Photographs by Lee-Ann Richer.
Windsor’s Tea Party was back to support their new album, “The Ocean at the End” at Hamilton Place, on Tuesday November 25th, 2014.
This is their first album in a decade. The band decided to call it quits in 2005 and then reunited in 2011. They performed Sarnia Bayfest as one of their first dates. Now here they are and here they are to stay.
Our local radio station (Y108) was on stage to introduce the band. They mentioned that Tea Party was in the station to play an acoustic set earlier on in the day. The band started the evening with some recorded music and then lead into L.O.C. This was the first song of the evening and the first one on the new album. Jeff Martin asked, “Do you remember this one” and played, “Bazzaar”. Martin plugged Y108 saying they are going to be the number one radio station because they will be playing this song, “Black Sea” another new track. Four new songs in total were performed; “Water on Fire” and “Ocean at the End” was well received by the enthusiastic crowd.
Martin told a personal story about his mom recently passing. He remembered her saying, “Why do you have to be so dark?”. He said if she was still around he would have said’ “if you thought that was dark you should have heard this”. The next few songs that followed were “Psychopomp”, “Fire in the Head” and “Lullaby”.
I must say these are three talented guys. Jeff Martin on lead vocals, guitar, sitar, and Theremin (to name a few), Stuart Chatwood on bass guitar, keyboards, bass pedals, and Jeff Burrows on drums, have a style that is been called exotic rock. They have been compared to Led Zeppelin and The Doors. Martin has that low voice that easily reminds you of Jim Morrison, lead vocalist of the Doors. Unfortunately, I had a hard time making out the words Jeff Martin was singing. In watching bass player Chatwood I was impressed with his bass playing/keyboard playing, while triggering bass pedals. His bass lines looked and felt great but like the Martin’s vocals, I couldn’t distinguish the notes. The sound was not the best.
The set was completed by “Temptation”. “Heaven” and “Sister Awake”.
If the fact that Martin plays a Les Paul and looks like Jimmy Page and Chatwood plays a Jazz bass and keys like John Paul Jones doesn’t make you think of Zeppelin then maybe the bow solo, or the Theremin solo might. Or the fact that they did Zeppelin’s 1975 song “Kashmir”. It’s funny I was thinking the only Zeppelin thing I haven’t seen was the Gibson double neck guitar but I was not disappointed as it appeared just before the end of the show.
The venue was not well attended, but it was filled with a positive and enthusiastic fan base. Everyone was standing, and almost everyone was singing along to the songs. They were obviously very glad that Hamilton was part of this tour. Another fine show.
