THE TEA PARTY & I MOTHER EARTH | Friday November 10, 2023 at 8:00pm
The Tea Party
The multi-Platinum selling, multi-Juno Award nominated trio of singer/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Jeff Martin, bassist and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Chatwood and drummer/percussionist Jeff Burrows return to touring North America in the Fall of 2023.
Their journey began over 30 years ago when Martin, Chatwood and Burrows, high school friends from Windsor, Ontario, joined forces to start a band rooted in their love of the adventurous side of classic rock. Adopting the name, The Tea Party as a reflection of their defiant stance against then-popular musical trends, the band soon incorporated many traditional world music elements to its sound, in addition to Martin deploying the violin bow technique made famous by Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page.
It all quickly made The Tea Party a must-see live act on the Canadian club circuit, and in 1993 the band signed to EMI Music Canada. Their first release for the label, Splendor Solis, was an immediate hit, powered by road-tested songs such as “Save Me” and “The River,” and also earned their first Juno nominations for Best New Group and Best Hard Rock Album. It was followed up in 1995 with the even more successful The Edges Of Twilight, containing the hits “Sister Awake” and “Fire In The Head,” which cemented the band’s status both at home and in Australia where they were warmly embraced on a national level.
Over the next decade, The Tea Party continued to move from strength to strength, with 1997’s Transmission ushering in a new electronic component to their sound, something refined on 1999’s Triptych, containing their first number one Canadian single “Heaven Coming Down,” along with a stunning cover of Daniel Lanois’ “The Messenger.” The band continued to push the sonic envelope with 2001’s The Interzone Mantras, which was supported by a tour that saw them perform with symphony orchestras across Canada.
Following their final EMI album, 2004’s Seven Circles, co-produced with Bob Rock and Gavin Brown, The Tea Party announced an extended hiatus, with each member delving into new solo projects. Yet, the desire to play together proved too much to resist, and by 2013 the band was writing and recording new material that would comprise The Ocean At The End.
Since then, The Tea Party has remained fully active, even sharing covers of Joy Division’s “Isolation” and Morrissey’s “Every Day Is Like Sunday” in response to 2020’s pandemic restrictions. These were a clear example of how the band has figured out how to function with Martin now living in Australia, Chatwood in Vancouver, and Burrows in Windsor. They may be the most socially distanced band in the world, but as soon as it is completely safe to do so, The Tea Party will be back on the road giving fans a comprehensive overview of its entire body of work.
Despite the distance that separates them, each member agrees that they have grown closer as friends in recent years. Their original fans are now introducing their children to The Tea Party, meaning their legacy is in safe hands. But with sights set firmly on the future, The Tea Party will never waver from its mission to continually create new, ambitious, and thought-provoking music.
I Mother Earth
When founding members of I Mother Earth, brothers Christian and Jag Tanna, were jammin' away in their basement as young teens every day after school and weekends... they weren't sure when, where or how they would get their shot, they just knew they would... and that they would make the most of it.
It was when Christian and Jag Tanna moved to Toronto after high school and joined forces with singer Edwin, which they exploded out of the city’s intense club scene in the early 90’s. Selling out 1000+ capacity rooms, and after only after a few appearances, the band signed a landmark deal with Capitol Records USA... after only 10 shows.
That worldwide journey that started in the 90s continues today as IME’s unique brand of psych-rock continues to hit the stage for a set full of Classic hits and jams. The first two albums from IME, Dig (platinum) and Scenery & Fish (triple platinum) spawned a number top 10 singles including Rain will Fall, Not Quite Sonic, SoGently We Go, One More Astronaut, Another Sunday and Used To Be Alright place as well as classic Jams like Earth Sky and C and Shortcut to Moncton.
Then, with the band at the height of their powers, IME parted ways with EDWIN and came back with new singer Brian Byrne and a different mindset. Releasing albums Blue Green Orange and The Quicksilver Meat Dream kept the band stayed on the road, selling out shows. However In 2004 The Mothers decided to take a break .... It lasted 8 years. Very suddenly they returned with a new song, We Got The Love became another Top 10 single, the band seemed to just pick up where they left off, Returning with 2 sold out shows at Toronto's Sound Academy in 2012.
It wasn’t until 2016 when Brian Byrne was seeking a career change, that a conversation began with IME’s Original Singer EDWIN to do a tour to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Scenery and Fish. The Band Played 30+ Dates with Edwin to celebrate the anniversary that year and the reunited I Mother Earth have been going strong ever since.
