{"id":22789,"date":"2014-09-05T07:00:01","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T21:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=22789"},"modified":"2014-09-04T17:45:02","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T07:45:02","slug":"jeff-martin-of-the-tea-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2014\/09\/jeff-martin-of-the-tea-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Martin of The Tea Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>\u201c\u2026So going back to what I said about me being the captain of the ship is that I wouldn\u2019t let that record become public consumption if I didn\u2019t feel that it stood up to anything that we\u2019ve done, the best of what we\u2019ve done and here we are\u2026 The Ocean At The End\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

From release: Canadian purveyors of rock\u00a0THE TEA PARTY\u00a0will return to Australia for a National Tour this October.\u00a0\u00a0The Ocean At The End Tour\u00a0marks The Tea Party\u2019s fourteenth Australian visit and coincides with the release of the beast, that is,\u00a0The Ocean At The End –\u00a0<\/strong>the trio\u2019s first studio album in ten years. Throughout The Tea Party\u2019s 2012 sellout Australian \u2018Reformation Tour\u2019, after 8 years apart, it was clear to see that the on-stage magic between Jeff Martin, Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Burrows remains as strong as it ever was. The reunion sparked a calling for the band to return to the studio and lay down songs for a new recording, much to the delight of TTP\u2019s longstanding devotees.<\/p>\n

We can tell you that we\u2019re excited to have The Tea Party back and making new music, so we gave Jeff Martin a call to chat about the return of The Tea Party and their new album \u2018The Ocean At The End\u2019 as well as their upcoming Australian tour and more\u2026<\/p>\n

Thanks for your time again, Jeff. Always a pleasure\u2026 and I guess first off now that we can talk about The Tea Party, was it an interesting experience after ten years between releases to get together to create this album?<\/strong>
\nAbsolutely, well here it is in a nutshell\u2026 when the three of us decided and we came to the realization that after seven years of being apart our differences that seemed so important in the beginning of our hiatus, in seven years it has dissipated to the point that it was almost petty you know? We decided to get back together and when we did that, I think the three of us were in agreement that it was almost like a criteria that we had to be able to tick off the boxes, and there was a three stage affair. Basically the first box would\u2019ve been, ok, can the three individuals get back on a stage and be that band again, be great, powerful, all of that, magick with a k and everything else. So the reformation tour here in Australia was like yes, we can tick off that box, we can be that again. Second thing just as important would\u2019ve been, the three of us, and Jeff and I, I\u2019ve known Jeff since I was five years old, so you hear other bands say \u2018oh we\u2019re like brothers\u2019 and stuff like that but with this band there\u2019s weight to that statement because we\u2019ve just known each other for such a long time, basically all of my life I\u2019ve known Jeff Burrows and I\u2019ve known Stuart since I was twelve years old, and so what was important\u00a0 is that yes the band is rockin\u2019 and the magick exists but can that brotherly love, that respect, that trust for one another, can we get that back? It took some time, it did take some time because without going into detail, truth be told in the halcyon days of The Tea Party I was the captain of the ship, but towards the end for reasons that I don\u2019t really want to go into, I wasn\u2019t that anymore for the band, so Jeff and Stuart lost their captain, and so I had to basically prove to myself and to Jeff and Stuart that I could be that captain of the ship again and that box was ticked off, I proved that as well. Then it was like ok, we have to do music now, we have to, because now we love this again, it\u2019s back, we\u2019re in control, it\u2019s back in our hands, we have to make a new record, now that being said for The Tea Party to make a new record, we\u2019re dealing with a legacy, we\u2019re dealing with this these big musical statements \u2018The Edges of Twilight\u2019, \u2018Transmission\u2019 and all that stuff right? And because the three of us demand the best out of one another together so if we were going to make a new record it just had to stand up alongside of the best of our work or there\u2019s no point in doing it at all because we don\u2019t have to make a record, we want to, we should, but there was no pressure from record companies or anything like that, we do it for the sake of art and the labour of love and can we do this and we took our time, we did it over a year and a half in spurts, there was four recording sessions, perhaps two weeks at a time, then we took months off we just let the record organically grow and we sat back and looked at it and listened to it and all that. So going back to what I said about me being the captain of the ship is that I wouldn\u2019t let that record become public consumption if I didn\u2019t feel that it stood up to anything that we\u2019ve done, the best of what we\u2019ve done and here we are\u2026 The Ocean at the End\u2026<\/p>\n

Of course the album is called \u2018The Ocean at the End\u2019, where does that come from and what does that represent to you?<\/strong>
\nWell, it comes from this, right now I\u2019m standing in my home here in Perth which is also my recording studio, it\u2019s also an art gallery for my business partner and business manager and this building was built in 1902 in Fremantle just outside of Perth, literally from my window here I\u2019m at my console and I can see the ocean and Perth is the most isolated city in the world. I was living in Byron Bay for the last five years up until March of this year, I was in a relationship and that ended and I\u2019ve always had a connection here with Perth because my ex-wife Nicole and son Django being here and lots of family and everything, so I decided to come back here to be closer to Django and truly, this is the ocean at the end, I found my home again, spiritually and physically and all that, it\u2019s just I have everything here I need to create anything that I need to do.<\/p>\n

What was the feeling like when you heard the finished product for the first time?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s kind of bittersweet that it\u2019s just such an enjoyable process that you don\u2019t want it to end *laughs* but of course every journey has its destination and we arrived at the destination and I\u2019m quite satisfied with the result. It\u2019s cathartic maybe, that\u2019s the one word to describe it because The Tea Party\u2019s music is so emotional and it\u2019s heavy, it\u2019s not like music you can put on to clean your house to *laughs* when you put on a Tea Party record you have to listen to it, and especially because these songs and these lyrics that I\u2019ve written, and the band absolutely equals in writing the music, but the responsibility of writing the lyrics has to fall on my shoulders because I have to sing it, so I have to own it and have to believe in it and it\u2019s come from experiences in my life, so it\u2019s heavy to listen back to because I\u2019m telling the truth in every single song, it\u2019s real, these are no stories, these are not fables, it\u2019s real.<\/p>\n

One song I was extremely pleased to hear was \u2018The Maker\u2019 a song I know you\u2019ve been playing for some time, why was this song so important to make it onto the album?<\/strong>
\nOh just because we wanted to make Daniel Lanois some more money *laughs* I don\u2019t know man\u2026 of course ever since we did The Messenger and since actually I\u2019d heard Daniel\u2019s work, his solo work I am so much a fan of his solo work even more so than with his production with other bands, I think Daniel Lanois truly taught me how to write great songs, and the proof is in the pudding, you listen to his solo material and it\u2019s just so engaging like it grabs your heart. What The Tea Party does to it is that Daniel\u2019s production of it is very ethereal would be the best way to describe it, the way that he does it, whereas The Tea Party we bring it more into a rock and roll things and it does have our signature on it. One of the greatest compliments I\u2019ve ever received came from the man himself, it would\u2019ve been in the early 2000\u2019s maybe 2002 at the Toronto film festival where for one night The Tea Party was Daniel\u2019s backing band, it was Daniel singing and the three of us were his backing band, and he said to me that he loved our version of \u2018The Messenger\u2019 which was a big hit in Canada and elsewhere and all that, and he said to me and Jeff \u2018I think I should just keep writing songs for The Tea Party\u2019 *laughs* and he\u2019s a hero, he\u2019s a mentor, as far as people and when it comes to once again being the captain of the ship and the recording console and I\u2019m the producer of The Tea Party, there\u2019s really only three people I could name right now that I would step away from the recording console and say \u2018yeah you take over\u2019 and that would be Daniel Lanois, it would be Jimmy Page or like George Martin, that would be it.<\/p>\n

You mentioned before that it had to feel right for you, but were you in a way surprised by the amount of love that there was for The Tea Party during that reformation?<\/strong>
\num, no, I was not, obviously with me living here and all of the solo stuff I had done before that, I knew how much Australia wanted The Tea Party again, where I think Jeff and Stuart were really taken aback by how it all came about and just the response because they weren\u2019t here for seven years and I was and they didn\u2019t know what to expect and it\u2019s humbling in the best possible way.<\/p>\n

Of course you\u2019re also hitting the road again for some club and theatre shows, after the big run in 2012, what\u2019s the idea behind hitting these smaller venues?<\/strong>
\nWell basically we\u2019re doing, it\u2019s still early days and we\u2019re probably going to end up doing multiple nights in some places, like we\u2019re doing The Palais, we\u2019re doing The Enmore Theatre and whatnot, but basically what it comes down to in a nutshell is that Jeff and Stuart want to stick around longer *laughs* they don\u2019t want to just come here for a couple of weeks. So, well, you know if you guys wanna stay longer, why don\u2019t we go back into the B Markets like we used to in the early days and give fans like a more of a close up experience, it\u2019s The Tea Party and The Tea Party in a club that only holds eight hundred people and that\u2019s full on, as it\u2019s usually three thousand, five thousand or six thousand people, but you play like the Coolangatta Hotel or something like that, we\u2019re just going to blow that place apart and it\u2019s going to be fun *laughs*.<\/p>\n

Much like the promo show you did at The Vanguard which was amazing\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah exactly and its great, Jeff and Stuart have the attitude of they like Australia and they want to stick around so let\u2019s make the most of it and give the fans as much as we can you know?<\/p>\n

There was the perfect pairing of yourself and Sarah McLeod out earlier this year, now Sarah is jumping on the tour with The Superjesus, it\u2019s almost like the singers now bring their bands out, was this an easy call to have The Superjesus out with you?<\/strong>
\nWell listen, Sarah to me is family, she almost my adopted little sister *laughs* and I just have all the time in the world for her, I think that in the absence of Chrissy Amphlett, Sarah is Australia\u2019s female rock vocalist hands down, no one better than her, that\u2019s it. She deserves as recognized as she is, I feel she needs to be more recognized and so I think this support is going to do great things for her and for the boys in the Superjesus, and without going into too much detail as we have to focus on The Tea Party, but next year there is a collaboration that Sarah and I and Mick Skelton who is currently the drummer in the Baby Animals, we\u2019ve done a full album and that\u2019s going to come out next year and will turn some heads as well.<\/p>\n

\u2018Waters of Fire\u2019 was probably my favourite song on the album, and there was an acoustic version I got to hear \u00a0to go along with it giving it such a different feel almost a reinvention, so could we possibly see a Tea Party acoustic album of reworks in the near future?<\/strong>
\nI think that anything is possible, The Tea Party for the three of us is our priority and we\u2019ve only just scratched the surface since we got back together of what we want to achieve, we have very, very lofty ideas and goals and there\u2019s no reason we can\u2019t achieve them, so anything can happen my friend.<\/p>\n

Then maybe a little acoustic tour thrown in there\u2026<\/strong>
\n*laughs* yeah, why not\u2026<\/p>\n

So is there a plan as to what the future looks like for The Tea Party?<\/strong>
\nBasically my job is to be the producer of The Tea Party and the main songwriter but not really because I think that Jeff and I and Stuart have all equally put in, but my thing is the music, that\u2019s my job as the captain, that\u2019s what I do. We have great people that we\u2019ve surrounded ourselves with now, even like as strange as it sounds to say, Sony Records here in Australia are so enthusiastic about this record and Sony is known more here in Australia for being a pop thing, but Denis Handlin, the president of Sony is a rock guy, he\u2019s a rock and roll guy and he gets this record, like when I met him he was talking about the songs and individual parts of the songs that I didn\u2019t even remember you know what I mean? *laughs* so it\u2019s going to be great, man!<\/p>\n

When we spoke earlier this year you predicted that in 2014 Jeff Martin was going to make a lot of people happy, it\u2019s working so far, so, let\u2019s change it up and predict the remainder of the year, so by the end of 2014 The Tea Party will\u2026<\/strong>
\nThe Tea Party will\u2026 I\u2019ve got it, it\u2019s on the tip of my tongue\u2026 The Tea Party will\u2026 rekindle your belief that rock and roll can move you.<\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Toronto, Canada<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>Jeff Martin \u2013 Vocals \/ Guitars, \u00a0Jeff Burrows \u2013 Drums \/ Percussion, Stuart Chatwood \u2013 Bass \/ Keyboards<\/p>\n

Latest Release:<\/strong> The Ocean at the End (Sony Music Australia) – Read our review of the album HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.teaparty.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE TEA PARTY –\u00a0THE OCEAN AT THE END –\u00a0AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL TOUR \u2013 OCTOBER 2014 <\/strong>with special guests\u00a0THE SUPERJESUS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tickets on sale NOW<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Thursday 9 October \u2013 Crown Theatre, Perth<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Tickets from\u00a0ticketek.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Saturday 11 October \u2013 Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Tickets from\u00a0venuetix.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Sunday 12 October \u2013 Palais Theatre, Melbourne<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Tickets from\u00a0Ticketmaster.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Wednesday 15 October \u2013 The Enmore, Sydney<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Tickets from\u00a0ticketek.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Friday 17 October \u2013 The ANU Bar, Canberra<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Tickets from\u00a0ticketek.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Saturday 18 October \u2013 Waves, Wollongong<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Tickets from\u00a0moshtix.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Monday 20 October \u2013 Panthers, Newcastle<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Tickets from\u00a0moshtix.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Tuesday 21 October \u2013 Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Tickets from\u00a0oztix.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Thursday 23 October \u2013 The Tivoli, Brisbane<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Tickets from\u00a0ticketmaster.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n

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