Standing in the wings of The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor, you feel the specific hum of a room built for spectacle. It is a venue that demands a certain level of gravitas, and few Canadian acts carry as much sonic weight as The Tea Party. We are looking at a two-night stand that feels less like a standard tour stop and more like a homecoming coronation. On Feb. 3, the trio hits the big room in Windsor before heading to Sarnia’s Imperial Theatre on Feb. 4.
But this is not the standard three-piece setup. They are bringing the International Symphony Orchestra (ISO) into the fold. The Sarnia date evaporated in four hours, proving that the 519 still has a massive appetite for the band’s particular brand of "Moroccan Roll." While Windsor still has a few seats left, they are moving fast. This is the kind of event that defines a local music scene.
I sat down with bassist Stuart Chatwood to talk about the logistics of merging a rock powerhouse with a 40-piece orchestra. Chatwood is the quiet architect of the band's sound, often juggling keys and bass, but these shows allow him a rare moment of focus.
"We're fortunate that this is probably the 15th or 16th time we've been able to do this. Not many bands get to play with a full orchestra. We started back in 2002 and you know that was when we were really scratching our heads at what to do. Luckily, our music lends itself very nicely to being orchestrated because there are lots of overdubs that we can't really cover when we play the show live. The music comes alive in the way that it was recorded when we were able to play with many more players. We did the first show in 2002. We did a tour across Canada and we did sporadic shows here and there when invited," Chatwood says.
The transition from a basement in Windsor to a concert hall is not always graceful for rock bands. Often, the strings are just there for decoration. But for The Tea Party, the arrangements are baked into the DNA of the songs. The complexity of their studio work—think *The Edges of Twilight* era—was always too dense for a trio to replicate perfectly on stage.
The band took this concept to the other side of the world a few years back, and it remains a high-water mark for Chatwood.
"Then we took it down to Australia in 2017. That's the last time we played with an orchestra and that was probably the best one so far. It was at Melbourne's Hamer Hall and the orchestra down there is one of the best orchestras in the southern hemisphere. Just incredible players and just an incredible night. Melbourne itself is one of our top cities in the world for our following. It was 2,700 people sold out and tickets for that were 165 Australian dollars. It wasn't cheap. That's the nice thing about these shows coming up - Liuna! Unity and Sterling Ridge Group somehow helped subsidize the cost one way or another so that people are paying only a portion of what the show actually costs to put on," he says.
And that is the real kicker here. Orchestral shows are notoriously expensive to produce. The union fees alone for a symphony can sink a mid-sized tour. By bringing in partners like LiUNA!625, the band is making this accessible to the people who actually live here. It is a blue-collar approach to a high-art performance.
The shows also serve a dual purpose as a benefit for Transition to Betterness (T2B) and essential frontline workers. In a post-pandemic world, the "thank you" to healthcare staff often feels performative, but The Tea Party is putting their money where their mouth is.
"Yeah, that's something we haven't talked about enough in the promotion because a lot of people aren't aware of it. There's a large block of tickets provided to the frontline workers as a way of saying thank you for all they have done," Chatwood notes.
It is hard to talk about the band’s community ties without mentioning drummer Jeff Burrows. While Jeff Martin is often the focal point as the enigmatic frontman, Burrows is the engine room of the Windsor charity scene. From his 24-hour drum marathons to his work with Harmony in Action, the man is a local fixture.
Burrows is even keeping the momentum going after the symphony dates. He is slated for a run of shows at Joe Schmoe’s on Feb. 16, Feb. 23, March 2 and March 9, performing with The Twisted Sisters to raise funds for adults with disabilities. It is a relentless schedule, but it grounds the band in a way that most rock stars avoid.
But what happens when you put a heavy-hitting drummer like Burrows in front of a delicate violin section? There is always a risk of the rock element drowning out the nuance.
"I know Jeff Burrows will be playing like it's a rock show. It's not going to be some held back intensity, the same can be said for Jeff Martin. With the orchestration, I'm kind of lucky because I would handle a lot of the orchestrated parts. The gig is a lot more fun for me because I can relax a bit and perhaps play bass on a few songs that I previously had to cover the keyboard parts for," Chatwood explains.
Marc Ouellette worked with us just to come up with the arrangements, so it was really fun to sit with him and sing things out loud and he's got his pencil and he's writing it down. Then he takes that home and embellishes it.
There is a technical relief in that. If you have ever watched Chatwood live, he is a one-man technical crew, switching between pedals and keys while maintaining a pocket. Having a symphony behind him means he can finally just be a bass player for a night.
"For us, first and foremost, just having the music played by an orchestra is phenomenal. You turn around and, there are 40, 50 people playing the songs that you wrote in the basement. There are also a lot of our fans that have seen the band 30 or 40 times that have never heard a version that is reminiscent of the original recording, so it's fun to cover the parts there," he says.
The hometown factor cannot be overstated. While the band has played the grandest stages in Europe and Australia, bringing the full orchestral experience to Windsor and Sarnia is a logistical victory.
"I think the closest was Toronto, so we're thrilled to be able to bring it to our hometown and to bring it to such a great venue too. Just the sound system at the Caesars is just incredible. It's one of the top sound systems in Canada," Chatwood says. He is right. The Colosseum’s PA is clinical in its precision, which is exactly what you need when you are trying to balance a distorted Gibson Les Paul with a cello.
The band members currently live in different corners of the globe—Martin in Australia, Chatwood in Vancouver and Burrows in Windsor. Getting them in the same room is a rare alignment of the planets.
"I don’t know what we are doing exactly yet. I don't know what's planned to be perfectly honest. I know our sound checks are a little later in the day. I don't know what the other two guys have planned rehearsing during the days as a band. It's kind of like a gathering of the different churches, you know. Where we are able to meet in the same country and agree on things and map out our future. We're not the greatest communicators when it comes to the Internet and deciding things over the phone. We really appreciate being in the same room and being able to fire ideas back and forth. We still haven't played Australia since COVID happened, and there's plans afoot to do something really interesting for the next record. I can't elaborate on that until we have more firm plans in place," he says.
When he is not busy with the band, Chatwood has carved out a massive career in the gaming industry. If you have played *Prince of Persia* or *Darkest Dungeon*, you have heard his work. It is a different kind of discipline, one that requires a deep understanding of atmospheric tension.
"I just got assigned more video game music, so I may be able to do some of that when I'm in Windsor as well. That's kind of what I’ve been doing when I'm not doing The Tea Party stuff," Chatwood says. He is currently putting the finishing touches on a major sequel.
"We're just finishing that game up. The Early Access version came out in October of 2021, where people can download, play the game, and make changes and suggestions that we can implement in the game. The final version is scheduled to come out in quarter two, so maybe in May. I think it's a date they were tossing around. Typically, you don't want to ship something nowadays until it's got the polish on it, because like many things in life, people look at reviews and if the reviews aren't great then they are not going to play the game or they're not going to listen to the record or they're not going to read the book or they're not going to stream the TV show, right? Word of mouth has grown leaps and bounds," he says.
The gaming world is brutal. A bad launch can kill a franchise. Chatwood approaches it with the same perfectionism he brings to the band, though the budgets vary wildly.
"If I need a solo vocalist, I'll use a solo vocalist, where budgeting permits. In the past, with my Prince of Persia scores, it was recorded with the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra at the Clint Eastwood Scoring Stage down in LA and with a 63 piece orchestra, so that's quite an honor to have that kind of budget. My current game is recorded mostly by myself. It's samples that are embellished through live instruments. I think we always need to have a few live instruments just to bring the humanity out of it," he says.
That "humanity" is the bridge between his day job and the upcoming symphony shows. For the arrangements, the band turned to a familiar name in the Canadian music scene: Marc Ouellette.
"Actually, I do want to mention Marc Ouellette. Spelt just like the street in Windsor. Mark and I work together in Montreal. He’s an incredible composer and arranger. I believe he was the president of SOCAN, which is the songwriters organization in Canada. He worked with us just to come up with the arrangements, so, it was really fun to sit with him and sing things out loud and he's got his pencil and he's writing it down. Then he takes that home and embellishes it. He wrote an original piece inspired by our music that I'm not sure where it's going to lie in the set. Ever since then, he's been the conductor for most of our shows," Chatwood says.
For the Windsor and Sarnia dates, the band will be collaborating with the International Symphony Orchestra, a group that mirrors the border-city reality of the area.
"We're very excited to work with The International Symphony, and a different conductor for these two shows though. It's a very unique symphony, being cross border with Sarnia and Port Huron. With a mix of the players coming from those two areas, as well as Detroit and Windsor. We're excited to meet everybody at our first soundcheck," he says.
Chatwood’s influences are deep. He is not just a rock guy who likes strings; he is a student of the craft. When asked about his favourite composers, he avoids the obvious picks.
"I respect a lot of composers. I know it's not in vogue, so I could mention Russians, but right now, Rimsky-Korsakov is a guy that wrote a book about orchestrating that he has some great compositions from the late 1890s, I'm guessing, don't quote me on this, but maybe you can Wikipedia. But then there's just there's such emotion in their music I find. So yeah, Rimsky-Korsakov is one of the guys I like. I mean, the modern guys, I mean, you have to respect Hans Zimmer just for what he was able to do. And you look at the guy in the 'Video Killed the Radio Star' video. And I believe he's playing keyboards on that one. And he went from there to being the most well-known composer, next to perhaps John Williams. John Williams' work ethic, his background makes him very loyal to the players. For example, like a lot of scores, you'll bring in different sections to record because it’s the most efficient way to work. Then John Williams will have the whole orchestra getting paid, sitting there while they're perhaps re-recording flute parts. I mean, as a player, maybe you could spend your time better, but at least you're getting a nice paycheck to go around," he says.
While Stuart handles the technical side, Jeff Martin is doing his own "gathering of the churches." Martin has a string of solo dates lined up, hitting Montreal on Jan. 26, Peterborough on Jan. 27, and Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern on Feb. 10.
"He's come all the way from Australia. So, he's added a few solo shows before and after our shows in Windsor and Sarnia. I don't know all the particulars of his dates," Chatwood says.
Conversation with Chatwood eventually turns to the finer things. He is rarely seen without a glass of wine in hand during our chats. When asked what he is currently pouring, he admits his palate was refined during the band's peak years in Australia.
"Usually," he says with a grin when I mention the wine. "Typically, good wine. Yeah. And it can be from any region, really. I mean, we basically got schooled on wine in Australia. But obviously, you know, France, Italy, being, you know, the premier regions in the world, you know, it's a whole other level there. Wines costing $2,500 a bottle. We're not drinking anything like that, but we have befriended quite a few Australian winemakers and you know it's just nice to know these craftspeople that put so much passion and love into their wines. Sarah Crowe at Yarra Yering in Australia is a good example. And that's a wine that's not overly ripened by the sun, perhaps. Some of the Shiraz in Australia that they're famous for. It's more of a European style. So that's probably one of my favorites."
As we wrap up, I bring up a fan question from Montreal about whether there is any other instrument he wants to tackle. It turns out, there is a bit of a prank brewing within the band.
"I do have a drum kit at home, and I've been joking with Jeff Burrows that he should play bass on 'Heaven Coming Down' and I'll play drums. We won't tell Jeff Martin. He would just start the songs and then he'll notice something's different. And then he would turn around and see Burrows on bass and have a freak out. The whole audience will see it happening. So, the audience will be in on it. That's something we talked about. If I have the time, I'd like to get better at drums," he says.
Whether that swap happens at Caesars or the Imperial Theatre remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: The Tea Party is no longer just a rock band from Windsor. They are an institution, and with a full symphony behind them, they are finally filling the space they were always meant to occupy.
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