounge for a closed crowd that doesn't include you. Still, you can watch the performance live on your computer, by heading on over here at 9 p.m. EST, Friday.

The band will also be playing T.O. nu-rock station Edge 102's vaunted Casby awards this Saturday, along with the Lowest Of The Low, David Usher and Big Wreck's Ian Thornley (who'll be fronting a makeshift band that includes Crash Vegas' Colin Cripps). Again, unless you've won tickets from Edge102, you're stuck sitting at home alone on a Saturday night, watching it take place on your computer. Sad.

If you're annoyed with all of this "win-to-get-in" stuff and just want a Tea Party concert that you can buy tickets for the old-fashioned way, we do have some good news. The band has announced the first slew of dates for their Interzone Mantras tour. That said, all of the dates take place in Germany or the Netherlands, so you may still be faced with a bit of a problem getting in. After that, the band's expecting to play the Land Down Under throughout February, including the infamous (for reasons both good and bad) Big Day Out festival, alongside New Order, The Prodigy, Garbage, Crystal Method and others.

We're expecting some sort of Canadian road show in the early spring, but nothing's confirmed — we'll let you know. As for the "Angels" video, look for it to hit Much's heavy rotation in a few weeks.

—Erik Missio


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