What could be better to celebrate Ontario’s 150th birthday than with a free, live concert with some of the province’s best bands such as the Skydiggers and USS, near one of Barrie’s favourite historic landmarks?
And if you’d like to throw in a little Tea Party with that, playing some of the tunes that made them famous two decades ago, hey, so much the better.
The ONtour concert series makes a stop this Sunday evening, starting at 6, at Allandale Station Park, providing what organizers call “the soundtrack of Summer 2017”.
The Tea Party – guitarist Jeff Martin, drummer Jeff Burrows and keyboard man Stuart Chatwood – have been with us off and on since 1990, and Chatwood tells BarrieToday the city of the Spirit Catcher is something of a second home for him and his mates.
“Barrie is really the heartland of the band’s support, which is central Ontario, but we haven’t had an opportunity to give the people of a Barrie a proper rock show since we headlined Edgefest back in the 90s at Molson Park.”
Chatwood is also excited at the intergenerational feel the band provides.
“Many younger people in the crowd have not had an opportunity to see an authentic rock act and there are not that many rock acts touring anymore. Tool doesn’t play Toronto too often and Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and many others, sadly, don’t exist now. I hope the fact that the show is free will bring out a lot of fans eager to hear the band for the first time.”
The Allandale show will be the “Party’s” second ONtour date, and Stuart says previous gigs raised the bar.
“We played an incredible show with USS last Sunday in Sault Ste. Marie. They blew the crowd away with their energy. As we’ve been around for 25 years, we are quite comfortable in our shoes, so we’re in a position to embrace other acts without feeling jealous or insecure.”
Chatwood says the band’s sound evolved since getting back together in 2011. “Musically, we have all become better players and the fact that we are a little older has translated to us not being afraid of what people think of us, so in that sense it has brought freedom.”
“When we meet new fans they describe our sound as power trio rock with world music influences and I’m pretty good with that as a starting point.
“We see nothing wrong with taking your music seriously and putting passion into your music.”
Moreover, 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the Party’s Transmission album, a pivotal piece for Chatwood and the two Jeffs.
“We moved into a more keyboard heavy sound, which meant a little less guitar, and this was disappointing for myself on some levels as the band broke on the strengths of Jeff (Martin)’s guitar prowess. Jeff (Martin) was producing the band and it was under his direction that we forged into world music heavily on Edges of Twilight and move into more electronics on Transmission."
When the concerts gain momentum, the crowd no longer calls for just one song. Stuart says fans tend to want to hear the whole shooting match, consisting of 10 albums across 25-plus years.
“The requests come in for music from our whole catalogue which is a nice statement to its appeal. People argue over their favourite album by The Tea Party, and I think that’s just an incredible compliment.”
The ONtour series of free concerts hits Allandale Station Park, Sunday evening with USS taking the stage at 6:15 p.m., Skydiggers at 7:25 p.m. and The Tea Party at 8:45 p.m. To learn more, click here.
