The band received some media criticism for Jeff Martin's Jim Morisson-like stage persona in some of its videos and their Led Zeppelin-esq riffs, although he seemed determined to be striving to create his own image and sound. His looks certainly do draw some comparison, however, to The Doors' late front man.
Their sound is hard to categorize as each album possessed different themes and influences. Splendor Solis (1993) was a more acoustic, blues-based record, while Edges of Twilight (1995) was much darker with strong Middle Eastern influences on several tracks. Transmission (1997) saw a dramatic change to a darker, more industrial-tinged sound, and it was distributed in the USA by Atlantic Records. The last three albums by the band featured various efforts to attract a wider commercial audience, with the single "Heaven Coming Down" reaching No.1 on the Canadian mainstream charts in 1999.
In 2000, Capitol Records finally released a retrospective compilation in the USA of their Canadian singles entitled Tangents after only releasing their first two albums south of the border.
The Tea Party released The Interzone Mantras in 2001, but it did not possess the singles of its predecessors.
In October 2005, a year after their final album Seven Circles was released, Jeff Martin left the band and embarked on a solo career, releasing an album in early 2006. Jeff Burrows (drummer) and Stuart Chatwood (bass/synthesiser) have also had post-Tea Party successes, the former in several projects and the latter in soundtrack composition. Burrows and Chatwood worked together on a new project called The Art Decay before Burrows joined Crash Karma in 2008.
On April 12th 2011, an official Facebook page was launched with a biography section that closed with "The band is scheduled to play a select number of dates in 2011. No other info was available at this time." The following day, the local radio station K106.3 announced the Sarnia Bayfest lineup including The Tea Party, which was later confirmed by drummer Jeff Burrows on his radio show on April 13th. Burrows further stated that a Canadian tour was also in the works.
The Tea Party performed at the Cisco Systems Bluesfest in Ottawa, Ontario on July 14th, 2011, and the band will be playing a Canadian tour commencing on November 15th, 2011 in Vancouver. The band's website and tour is called "THE TEA PARTY - No Politics... Just Rock and Roll". In September 2011, the band was reportedly approached to sell its website URL for over a million dollars by the extremely popular American political movement bearing the same name: www.teaparty.com.
Army Ants
The Tea Party Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A walk on the water
Can lead you to slaughter
No one will feel you
No one will hear you
Bring on the brave new world
A slave to submission
All that I need
Is a way to deceive
The eyes of the end
I will rise once again
And still shine on
Crawl on your hands and knees
Blind from the vision
The dawn of decision
The Tea Party's "Army Ants" is a song that touches on the dangers of blindly following a leader or ideology. The lyrics warn of the consequences of being tied to conditions and submissive to authority. The first few lines suggest that the promise of absolute power or success can lead to one's downfall, just like how walking on water can lead you to slaughter. The following lines talk about how no one would feel or hear your plea for help when you're already in too deep.
The second verse dives deeper into the idea of submission and deceit. The song compares being tied to a new world order to slavery. The singer expresses his need to deceive the end or final judgment and to rise once again. The chorus echoes the idea that blindly following any vision or decision can leave you crawling on your hands and knees, blind and lost, with no way out.
Overall, "Army Ants" criticizes moments in history and society where humans were conditioned to follow a path, without thinking critically or questioning authority. It warns of the consequences of blindly following others and encourages individuals to find their own path and make decisions based on their values.
Line by Line Meaning
Bring on the absolute
Let's embrace a clearly defined and decisive course of action
A walk on the water
A seemingly impossible feat
Can lead you to slaughter
May ultimately prove risky or damaging
No one will feel you
No one will truly understand your perspective or feelings
No one will hear you
No one will pay attention to your words or ideas
Bring on the brave new world
Let's move forward into a promising and hopeful future
Tied to condition
Restricted by limitations or requirements
A slave to submission
Succumbing to the will or authority of others
All that I need
The only thing I require
Is a way to deceive
A means of tricking or misleading others
The eyes of the end
The ultimate conclusion or outcome
I will rise once again
I will overcome past difficulties
And still shine on
And still radiate excellence or success
Crawl on your hands and knees
Experience great difficulty or humiliation
Blind from the vision
Unable to see the bigger picture or potential
The dawn of decision
The moment of choice or judgment
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JEFFREY JOHN BURROWS, JEFFREY SCOTT MARTIN, STUART CHATWOOD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@sogentlywego1369
awesome thing about The Tea party is if you love an album song the live version will always blow you away.
@wozja
What a cool song live ... would be hard to sing and capture that yelling like the studio version. But he does a great job live
@johnnykirkinnes7872
I grew up watching this show...so good! Don't suppose you remember the name of a hip hop group who played live once? They did a theatrical type performance which was so good! They were singing about warriors rising up.
@fredbarnes2049
Not many bands can recreate that late 60s early 70s feel this well. I was struggling to think who it reminds me of. I finally got it: the Guess Who on one of the rare songs where they really cut loose like American Woman. But the approach is theirs and incorpates a lit that happens since then like grunge so it's unique. It's a remarkably good song!
@alistairwhite2906
Got the chance to see them live in the early 00's. Amazing! blew the rest of the bands at that concert away.......
@andrewgoldbergs4474
Recovery was a super show not afraid of blowing TV speakers up with great acts like The Tea Party
@gressex7
So good to watch these videos from Recovery again!
@MirrorDomains
Cool thought I heard most live versions of this! thnks!
@cbilan34
This whole thing is something to behold, but that breakdown....
@pappyprimetime7510
Great band. I bet Jeff Martin farts on stage.