Jeff Martin

Jeffrey Scott Martin is a Canadian guitarist and singer, best known for fronting the rock band The Tea Party. He began his solo career in 2005, when The Tea Party went on hiatus.

Biography Early years Martin grew up in Windsor, Ontario. began playing guitar as a child and in his adolescence played in bands The Shadows, Modern Movement, and The Stickmen. In 1988, Jeff graduated from Sandwich Secondary School along with future Tea Party bandmates Jeff Burrows and Stuart Chatwood. He went on to study music at the University of Windsor before leaving his studies prematurely due to philosophical differences with his music professor.

Martin has perfect pitch, as highlighted on "The Science of a Rock Concert", an episode of Daily Planet on Discovery Channel Canada. He also has synesthesia, as heard during an Alternate Tunings Guitar Workshop for Maton Guitars.

Professional career The Tea Party (1990–2005, 2011–present) Forming The Tea Party in 1990 after a marathon jam session at the Cherry Beach Rehearsal Studios in Toronto, Martin produced all of The Tea Party's albums, including their debut album in 1991, distributing it through the band's own label, Eternal Discs. In 1993 The Tea Party signed to EMI Music Canada and released their first major-label recording entitled Splendor Solis. Martin employed open tunings to imitate Indian instruments 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 tours in Canada, Europe and Australia in 1996, The Tea Party went on to 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, filled with dark and angry music, was released in 1997; it included Martin's first foray into electronica. Triptych followed in 1999; 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.

In 1999, Martin performed as part of The White Ribbon Concert at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto. After releasing Tangents, a singles compilation, in 2000 and Illuminations, a DVD compilation 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.

In 2011, the band members came together once again to perform a series of shows in their home country of Canada. The positive reception of these dates eventually led to the reforming of The Tea Party.

Solo career (2005–2008)

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 the Bush administration. During this time Martin was supposed to collaborate with Scott Stapp but it did not ensue. In November 2006, Martin released a live album recorded that September, titled Live in Brisbane 2006. The two-disc album features Ritesh Das and the Toronto Tabla Ensemble, and includes both solo and Tea Party songs. In May 2007, Martin released his second live album Live in Dublin recorded with drummer Wayne P. Sheehy, while Martin's first solo music DVD Live at the Enmore Theatre was released through Shock DVD in July 2007.

Jeff Martin 777 (2010–present) In 2010, Martin began work on new music with Jay Cortez and Malcolm Clark (formerly of The Sleepy Jackson) for a new album to be entitled "The Ground Cries Out" under the new band name of Jeff Martin 777. On January 10, 2011, the title track from the album was released on Martin's Myspace page. The Ground Cries Out was released in Canada on March 1, 2011, and has subsequently been released in Australia. Following a Jeff Martin 777 Canadian tour, the band toured Australia from May 2011. During the tour Martin announced a reunion of The Tea Party for some Canadian shows in July and August. Following the success of those shows, The Tea Party announced the reunion was permanent.

As a record producer Martin was nominated as producer of the year at the 2000 Juno awards for his work with The Tea Party. Martin has produced albums for Hundred Mile House's EP, The Jay Murphy Band's Propaganda, and Tenth Planet's The Prophet Curse EP. He also played upon Roy Harper's The Green Man.

Martin produced the album Under A New Sun by Australian dark rock band The Eternal. The album features a duet with singer Mark Kelson on the track "The Sleeper".

He worked with Australian band Lepers and Crooks to produce their debut album in 2016.

Martin produced the debut EP Deep Down for Australian indie folk rock duo Secret Solis at River House Studios. On the record, he plays all the heavy guitars, hurdy gurdy and synths including his Theremin, and contributed vocals.

Equipment

Guitars 1916 Gibson Harp guitar 1964 Gibson J-50 acoustic Gibson 12-string Three Les Paul Classic 1960 reissues Gibson 1971 Les Paul Recording Gibson EDS-1275 Gibson Explorer 1971 Fender Telecaster Parsons White B-Bender Fender Stratocaster XII twelve string guitar Rickenbacker 360/12 JetGlo Danelectro Ellis Guitars 7 string resonator guitar Maton 12 string electro-acoustic guitar

Effects Dunlop Cry Baby Early 1970s Memory Man analog delay unit Reissue Small Stone Early 1960s Echoplex Matchless line switcher (with valves) DigiTech 2112 Effects processor unit TC Electronic G-Natural TC-Helicon VoiceWorksPlus

Amps Two Fender 100 watt combo Four Matchless Superchief 120 watt No Name 1960's Tube 25 watt Chute CC-04 Urei 1176 leveling amp Teletronix LA-2A

Discography Studio albums + List of studio albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chartpositions AUS Exile and the Kingdom Released: April 11, 2006 Format: CD digital Label: Koch Entertainment Canada, Shock Records 44

Live albums + List of live albums Title Album details Live in Brisbane 2006 Released: November 2006 Format: 2×CD Live in Dublin Released: May 2007 Format: CD Live at the Corner Hotel Released: February 2008 Format: CD Live & Acoustic Released: 2016 Label: 93 Creative Format: CD, digital

Video albums + List of video albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chartpositions AUSMusic DVD Format: CD, digital Stars in the Sand Released: 2018 Format: CD, digital Cinnamon Rose Released: 2020 Format: CD, digital