Bobbyisms: No politics... just rock and roll

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. It's no secret that the music industry is a frenetic landscape, built on a lot of hard work, imagination and daring, however, like an iceberg, the bulk of the action and drama occurs below the surface. Countless people are constantly working day and night to support the cause, whether it's booking gigs, servicing music to digital sources online or submitting grant applications for tours, recordings and more.

That said, developments and trends in social media in recent years have afforded us more of a glimpse into the process and enabled us as fans to take a more active role in the music we've grown to love, and few are as direct as crowd funding — the ability to directly support and finance projects from artists we love is an incredibly powerful thing... just ask The Tea Party.

Formed in 1990 in Toronto by way of Windsor, The Tea Party — multi-instrumentalists Jeff Martin, Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Burrows — rose to prominence blending Indian and Middle Eastern flavours into their own style of psychedelic blues rock, creating a signature sound as well as a name for themselves unlike that of any of their contemporaries. From conception until their dissolution in 2005, the band released seven studio albums, sold over 1.5 million records, enjoyed a number-one single (1999's “Heaven Coming Down”) and toured Canada and Australia over 30 times combined.

The Tea Party came to recent public attention again last year when the Tea Party movement — the American political movement named for their strict advocacy of the U.S. Constitution and call for tax reduction — expressed interest in buying the band's Internet domain name. According to Chatwood in an interview with Canadian Interviews in November 2011, the movement and new found attention had nothing to do with the band's recent reformation, but rather was a stroke of interesting timing.

“It just sort of converged. I mean the movement was getting popular over time, but that was never our idea,” he said. When the band embarked on their ‘No Politics... Just Rock and Roll' tour of Canada last year, Chatwood explained, they worried the attention might be more of an obstacle. “We thought we would actually face a really steep climb in convincing people who we were, and how we weren't part of the movement.”

However the tour was a resounding success, even stopping in to Cowboys Ranch here in London before the month was out. The overwhelming response the band received prompted the idea of a live release, and in true modern fashion, the band decided to explore crowd funding opportunities and enlisted the aid of pledgemusic.com. The goal was simple: raise enough money and record their performances over the course of their 13th Australian tour this past July.

Launched on June 1 without a disclosed target amount, the drive offered exclusive access to updates and digital downloads in addition to producer credits, studio equipment and copies of the coming release on vinyl — the first time the band has had the opportunity to employ the medium. And although the pledge drive continues until September 15, it reached 100 per cent funding before 5 p.m. on June 6, only five days after launch.

The result: Live From Australia, a live double-album documenting their reformation tour Down Under. Although there has been no official release date announcement, the band has returned the love they've received from fans by providing a wealth of exclusive updates, from wallpapers to rehearsal photos, personal videos to song previews. Truly embracing the personal nature of social media, The Tea Party is another exciting example of a band once ahead of their time now finding a comfortable home in the present music climate and connecting in new ways with fans.

The band is just wrapping up a short Canadian/American tour on the heels of their sojourn to Australia, but you can get the latest on them by visiting them online at teaparty.com or following @theteapartyband on Twitter. As of this writing, the band has reached 230 per cent of their funding goal and climbing, and it's not too late to pre-order an autographed copy of Live from Australia on CD or LP.

And for the latest in music news, views and more, consider following this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. Welcome to another school year at Fanshawe, I'm out of words.