Artist Profile

Jeff Martin

Forming The Tea Party in 1990 after a marathon jam session at the Cherry Beach Rehearsal Studios in Toronto, Martin produced The Tea Party's eponymous debut album in 1991, distributing it through the band's own label Eternal Discs. Martin produced all of The Tea Party's albums. In 1993 The Tea Party signed to EMI Music Canada and released their first major label recording titled Splendor Solis.

Martin employed open tuning to imitate Indian intruments such as the sitar, something he has continued to employ throughout his career. Further developing The Tea Party's sound in 1995 The Edges of Twilight was recorded with an array of Indian and Middle-eastern instrumentation while Martin drew lyrical inspiration from occult themes and pagan influenced literature. Upon returning from successful tours in Canada, Europe and Australia in 1996, The Tea Party went onto record Alhambra an Enhanced CD which features acoustic re-recordings of songs from The Edges of Twilight, followed by a brief tour around Canada known as "Alhambra acoustic and eclectic". Transmission released in 1997 saw Martin's first foray into electronica. Triptych followed in 1999 and is The Tea Party's most commercially successful album, the first single "Heaven Coming Down" rose to #1 on Canadian radio. Lyrically Martin was less enigmatic than he was on previous albums, on Triptych he wrote about the experiences of his years in the band. After releasing Tangents a singles compilation in 2000 and Illuminations a DVD compliation of music videos which Martin remixed in Surround sound, The Tea Party released The Interzone Mantras in 2001 and Seven Circles in 2004. In October 2005 The Tea Party disbanded due to creative differences.

Martin's debut solo album titled Exile and the Kingdom was released in Canada and Australia in 2006. Among those who worked with Martin were Michael Lee and Ritesh Das (Toronto Tabla Ensemble). The first single, titled "The World is Calling", is an open letter to George W. Bush[2]. In November 2006, Martin released a live album recorded that September, titled Live in Brisbane 2006. The 2 disc album features Ritesh Das and the Toronto Tabla Ensemble, and consists of both solo and Tea Party songs. The album is a complete recording of a live performance full of Jeff's banter with bandmates and the audience, including his thoughts on the disbanding of The Tea Party and where he sees himself in life.

Available for Purchase by Jeff Martin

Live at the Corner
*Artist Controlled Bootlegs

Have your say

1 Comments