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Taming The Elements With JEFF MARTIN From THE TEA PARTY · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello everyone, This is Jeff Martin.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: I'm the lead singer, guitarist, producer and all that stuff
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: for the band The Tea Party.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: Fantasty Jeff, thanks for joining us today, mate. You sound
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: like you got a lot on with all those hats.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a professional schizophrenic, you know, so it works.
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: Mastered the art.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're here to I made to talk about the
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: fact that The Tea Party returned to Australia next month
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: for another running shows. But this time around you're bringing
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: something fresh, unique and actually pretty ambitious to the party
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  Speaker 3: in the form of an Elements tour which covers five shows.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: But then you're also also those shows explore a challenging
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  Speaker 3: narrative that, in the hands of most other bands would
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: quite likely fail to be honest. So, rather than listen
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: to me try and make sense of it, can you
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  Speaker 3: break down the two different shows for us?
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Well, the fire Apart is basically there's going to be
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  Speaker 2: three standalone rock shows where it's just the three of
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: us on stage, you know, doing what we do.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: I mean the Tea Party.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: If you've ever seen The Tea Party lives, it's a
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: very very powerful experience. It's very emotional, because the roller
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: coaster that we take the audience on, you know, it
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: can be like some of the heaviest music and then
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: some of the most romantic, gentle moments as well, So
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  Speaker 2: it really travels the whole kaleidoscope of the emotional spectrum,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: but then the air the wind elements of this tour
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  Speaker 2: as well. We the three of us, are going to
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  Speaker 2: be playing one of the seven Wonders of the World,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: the Sydney Opera House with the Symphony, and we're also
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: doing the home of classical music here in Australia at
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Hamer Hall in Melbourne with the Melbourne Symphony. And you know,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: we've done symphonies before and it's always been a great success.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, the honor of playing one of the
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  Speaker 2: like in the most iconic buildings in the world, and
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: you know, having to be you know, these two symphony
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: shows are sold out. It's just an amazing thing for
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  Speaker 2: the band. It's quite it's quite the feather in our cap,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: even after thirty five years of being together.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome.
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  Speaker 4: Brother.
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  Speaker 3: So because the opposing elements, I guess it's so different
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: to each other, and we'll talk through through them individually.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: So we'll start off on the one you're just speaking
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: about with the orchestra, mate, like, that's going to be
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: a fifty piece orchestra you plan with, Like, so can
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  Speaker 3: you break down that idea for us and tell us
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  Speaker 3: how you make it work?
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  Speaker 2: Well, a lot of it has to do with the
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: scores that are written, because you see the thing about
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: the Tea Party's music and the way that I've produced
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: it over the years on record, the sound that the
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Tea Party has on record, it's very it's very cinematic.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot going on. There's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of tracks, there's a lot of layers, and that makes
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  Speaker 2: it very challenging for us as a three piece to
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: go on stage do our rock shows when you know
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  Speaker 2: those albums have been so produced.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, like part of the pun.
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  Speaker 2: But it's almost like taking a page on a Zeppelin,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: right because you know, because Jimmy Page as a producer
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: for Zeppelin, you know there was a lot of like
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  Speaker 2: guitar overdubs and things like that. You know, but when
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: people would go to see Zeppelin play live, it was
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: just four men on stage having to distill their own music,
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  Speaker 2: right and you know, using their musicianship to compensate for,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the lack of all the you know, the
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: other tracks and whatnot. So that's what you get with
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: a tea party rock show. But with the orchestra behind this,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: what the orchestra allows the band's music to do is
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  Speaker 2: to actually reproduce all of those other elements that wouldn't
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: be represented in a tea party rock show. So it
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  Speaker 2: becomes it becomes this cinematic score. And I'll tell you this,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: like from all my experiences, because we've probably done about
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  Speaker 2: ten or eleven orchestra shows now in our career, and
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  Speaker 2: you know, when people are leaving leaving the concert of all,
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  Speaker 2: there's not a dry eye in the house. It's a
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  Speaker 2: very emotional situation.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, And I've.
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  Speaker 3: Got to ask mat because I've got no idea about
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  Speaker 3: the mechanisms or something like this, But why is fifty
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  Speaker 3: the magical number line?
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  Speaker 4: Why not forty five or sixty or what's not different?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's just it really depends on the score that's written,
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  Speaker 2: you know. I mean, in the past we've done like
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  Speaker 2: thirty you know, so, but we're just trying to amp
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  Speaker 2: it up this time and add a few more elements
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  Speaker 2: to the orchestra part of the punt again. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: like so there'll be things like you know, timpanies and
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  Speaker 2: instruments that's like really to sort of bring the rock
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  Speaker 2: and roll essence home.
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  Speaker 1: You know a lot of strings, a lot of woodwinds,
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  Speaker 1: things like that.
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  Speaker 2: So it's, uh, it really just really depends on the
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  Speaker 2: score that's been written.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, right, obviously, like everyone's playing has to be tighter
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  Speaker 3: and it's going to be more instinct with each other
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  Speaker 3: otherwise to get pretty messy.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Imagine, well, yeah, this is this is this is where
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: the memory muscle comes in because like so the band
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Jeff Burrows is arriving on Friday, the drummer and the
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Tea Party, and Stewart rives a little bit after that,
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  Speaker 2: and we're going to be rehearsing up here on the
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Sunshine Coast prior to the Melbourne show, which is the
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: first orchestra show. But you see the Tea Party because
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  Speaker 2: we've been together for such a long time, and I
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  Speaker 2: mean you have to understand that I met Jeff Burrows,
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  Speaker 2: the drummer of the Tea Party, when I was five
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  Speaker 2: years old and he was six, And we had our
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  Speaker 2: first band together when I was ten and he was
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: eleven years old, you know, so what that means. And also,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: like Stuart chat with the Basis keyboardist, we met him
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the first year of high school, you know, so the
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: year nine, and so we've been together that long. So
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: when it comes to rehearsing for the rock shows, we
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: don't really rehearse because we're going off of almost like
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  Speaker 2: you know, telekinesis, you know what I mean, like telepathy
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  Speaker 2: that happens between the three of us. But the reason
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  Speaker 2: why we are rehearsing up here on the Sunshine Coast
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  Speaker 2: is because when you perform with an orchestra, they are
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: sitting in front.
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  Speaker 1: Of a score, and that score does not change. The
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  Speaker 1: song does not change.
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  Speaker 2: And what the band needs to know is like the
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  Speaker 2: inns and the outs, you know, how many bars to count?
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  Speaker 2: You know, when does the bridge happen and all that
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  Speaker 2: and it can't change, you know. And so that's what
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  Speaker 2: makes it challenging for the tea party because we're just
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: so used to being loose and fancy free on stage
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  Speaker 2: that we actually have to be quite disciplined for these
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  Speaker 2: orchestra shows, which I've said, you know, we've done in
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  Speaker 2: the past, but it is imperative that the band rehearses,
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: gets our ins and outs, you know, we get that
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: all exactly to a tee and then you know, then
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: the rest is pretty easy. Yeah.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: It sounds like a lot of hexture will heap for you.
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  Speaker 3: They mate like as a as an artist, I guess,
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  Speaker 3: like what sorts of things do you get personally out
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  Speaker 3: of playing with.
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  Speaker 4: An orchestra show like that and what you would out
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  Speaker 4: of a normal roussia.
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  Speaker 2: I usually, well, what happens like like songs like for
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: the tea probably like for instance, like walking Wounded or
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: a song called Requiem. You cannot as a songwriter to
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: have that power behind you like an orchestra like what
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: we're going to play with and to perform those songs
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  Speaker 2: that you know are very emotional moments in my life,
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  Speaker 2: I have found my self on stage, you know, like
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  Speaker 2: I'm supposed to be, you know, like one of the
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  Speaker 2: dark lords of rock and roll blah blah blahlah. Right,
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  Speaker 2: I find myself like turning around away from the audience
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  Speaker 2: because I've got tears streaming down my eyes and I'm
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  Speaker 2: just trying to keep my cool.
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  Speaker 1: You know, that's cool.
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  Speaker 4: That's cool.
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  Speaker 3: Now you've got those orchestra seats and you've got the
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  Speaker 3: rock sets, like you say you like they both can
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  Speaker 3: sign a selection of you gry to see it's but
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  Speaker 3: the set's going to be exactly.
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  Speaker 4: The same, wody you have to alter them because of
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  Speaker 4: the orchestra.
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  Speaker 1: Uh well, now the orches the orchestra shows.
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  Speaker 2: The songs that we've chosen for the orchestra shows are
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  Speaker 2: more conducive to playing with an orchestra, whereas this time around,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: because we were here, like the Tea Party did rock shows.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I believe it was in June of twenty four, but it.
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  Speaker 2: Was mostly like we kind of did like our greatest hits,
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  Speaker 2: you know for the rock shows that we played across
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  Speaker 2: the country, and this time because our fan base is
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  Speaker 2: so loyal and dedicated and you know, they know the
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  Speaker 2: songs in sorry out, what we're going to do with
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  Speaker 2: the rock shows is we're going to do a lot
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  Speaker 2: more like deeper cuts of albums, like songs that we
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  Speaker 2: haven't played in a long time. So that's going to
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: be challenging and probably another reason of very good reason
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  Speaker 2: to rehearse a bit more.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, so we mentioned that the two shows, like how
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  Speaker 3: you've done the orchestra one you switch the elements from
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  Speaker 3: Winds of Fire ahead of the first show in Sirrel,
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  Speaker 3: I don't even know where that is.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's basically will and Gone.
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  Speaker 4: Ride and willing a right that so thy to twelfth.
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  Speaker 3: Then you head to Brisbane the following night, that late
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  Speaker 3: on Fevruy to fifteen. So it's obviously going to be
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: a massive sonic difference between the elements.
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  Speaker 4: But from a pointless.
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  Speaker 3: Performance point of view, you have to change much like
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: I know you touched on a little bit, but is.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: It, Oh yeah, well you really do. Like with the orchestra.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, let's like the tea party is, like our
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: rock shows are allowed like a you know, like a
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Zeppelin show would be, you know what I mean. But
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  Speaker 2: when you play with an orchestra you have to team
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: it down. So for instance, like the normal like a
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: the fires that you would see behind me in a
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  Speaker 2: rock show, you will not see the orchestra show because
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: it'll be like smaller little amps to the side of
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: the stage, surrounded by plexiglass, you know, because we're just
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: trying to give the orchestra the.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Best chance you know, to be heard. We want everything
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: to be heard.
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  Speaker 2: And also, like Jeff Burrows will be you know, in
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: a plexiglass cage more or less, right, because he is
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: an animal. Yeah, yeah, so yeah, so it's it's all
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: about volume attenuation when you play with an orchestra. But
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: but like I said, you know, we've done it many times,
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: so this is not new territory for us.
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  Speaker 1: We just know how to approach it. And you know,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: but obviously.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: When you know, when the fire shows happen, well you know,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: it's all guns blazing.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: So now I was like, I've got to throw this
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: in my Like I remember seeing you guys in can
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: to the place called Nighthawks, probably twenty five or thirty
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: years ago, and to this day there was still probably
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: one of the most all encompassing live music experience I've had.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: Like he's changed much over the years. When you love shows.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Now we've just gotten better looking, you know.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Well you know, no, it's just I just think, you know,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: I think that the musicianship in the band has gotten better.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: I mean it must, you know, like if you've been
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: playing for so many years and and you know the
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: difference in time between when you saw us to now,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: I would hope that we're better musicians and I would
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: hope that, you know, because like back then, you know,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: we were still young, and you know, we were still experimenting,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: trying different things, you know, And so I think now
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: the three of us are very, very confidence in our
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: abilities and what we are collectively as a band.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: So I think that would make a big difference.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's such an interesting point because, like i'd to say,
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: I was obviously twenty five years younger myself when I
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: saw that, and I still put it in the top
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: chen shows I've ever seen, Like, it'll be interesting.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: I'm looking forward to seeing you again now now I'm older, I.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: Guess, and more as they saying, like seeing how how
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: different effect it has on me, because back then I
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: was just I didn't give a shit about slight music
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: in an atmosphere and moods and stuff, and I still
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: loved it.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: So it'd be interesting to see.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, Well, a challenge accepted.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: Wait Tea Parties celebrates thirty five years as a band
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: in twenty twenty six as well, Bright Lot, does it
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: feel like you've been doing it that long or as
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: the whole journey seemed to flash you by?
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know, man, it's it's it's hard to say, like,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: you know, the nineties were pretty hedonistic for me. They
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: were very creative, but very hedonistic. So uh yeah, there's
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: a lot of there's a lot of moments of blankness.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Fos. I'm being told that it was great.
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah, uh you know, it's it's just it's it's a pleasure,
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: like it's it's such a beautiful thing, you know, Like
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: the three of us we had that separation for seven years,
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: and I think it did it a lot of good
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: because when we got back together, we really appreciated how
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: special this band is and what it means to the
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: three of us individually, what it means to people all
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: around the world, and so it really took on a
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: new life of its own, and you know, like you know,
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: like after I'm done this series of interviews today, I'm
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: back on board, Like I'm talking to you from my
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: studio and I'm writing new two party.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Music as we speak. So it's going to be it's
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: going to be a big year.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: So pay to that a little bit.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: I guess how was your appreciation for music and your
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: enjoyment for playing developed or change over those thirty five years.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Well, I tell you this, but before the before the
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: seven year splits, so that happened in two thousand and five.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I was pretty disillusioned with the music industry, kind of
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: like with myself.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: With the band, I kind of lost the passion. And
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: a lot of it had to do with the passing
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: of our manager, Steve Hoffman.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: He passed away way too young, at thirty eight years old,
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: and he was kind of like at that time, you know,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: he was like our Peter Grants, our Brian Epstein, you know,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: that sort of manager that kept the band focused and
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: kept it, you know, going, and kept the record company
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: away from the band, you know. So it allowed me
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: to do what I needed to do as a producer.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: And when Steve passed, and that would have been like
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: two thousand and two, I believe it was. And so
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: those those three years without him, the band sort of
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: like lost its way, and I decided in my infinite
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: wisdom to move my young family to the one of
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: the most remote parts of Ireland, so down in southwest Cork,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: where no one knew who I was. My fam didn't
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: follow me, and I started just playing pubs in front
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: of twenty thirty people, and I mean very rural Irish pubs,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: like there would be goats in the pub dogs in
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: the pub, right. But I found my passion for playing
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: music again, you know, because I had to win those
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: twenty people over and the goats and the dogs right,
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: you know. And so it was very humbling, but probably
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: the best three years that I could have done for
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: myself at that time. And then when the band got
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: back together, like I said, it was just a whole
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: new appreciation for what we had and what was going
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: to come again and where it keeps on going.