SURVIVING THE LABYRINTH
Source: Access Magazine, May/June 1995

"Welcome to a work in progress."
This is the greeting The Tea Party's lead vocalist/guitarist Jeff Martin offers to about 400 Toronto fans shoe-horned into a suburban club, to witness one of the first live performances of the band's ambitious new album, The Edges of Twilight. In a couple of days time, Martin, bassist/keyboardist Stuart Chatwood and percussionist Jeff Burrows will be heading out on a nine-date tour of Australia before travelling on to Europe for a 24-date blitz of Britain, Germany, Holland, France, Belgium and Switzerland. But for now the prime objective is to iron out the kinks in a complex live set which involves mutiple instrument changes in mid-song and usage of an exotic array of North African and East Asian musical exotica not usually found on the shelves of Long & McQuade.
To call the Tea Party progressive would be too simplistic. From the spiritual mysticism of their EMI debut release, Splendor Solis to the global awareness of their new offspring, this Windsor, Ontario trio have bucked the traditional elements of rock music since performing together in a series of high school aggregations. The courage of their convictions was at times the only element binding them together as The Tea Party battled again skepticims and outright ridicule to develop a unique blend of multi-cultural influences.
Although cogniscent of the value of self-promotion, The Tea Party are wary of any media hounds who dare to even consider drawing two comparisons they consider to be sacrilegious - Led Zeppelin and The Doors - a mistake your humble scribe is now being skewered for making in a previous interview.
"The European media don't draw comparisons as much as make explanations," adds Martin, entering the 'let's skewer the Access journalist' routine. "Comparisons don't carry any weight over there. One of the biggest German magazines, World of Music, voted SPLENDOR SOLIS their number one critics' choice album over Black Crowes, Sheryl Crow and Soundgarden. Obviously they saw our record for what it is and appreciated it at face value."
The Tea Party's angst comes not from bitterness but more from a sense of frustration. In releasing a self-titled independent release in 1991 - which metamorphosized into Splendor Solis with the addition of six new tracks in 1993 - the band felt they had cut across the cultural barriers and created a genuine ground-breaking piece of work; one that has sold 130,000 units domestically and counting. Yet too many times, Canadian critics would harp on about the music's psychedelic 60's retro spirit and Martin's striking Jim Morrison physical and vocal resemblance.
It's a barrier between the band and their fans which they unflatteringly call 'the labyrinth' - one they would try to penetrate a few days following this interview by performing a brief concert live over the internet. "The internet is a new format of communication," enthuses Martin. "It's immediate, it's unsupervised, it's the easiest, quickest way to get our point across - and it's a way to beat the labyrinth."
Although they had played together on and off with other musicians during high school, The Tea Party didn't officially come together until 1990 when Martin and Chatwood - who had played in a failed Toronto group - recruited Burrows (who had just been fired from his band) to join them in rehearsals at Cherry Beach studios for an upcoming gig they had back in Windsor.
Even during that initial jam session, The Tea Party sensed they were heading in a direction that was refreshingly different. "We said to ourselves, let's throw convention out of the window," reflected Martin. "Let's throw all these categories out and do whatever we want to do."
Named after the Boston rebellious upheaval, The Tea Party struggled to compete against the pervading grunge scene - writing material that was counter-directive to what was happening in the clubs. Their energetic live shows started to win over pockets of supporters and their writing progressed to the point that they released a self-titled indie CD featuring 'Save Me', which was picked up for air-play by metro Toronto station CFNY.
With strong local air-play and a willingness by the band to play anywhere at any time, The Tea Party's indie debut started to pick up sales at major retailers. "I know we were getting there when Jason Sniderman (Sam The Record Man) called up and asked where his copies were."
A series of showcases (some 30 in all) attracted major label interest but the a&r types were as much confused as they were won over by the band's complex arrangements. "Only one label said no, but nobody else was saying yes," noted White (their manager). "In the end, we did a baby band deal with EMI which was drawn up on the expectation that the band might sell 25,000 units."
Record deal or no record deal, The Tea Party insisted on running their own show. Martin demanded to produce the first record and when the label waffled, he took the band to Vermont to produce four tracks as a test of his talents, returning with six completed tracks. Those - combined with key songs of their indie album - evolved into Splendor Solis, which was released in early 1993.
Fueled by a solid fan base and national air-play on 'The River', The Tea Party blew EMI's conservative projections apart with record sales soaring past the platinum mark. Constant touring had seen them criss-cross Canada and when internal problems at Chrysalis prevented them from getting a proper shot in the States, White elected to try for international exposure in Australia. "The game plan was simple," recalled White. "If they bombed in Australia, few people would know about it. But if they went over well, it would be a good indication they would be successful in other markets."
Arriving in Sydney, Christmas Eve, 1993, the band played a half-dozen shows in that city and Melbourne and went over well enough to blow out an intended date in New Zealand. With air-play on JJJ radio for 'Save Me' pushing the album to #33 on the Aussie charts, The Tea Party created enough impact to warrant a return visit in April '94, where they covered eight cities in nine days - selling out all but one of the concerts.
While on the road, the band started creating acoustic sketches which developed into song ideas for the next album. Concluding their touring activities in late '94, Martin, Chatwood, and Burrows sequestered themselves in a Montreal studio to shape these ideas into demos. "We started to look at music from different cultures and the mood those styles of music would evoke," said Martin. "We discussed the idea of playing these instruments ourselves to capture the right atmosphere."
With Martin supplying an exotic array of Eastern stringed instruments and Burrows introducing djembe and dumbek drums from North Africa and Pakistan, the band's songwriting reflected the same global spirit with song titles like 'Fire In The Head', 'The Bazaar' and 'Inanna' invoking the mysteries and spirits of different cultures and mind-sets. " A lot of aggression and anger had built up over the past two years and this album was our musical and lyrical re-evaluation of our values," explained Martin. "It was like this gash had been opened and a lot of aggression was coming through."
None of the band claim to be experts at playing traditional instruments, but say their goal was to evoke the right atmosphere by performing themselves, instead of hiring experienced players a la Peter Gabriel and Plant & Page. "When I started playing the Sarod I found my style was easily adaptable," said Martin. "I played it for a few hours and found I could capture the mood of the instrument the way I had heard it on other records."
The Edges of Twilight deals with obliterating normal categories of perception and replacing them with a fresh vision; a vision which becomes re-focused with every album.
"The only way rock music can go forward is throught the interpretations of other cultures," explains Martin. "Instead of musicians resting on their laurels and recycling the same old punk thing, they need new stimulation." For The Tea Party, this comes in the form of translating their ambitious new album into a workable stage performance. The trio agree that their task is challenging and complex, but relish the latitude of stretching out the songs to create new interpretations.
Australian and European dates will take them through until June, when a Canadian tour is planned. Then the focus will switch to the States with cross-Atlantic sojourn to hit prime European summer festivals.
In the meantime, The Tea Party are hoping that critics will give them their just desserts this time, and appreciate the band for what they are - a global entity with a unique sound that marries western and eastern cultures.
"We haven't received a lot of help in the past," notes Chatwood. "We've worked hard for everything we've gotten. I think we've earned our stripes."

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