THE TEA PARTY 

20 Years of Transmission

Astor Theatre Perth

27/10/17

(Live Review)

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THE TEA PARTY’S Jeff Martin – photo by Klowe Photography

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It’s hard to believe, for those of us who remember those times, that it’s been two decades since Canadian dark rockers The Tea Party released their third album follow up to 1995’s critically acclaimed Edges Of Twilight album, and where Edges presented to the public a heady concoction of dark rock and Eastern mysticism that the press dubbed ‘Moroccan Roll’, 1997’s Transmission took the blueprint for their second album success and turned it on its head, deconstructed it, sent it to the blackest depths of the abyss and resurrected it in the form of eleven tracks of despair, anger, love loss, violence and betrayal.

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Heavy stuff indeed but certainly not unexpected, especially not when coming from the trio’s mercurial guitarist Jeff Martin either. Transmission fused their Zeppelin-esque riff anthems with industrial electronica and a darker, more absorbing Arabic palette and had an instant hit on their hands. Friday night saw Martin and co kick off their ‘20 Years of Transmission‘ tour in Perth with a fiery display of songs spread over two sets that left a packed Astor Theatre stunned into submission.

Against the backdrop of the album cover the trio tore straight into the ear-splitting riff of Army Ants and right from the getgo it was clear that the songs have lost none of their angst and vitriol in being translated for the stage. With Martin weaving his familiar dark spell over the crowd and spitting out lyrics with all the passion and venom reserved for this particular body of work. Mixing up the song order from the original album didn’t detract from the organic pull of the songs in any way, in fact it was a refreshing change from the by now de rigueur format of the ‘album tour’. The sonic assault of Babylon gave way to the brutal beauty of Psychopomp as Martin informed the audience “artistically when a band goes that dark, and we went DARK, you have to bring something back and it has to be beautiful”. And beautiful it was indeed.

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THE TEA PARTY’S Stuart Chatwood – photo by Klowe Photography

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Bandmate Stuart Chatwood provided the perfect foil for Martin stage left, a true study in concentration as he shifted from bass to keys seamlessly. The self annihilation of Gyroscope again showcased the band’s ability to create such a massive sound from just three instruments. How this band manage to meld the warm flesh of rock and world music with the cold steel of electronica is still a mystery and yet The Tea Party manage it in spades. Emerald and Alarum followed in reworked formats and yet the crowd couldn’t have cared less; these songs represent a body of work to lose yourself in, immerse yourself in, drown yourself in. Release was dedicated to “the better half of the species” and Chatwood’s subsonic bass lines throbbed and added an underlying air of menace to the heartfelt plea to womankind.

The frequency overload of the title track featured drummer Jeff Burrows pounding out a beat that hit you in the balls and refused to let up, but it was the opening track – Temptation – that capped off the first set. One of the most universally recognised TP songs, the crowd screamed out the single word chorus with reckless abandon right to the last note before the band took a short break.

Opening the second half of the night with the stomp of Writings On The Wall from 2005’s Seven Circles, the song saw Burrows and Chatwood on backing vocals as the trio raised the rooftop on the Art Deco theatre. The intro to The Bazaar was greeted like an old friend with the crowd chanting the lines back to Martin in perfect unison. The first of two songs from The Edges of Twilight, it encapsulates the sound of the trio perfectly, with Martin throwing out psychedelic guitar solos throughout the middle eight. The atmospheric sound drama of The Ocean at The End, from the band’s 2014 comeback album of the same name, again saw Martin in fine voice, proving that their latter day output is as darkly dramatic and has the ability to rent asunder emotions as effortlessly as their earlier work.

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THE TEA PARTY – photo by Klowe Photography

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The classic chiming 12-string riff of Heaven’s Coming Down – the band’s biggest charting hit – was a snapshot of stately elegance and segued into U2’s With Or Without You with ease. The band have been incorporating others songs into their own for as long as they’ve been touring and yet it still it loses none of its magic. Likewise with Save Me from the band’s debut album Splendour Solis, a song that received perhaps the biggest cheers of the night. Midway through, after the chorus saw the crowd in glorious voice, Martin launched into Jeff Buckley’s Last Goodbye before the song dissolved into mayhem by way of Martin’s violin bow guitar work. But it was always going to be Sister Awake, the song that is probably the perfect encapsulation of the band’s sound, that finished off the night. As Martin serenaded the crowd with the instrumental Winter Solstice, Burrows strode to the front of the stage and lead the crowd in clapping out the rhythm before he and Chatwood took their places once more and the song began proper. It’s a twisting epic tale in three parts: the subdued acoustic Act One, the percussion lead Act Two, and then the blistering rock of the third and final Act. And after a detour into Paint It Black and David Bowie’s Heroes, Martin brought it all back home and lead his band into the songs climactic conclusion.

Once again The Tea Party came, saw and conquered in an all-encompassing display that left all in no doubt that the trio are still well and truly at the top of their game. Here’s hoping for a 20th Anniversary show for Triptych.

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AMNPLIFY – DB