REEVES

liner notes
PARTY’S HARD
Singer Jeff Martin on Tea Party’s heavy new sound
The Tea Party are, from left,
Jeff Burrows, Jeff Martin
and Stuart Chatwood
Ever since its inception more than a decade ago,
the Windsor, Ontario-spawned rock outfit The Tea
Party — singer/songwriter Jeff Martin, bass player
Stuart Chatwood and drummer Jeff Burrows — have
bucked the trends, obliterated comparisons and created
one of the most distinct sonic signatures in Canada.
From hit singles like “Sister Awake” and “Save Me” to
“Temptation” and “Heaven Coming Down” (the most
played rock song of 1999), the multiplatinum band has
consistently challenged audiences as well as the
boundaries of rock and roll.
Over a bottle of red wine, and with the stereo
cranked up high, Martin previewed the band’s new
album Interzone Mantras (due out October 2) for me at
his home, discussed the state of rock music and let
Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page’s words defend
against those old accusations that Tea Party is just a
glorified Zeppelin cover band.
[Q] Describe Interzone Mantras’ vibe.
[A] “It’s the first all hard-rock Tea Party record.
The melodies are still there, but we’re not using
all the exotic instruments so much. It’s all
about making the guitars as big as possible.”
[Q] But your guitar work has always been very prominent.
[A] “Yeah, I mean the guitar work was very complex,
but it was kind of linear at the same time. It
wasn’t really ‘riffy’ in that Zeppy kind of way.
“Temptation” [from 1997’s Transmission] had its
riffs, but it’s been a long time since I started
BY DAVID GIAMMARCO
playing guitar solos again, really since, like, the
first record.… It’s funny, the Republicans get back
into power in the U.S. and all of a sudden hard
rock comes back and guitar solos come back!”
[Q] What do you think of today’s rock and roll?
[A] “Ninety percent of it now is just all the same
type of fluff. They talk about the new metal
stuff, but it doesn’t turn me on at all. Music is
very chameleon-like — if one thing happens,
suddenly five other things happen that sound
exactly the same. Maybe it’s always been that
way, like when grunge happened and all of a
sudden there were all these grunge bands. But
at least with grunge there was a spirit to it. It
didn’t seem so contrived as the stuff is now.
They’re trying to be heavy for the sake of being
heavy, but they’re not even close.”
[Q] Has critical acclaim ever mattered to you?
[A] “At a point it did, because we were just
getting so bashed...but then the skin got really
thick and the success got bigger and it just
didn’t seem to matter anymore because people
were buying the records. And now it’s come full
circle because we do have critical respect now. I
mean, you can not like this band’s music —
maybe it’s not to your taste — but you can’t
deny the musicianship and the talent and the
integrity.”
[Q] Give me one of your career highlights.
[A] “Well, one of the bigger moments from my
life was meeting one of my heroes Jimmy Page
when we opened up for [Page and Robert
Plant] at the Montreal Forum, and then forging
a friendship with him. I just saw him three
weeks ago when I was in England and he is just
so into [Tea Party]. I mean, I heard he threw a
big bash at his estate in Windsor recently, and
people like Joe Walsh were there, and here’s
Jimmy Page playing [1999’s] TRIPtych and
Transmission at like Mach three and he’s going
‘This is the band! This is where Zeppelin left
off.’ [Laughs.] And I guess what that does is just
dismisses any critic that would dare say that
we’re just a Zeppelin wannabe, because Mr.
Zeppelin himself said that this is where Led
Zeppelin left off.”
David Giammarco is an entertainment journalist
based out of L.A. and Toronto.
famous 38 september 2001
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