INTERVIEW – JEFF MARTIN & JEFF BURROWS, THE TEA PARTY, March 2024

INTERVIEW – JEFF MARTIN & JEFF BURROWS, THE TEA PARTY, March 2024
By Shane Pinnegar

Celebrating Triptych’s 25th anniversary, Canadian legends The Tea Party embark on their Australian tour this Sunday night at the illustrious Perth Concert Hall.

In a rare triple header I Zoomed with both Jeff Martin and Jeff Burrows to discover more about the tour, the vibe within the band, their sonic alchemy, what makes Triptych so special, taking yourself too seriously, and even meet a three legged dog!

100% ROCK: Gentlemen, thanks for your time today. We’re here to talk about the tour for Triptych, your fourth album, which I listened to again this morning, and it’s got a timeless sound to it. It doesn’t appear to have dated at all in the last 25 years. As a band, you guys never really followed trends, did you? You were always very much your own sound.

JEFF MARTIN [JM]: Yeah, well, very much so. I mean, like, especially when we came out of the starting gates. So that would have been, like, the early ‘90s and, you know, every other band was trying to smell like teen spirits, you know, and we just didn’t want to [do that], you know? So, I mean, nothing against honest music because I think it’s fantastic, but it was just not a place that we were coming from. And I certainly was starting to explore, well, continuing to explore a lot of world music – music from India, Morocco, Turkey – and that started seeping into our [sound] especially on our first record. There was definitely those influences there and then when Edges Of Twilight came around we had come up with a sound that was totally unique to ourselves and, you know, to the point where after Edges Of Twilight, if any rock band – like, a young rock band – tried to do anything that remotely sounded Middle Eastern or whatever, now they were getting compared to the Tea Party.

100% ROCK: I think the sound that you three make is so unique. I think if any one of you left the band, the Tea Party wouldn’t be the Tea Party anymore, would you agree with that?

JM: Absolutely, 100%.

100% ROCK: And so is the plan for the tour to play the entire album?

JM: Mr Burrows…

JEFF BURROWS [JB]: No… not the entire album. I don’t like the top-to-tail sort of ‘classic albums live’ vibe. Jeff explained it very well before, in that there’s certain points in a set where you’re going to need stop signs and areas where you’re performing songs that you know people really need to hear regardless. And then we’re going to fill them in with, of course, the fan favourites off Triptych, some that haven’t been heard in a long time and then some that haven’t even been performed ever – which is going to be very interesting for us, especially Jeff, because this was one of the records where Jeff really did a lot of very cool overdubs and so on. So, you’ll find Jeff and Stewart [Chatwood – bass, primarily] both very, very busy on this run. Well, they always are, but it’s just going to be very different, and I like that. Because, you know, when you’re around for 30 years and you don’t work in, like, a nine-to-five kind of job, and you’re out there and you’re doing it, you can get lazy. You can start, you know, enjoying the fact that, ‘yeah, this is all I gotta do.’ But when you start challenging yourself, that’s one of the best parts about these sort of anniversary shows. You can be challenged, you know, it’s something that you really have to try to do.

100% ROCK: Is it an emotional exploration, the process of revisiting an album from 25 years ago and familiarising yourself all over again with those songs and how you made them?

JM: I find it to be somewhat almost like an occult mystery, you know? And when I say the word ‘occult’ I mean, like, a hidden science. I know that with Triptych – and Burrows would be my witness on this – like, I was pretty much a mad scientist in my role as producer on that record, and as Jeff was beginning to explain, like the challenge for me, it’s hard work to replicate what was done on Triptych. Like, I was just [working] at such a pace, the way my brain was wired at the time. So many guitar parts in one song, and I was on top of my game at that point. So, when it came to, like, alternate tunings and things like that, if there was five guitar parts on one song, there might be five different guitar tunings, and so the challenge with that is to distil them – distil all those guitar parts into one cohesive musical performance live. It’s almost like being an alchemist and distilling it, and it’s something that’s, you know, being like just the truth of the song. So that’s the challenge for me and I’ve already started, you know, trying to figure myself out.

JB: I think that Jeff’s trance performance guitar is going to come in handy on this run, changing tunings mid song, you know.

100% ROCK: Absolutely. And you guys all played so many different instruments – there’s so many different sounds on all of your records – is there a compromise involved when you go on tour because you can’t take every instrument with you, obviously?

JM: No, we learned the hard way. We did a tour in Canada in the middle of winter – it was for our EP called Alhambra, which was after The Edges Of Twilight, and with the collection of instruments that we amassed for the recording of The Edges Of Twilight, we decided in our infinite wisdom at that time to bring these instruments out on the road in the middle of winter in Canada. And let me just say that they did not fare well. So, the thing is that with our collection of exotic instruments – like, my house is a museum of them, but I’ve learned now that they have to be climate controlled, they don’t really leave the house anymore. They certainly will show up on recordings, especially on the new Tea Party record, but they’re just too precious now. There’s too much history behind them. Like, I used to have this 1916 – can you see this? You see that guitar there?

100% ROCK: Oh beautiful, yeah.

JM: OK. So that’s a 1916 Gibson harp guitar that was given to me by the President of EMI, when we signed with EMI back in ’92 – and much to management’s dismay, back in the ‘90s I used to actually take that thing out on the road, you know, and it’s priceless!!! So, that’s where it stays now. I mean, I do play it, but that’s where it stays.

100% ROCK: I remember reading about the woes of that instrument, actually, years ago. And yes, very sad to hear that they suffered like that.

JB: It was a great tour. [laughs]

100% ROCK: So, looking back at Triptych 25 years later, is there anything on the album you’re particularly proud of?

JM: I’m proud of every moment on that record. I actually started listening to it again about a month ago when we knew what we were doing with this upcoming tour. I have to say that I’m just impressed at what we achieved as a band, as friends, in that incredible recording environment. The collection of songs and the different influences and the different musical moments… it’s… I’ve never heard anything like it, and that’s what I’m very proud of.

JB: Yeah, it’s really an album that takes you all over the map. If you were to choose one record from The Tea Party, it may be that record to kind of grasp what we were about throughout the course of the career. I think because there’s big melodic moments, there’s big Eastern moments, there’s big rock moments, there’s these soft, beautiful moments, and that’s what I like about it. I think the peaks and the valleys are incredible and they’re woven together so nicely. You know, it wasn’t a very long album to put together either, but it was just done so well. I’ve got nothing but fond memories of that record, it was amazing.

100% ROCK: Being artists, we’re never happy 100% with what we’ve done. Do you listen back to it now and identify the bits that you wish you could have done differently or would do differently now?

JM: You know, no. I mean, not the performances and not the sounds. My thing would be more technical, like, you know, because of the advances in recording technology these days there’s certain things, because I’m a bit of a sonic junkie, you know, a sonic alchemist, and I just [think] there are things that could be more polished. I don’t know, the beauty of that record was that it was all done on tape. You know, there was no Pro Tools, no nothing. We were flipping tapes upside down, you know, like we had two tape reels going around the room, great flangers and things like that. It was just such a wonderful time that, you know what? Nope. Wouldn’t change a thing.

JB: Remember the microphone that we hung from the ceiling, and it was flying around in a circle?

JM: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The whole John Lennon thing, right? Yeah.

100% ROCK: That’s the mad scientist thing, right?

JM & JB: Yeah, yeah.

100% ROCK: Fantastic. So, speaking with fans over the years, how strongly does the album stand amongst your back catalogue for them?

JB: Well, all my friends, they tell me they love all of our music. But online, the testaments from people that say, ‘ohh gosh, we got married to Heaven Coming Down’ or ‘that song is very close to me, it was my brother’s favourite song and he passed away, and we played it at the funeral.’ Those are the types of things that really hit home as artists, I think, and that’s what makes it very successful or that’s what success means. I believe to all of us – it definitely does to me. But no, I know everyone loves this record and everyone wants to see us on tour. That’s all there is.

100% ROCK: That’s all that matters, right? Fantastic. Correct answer. How do you handle rehearsals when you’re all so scattered?

JM: Honestly, like, the bonds between us and how far we go back, it takes a matter of moments for us to click in again, you know? So, we’ve been doing this for so long, like Jeff and I have known each other since I was five, he was 6, to having our first band at 10 and 11 years old, you know? We’ve been together almost as long as the fucking Rolling Stones, you know? So, when we get into a room, it just happens.

JB: Yeah, you know what’s strange? Because Jeff, as he said, he’s been listening to it for a month and he’s starting to wrap his head around it. I’ve started listening to it, my rehearsals start on Monday, but the strangest thing, and I swear to God, when we get together in a room – I mean, we had six or seven years off from each other. At one point we got together in a room for the first time, and it was as if nothing had changed. It’s really bizarre. And Jeff, he can sugarcoat it as much as he wants, but we get together and all of a sudden it just starts clicking. It’s really bizarre. I worry we all… you know, everyone’s a little nervous, especially for songs that we haven’t performed ever together. But everyone’s going to show up with their parts and everyone’s going to know what they’re doing. The way it clicks is pretty amazing and I guess that’s, you know, a testament to the friendship and the telepathy and so on. Because we just know everybody’s moves and everybody’s going to be ready and by knowing everybody’s moves, [that’s what] makes The Tea Party The Tea Party. So, it’s pretty strange. I won’t say that I won’t go in without a bit of anxiety, but literally after, you know, after 5 bars into a song, I’m like, oh, there it is – no worries.

100% ROCK: It must be really heartwarming, I guess, for want of a better word, that after all these years that you’ve known each other, and after all the ups and downs, that you can still just effortlessly tap into that sense of fun of playing together.

JM: It’s one of the greatest pleasures of my life.

JB: Yeah, it really is. I mean, if you think about how, you know, blessed we are, we’re just as grateful as we are blessed. But the fact that three friends from grade school slash high school are still playing together, still love each other, and talk and jam and create… it’s one of the nicest things in the world. It’s something that so very few get to experience, even if you’re in a local band. No bands really last more than 10 years. And here we are, loving what we’re doing, incredibly grateful to be coming back to Australia as a whole. It’s really such a great vibe and we just can’t wait to share it with everybody, honestly, because it’s such a communion between what Jeff presents as a front man and what the audience expects of him and what they give back to us. I don’t want to sound hokey, but it’s very symbiotic and it’s… it’s… it’s… fucking real. It’s really cool!

100% ROCK: Fantastic. Just to digress slightly. JB, is that a three-legged dog that I just saw around your drum kit?

JM & JB: [laugh]

JB: Yes, that’s my Abby, yeah.

100% ROCK: Ohh, she’s gorgeous.

JB: She was sitting [nearby]. I’m at my bar right now drinking a fine Yarra Yering [Shiraz] from Australia, by the way…

100% ROCK: I’m very envious, but it’s only 8:46 in the morning, so I’d best not have one [laughs]

JB: But yeah, she’s around one of my boys’ drum kits. There’s literally eight drum kits and about 18 snare drums behind me over there! But yeah, she’s our three-legged pooch. I’m a cheap bastard – I got her 25% off, what can I say? [laughs]

100% ROCK: Our last dog lost a leg to cancer, and they’re amazing. They’re resilient. Within 36 hours, she’s running around the courtyard, you know.

JB: Alright.

JM: Incredible.

JB: They can pivot great. She can’t swim well – she just ends up going in a circle in her pool. But it’s OK, she has a good time.

 

100% ROCK: So, look, The Tea Party. I’ve spoken with you before, Jeff Martin, I think that was about 10 years ago now, ages and ages ago in Fremantle we did an interview, but the band has a reputation for being serious and quite dark and mysterious. However, having met you, Jeff, and talking now with both of you, you’re just relaxed and normal people. Why do you think people get that impression of you?

JM: Well, it’s definitely the chiaroscuro of the music that we create. You know, there are a lot of shadows in it, and, you know, my interest in occult philosophy and things like that. You know, it does weigh in on a lot of the Tea Party’s music, but back in the ‘90s I used to take myself pretty seriously and I was kind of missing out on the joy of it all. Just trying to be that brooding, you know, Nick Cave sort of thing… and it was just like, you know, there’s enough of it in the music. I don’t need to be that in my personal life, you know – which took me a while to figure out. But I think that’s why now, like when Jeff talks about me as a front man with our audience, because I know how intense the music is, what I try to do is bring a little bit of levity like, you know, not – well, I mean, sometimes – cracking jokes. But you know, taking the piss out of yourself. But it’s in order for the audience to feel, like, OK, everything is all right, you know, this is not ALL dark shadows coming at you, you know? And that’s what a rock concert should be. It – like, the perfect rock concert – should be a beautiful roller coaster of, you know, light and shade. There it is.

 

THE TEA PARTY – TRIPtych 25 TOUR OF AUSTRALIA 2024

CONCERT HALL, PERTH SUNDAY JUNE 16
NORWOOD CONCERT HALL, ADELAIDE TUESDAY JUNE 18
PALAIS THEATRE, MELBOURNE THURSDAY JUNE 20
ENMORE THEATRE, SYDNEY FRIDAY JUNE 21
ANITA’S THEATRE, WOLLONGONG SUNDAY JUNE 23
FORTITUDE MUSIC HALL, BRISBANE TUESDAY JUNE 25

 

Category: Interviews