The Tea Party

The Tea Party was a Canadian rock band from Windsor, Ontario, with blues, progressive rock and Middle Eastern influences who formed in 1990 and disbanded in October 2005. They released seven albums commercially during their time together. Guitarist and vocalist Jeff Martin, who has perfect pitch, was also producer for almost all albums. All three members played a range of instruments and they took up to 37 on tour with them at times in their career. They were very successful in Canada and Australia, and to a lesser extent in Europe, but never managed to crack the American market. Their sound is hard to categorise as each album had a different theme. Splendor Solis (1993) was a more acoustic, blues-based record, while Edges of Twilight (1995) was much darker with strong Middle Eastern influences on several tracks. Transmission (1997) saw a complete change to a dark, industrial-tinged sound. The last three albums by the band featured various efforts to attract a wider commercial audience, with the single Heaven Coming Down reaching no.1 on the Canadian mainstream charts in 1999. In October 2005, a year after their final album was released, Jeff Martin left the band and embarked on a solo career, releasing an album in early 2006. jeff burrows (drummer) and Stuart Chatwood (bass/synthesiser) have also had post-Tea Party successes, the former in several projects and the latter in soundtrack composition. Burrows and Chatwood are currently working on a new project together, calling themselves The Art Decay.