Jeff Martin (The Armada/The Tea Party) interview, part 2

CAPTAIN MARTIN'S REVENGE

If you haven't caught The Armada live this year, then you're just not trying. Canadian native Jeff Martin has exhaustively demonstrated his latest band's powers on stage, whipping up a hurricane of east meets west blues rock in a tour schedule that makes most bands seem lazy by comparison. The Armada - once described by Jeff as 'three tangents in a framework' - includes Irish percussionist Wayne Sheehy and Perth bassist Jay Cortez. The trio, pooled together from different points on the globe, now based in Australia full-time, has enjoyed the vast majority of their success locally.

Singer and guitarist Jeff Martin - although dropping our original interview slot in favour of a few beer sandwiches (minus the bread), more than makes up for it the following day when I finally catch up with him, detoxed, jovial and sharing a few thoughts on personal successes. "Ah, well we had good cause to celebrate, you see." Jeff explains of his earlier absence, "I don't know how many shows I've done in my career, but I have to say, I think that night was the best one I've played in my life." Good thing too, the concert in Sydney two nights previous was recorded for a planned DVD release. "I felt a real coordination, if you like. The three of us were on fire, the audience was on fire, and just to be able to pull off what we did with all the different instruments and all the moods and emotions was one of my proudest moments."

Despite some criticisms of the Armada's 'confused direction' in concert, Jeff seems to have greater confidence than ever before of his new band's abilities. "All of my dreams and aspirations as far as were I wanted to go after The Tea Party are done and dusted with The Armada. It's a tangible thing too. I mean the people around me have all been saying, you know, something's changed within me. It's like the stars have all lined up at long last." He laughs.

Another change or at least recalibration fans can expect is The Armada in 'acoustic' mode as they have been billed on their current tour; but is it a straightforward 'unplugged' set as the billing suggests? Jeff explains. "Actually, it's just as loud as ever," He laughs, "I mean we have acoustic instruments, but it's still a rock show at the end of the day." I ask Jeff to pin point what makes this tour different from the previous one where they launched their debut album. "Well pretty much everything changes night to night anyway; we rarely play the songs the exact same way twice which is something that comes naturally from the musicianship between the three of us." He further describes, "It's like there's a signpost in every song where we all just know to recollect, but then going into the next one, we can take any journey we want while trusting each others ability to bring it all back together. It's like there's a real collective consciousness in this band."

The centerpiece of the Armada's live shows is the monstrous BlackSnake Blues which sees Jeff transform on stage into a kind of possessed conjurer - a character brought forth from his own psyche, he explains. "That song's taken on a whole new level for me, especially with Wayne's percussion - which I call the machine – it's certainly turned into some very heavy voodoo music. In fact it's fucking sinister." Our interview takes a surprising turn as Jeff begins to reveal a long time fascination with black magic and esoteric practices.

"I'm a student of (legendary occultist) Aleister Crowley's and I always will be." He says firmly. "That is a very big part of my psyche, but it's not something that I talk about very much. I do however reference it in my music as an exotic subject which I find worth exploring." The story of Led Zeppelin's dabbling with black magic and Crowley's teachings became widely known as a strong influence on their music, a fact that did not escape Jeff he says, continuing. "When I was probably 14 I started listening to Led Zeppelin and finding out about their influences and it all seemed so mysterious to me, until I reached mental maturity and was able to, you know handle it and follow that path." Jeff later was to become friends with Jimmy Page and even stayed with him in London during which time Page enlightened Martin on the finer points of the occult. "He told me to follow my will, and what that meant was to 'do the great work' and understand my destiny. If you do that and truly find your path then the universe will basically conspire to help you." The meeting between Jeff and Jimmy would appear to have been a great success and a will to Martin's power. Yet I'm reminded of the story of David Bowie's experience upon meeting Page in the late '70s at the height of Zeppelin's black magic phase, where he apparently felt in the 'presence of pure evil' when around the guitarist. Jeff on the other hand seems to have gained purpose and confidence through Page's guidance. "You know, through him I understood why it was so important as an artist to be focused and true to yourself." Jeff concludes.

Keeping in mind Australia has been the focus of The Armada's extensive tour, before he considers taking the band to the world Jeff is awaiting his residency application to be approved. Until which time he is effectively trapped in Australia. "There are lot worse places to be trapped, let me tell you," He laughs. "It was always very hard for me to leave Australia; I have a son who was born here, and it's very important to me to become a resident. Now I just have to wait a few months until my visa is sorted out - it would jeopardise my chance of gaining residency sooner if I did go overseas - but after that I want to take The Armada to Europe because I'm very passionate about this band." Jeff adds proudly, before heading off to join his band mates and play another wild show, "I think that people deserve this kind of music, and I know that sounds like a big statement but I just want to give people the best. There's a lot of crap music out there that's being pushed, but I think audiences deserve better."

lEIGh5

This is the second part of two interviews I've done with Jeff. The first can be viewed on my blog or on The Armada's official site (Just follow the link)...

http://www.thearmada.com/press.php

Jeff Martin (The Armada/The Tea Party) interview: part 1

The world music scene in the 1990s gained a decent sized fringe following thanks in part to Peter Gabriel's Real World label, but for your more mainstream artists, dabbling in the traditional music of the east and Africa to embellish a more familiar rock or dance sound became the must have accessory. On their 1993 album Splendor Solis, The Tea Party's music marked the return of prog-rock but with its dreary old skin shed and replaced with the vibrancy of middle eastern strings and strong soulful vocals. Few bands had managed to marry so gracefully these unusual elements. Their 1995 follow-up Edges of Twilight had Australia falling in love with them, and the feeling was mutual - singer/guitarist Jeff Martin settled in Perth six years ago. Last year he began planning his 12th Australian tour, the second fronting his new band The Armada. Over the phone from his WA home, Martin opens the latest chapter of his amazing musical history.

"Leaving The Tea Party was like a revelation," Martin begins. "I had become so caught up in the business of the band that creatively I was drying up. I decided to take some time off and I realised then, the problem was I felt I had no control over my band anymore. Our label wanted us to make a more commercial-sounding album, and I just wasn't interested in doing that." It was 2005 when Martin decided to walk away from his Tea Party band mates, and something in his voice tells me he still has a lot of passion for the band, and perhaps carries some resentment of how it ended in a quite unnatural way. "It left me feeling very emotionally scarred and like I had to rediscover my passion for music. It turned into big business and that killed it for me."

It's a too often recurring story with bands that their music becomes second to the whims of labels demands, but I wonder what became of the relationships between the three members of the Tea Party. "We just stopped communicating, and I didn't feel that they (Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Burrows) were doing anything to challenge the demands of what was expected from us by the label. Anyway I needed to regain control over my own life and music, so stepping away from the band was a really important part of that." Martin took his break in Cork, Ireland and ended up staying long-term. He befriended blues legend Roy Harper after the two met in a bar. Harper proved to be the stimulation Martin needed to work through his creative block. "Roy and I shared a love of Led Zeppelin, and Page and Plant are my reason to be, they are why I wanted to be in a band in the first place. Talking with him (Roy) helped me see my strengths again as an artist. He was also the only person I knew in Ireland, so living there I didn't have the distractions around me that had become part of everyday life in The Tea Party."

Growing up in Ontario, Canada, Jeff remembers the shocking boredom of his hometown. He was drawn to the traditional sounds of India and the Middle East - an exotic mental escape which he has successfully made part of his stock and trade. "As a kid, I remember thinking that just over that bridge (The Ambassador) is Detroit with its happening rock and blues scene, and I couldn't wait to see it for myself. I was always looking elsewhere for music to blow my mind, and so I gravitated to that (the Detroit scene) and this weird out-of-this-world Moroccan sound."

Jeff's new venture after his one solo album, Exile and the Kingdom (2006), is The Armada. Pairing up with Irish percussionist Wayne Sheehy, Martin began to pick up the pieces and embrace his renewed love of song making. "Wayne Sheehy is the be-all and end-all of this project. Simple as that. He's been a great muse for me and is no less than the greatest drummer I've ever heard." Singing Sheehy's praises, Martin gives me a telling insight into why their creative partnership is so special. "There's a new song on the album called Morocco which was written completely from a drum piece Wayne had worked out in just no time at all, and I just had to fill in my guitar parts and that was it, complete. I've never written this way before so it's really exciting". Completing the Armada line-up is Jay Cortez (former bassist from Sleepy Jackson), recruited after Wayne relocated to Perth to join Jeff and start rehearsals for the inevitable tour. I ask if he plans on expanding The Armada to involve extra players for the tour. "No, I love the dynamic of a trio. It's like three tangents in a framework with no spare parts running wild. (he laughs) I'm the captain of the ship and Wayne and Jay are my indispensable crew - and you know The Armada's coming through and people had better make way." Martin's tone has brightened up since speaking of the Armada; the project sees him returning confidently to the lyrical subject matter familiar to Tea Party fans. New song, Going Down Blues is apparently an account of a harrowing tarot card prophecy: "..White lady read for me those cards - The Devil knows you/he's your only friend/He's standing at the gates now/Waiting for the end..."

"I've always been interested in the esoteric side of life. (When I wrote that) I was thinking of the story of Robert Johnson at the cross-roads selling his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play the blues. Blues music, which I'm a big fan of, was really always the devil's music to me. I'm not going to get into the whole theology debate but from a creative standpoint, spirituality and music are closely matched." The song hints at a writer who has been to the dark depths and survived. On Chinese Whispers there's a nod towards traditional sea shanties: "…I've played chess with Davey Jones/He stripped me to my skin and bones/She said baby I'm walking on water towards the shore…" Perhaps his stay in the emerald isle had Jeff delving into books on maritime folklore? "Yeah, I mean it all just ties into the whole Armada thing. I wanted the imagery to match the music to some degree." The imagery is salty sea dogs and galleons firing on other galleons, it's all very rum, sodomy and the lash. I can't help finishing our discussion by asking what Australian customs (if any) has Jeff picked up since moving here. "Hmmm… Good question. The only thing I can think of is whenever I go out and get a little trashed I find myself craving vegemite on toast. (laughs) …Then a Berocca in the morning. Australia seems to be the only place you can get Berocca." Good hangover cures are our contribution to the world. Jeff's contribution to the world right now is The Armada. One of his best moves yet, and one for Tea Party fans to celebrate. Martin's references are not too distant from previous works and fans can look forward to hearing a few Tea Party songs in the Armada concert. The difference now is that Martin can relax and let his muse take him where it wants to without the creative restrictions and bad business that ultimately finished off The Tea Party. It's smooth sailing from here on, captain! 

lEIGh5