This weeks Tunesday artists had a VERY strange beginning; they actually formed after a marathon jam session at the Cherry Beach Rehearsal Studios in Toronto.  Jeff Martin, Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Burrows had previously played together during their teenage years in a number of different bands but it took that long drawn out session for them to realize there could be a future for these three boys from Windsor.

They took destiny into their own hands, releasing their debut self-titled album on their OWN label, Eternal Discs; a mix of psychedelic rock and blues it caught the ears of MANY Canadians and the powers that be over at EMI Music Canada quickly had their name on the bottom line, assuring the trio the band's artistic fires and creativity would be left up to them.

Two years later SPLENDOR SOLIS dropped and while it was met with mixed reviews here in The Great White North it POUNDED up the charts overseas...... in fact it went Gold in Australia before the single "Save Me" even found the top ten here at home. The band ultimately won 2 Much Music Video "People's Choice" awards for their second single, "The River" and later that year made history as the first Canadian artist to perform a live "Internet only" concert.

THE EDGES OF TWILIGHT (partly inspired by a book on The Celtic Spirit and Shamanism by Tom Cowan called Fire In The Head) droppped in late 1995 with the band staying true to their "eclectic" label; a mix of Indian and Middle-eastern instrumentation it featured the AMAZING single "Sister Awake" which was recorded using, among other things, a 12-string guitar, sitar, sarod, harmonium and goblet drums. In all over 31 different exotic and acoustic instruments were used as a template for the record which landed them 3 Juno Nominations and the Much Music Video Award for Favourite Music Video for "The Bazaar".

In 1996 the EP ALHAMBRA (taking its name from the Moorish Islamic palace in Grenada) was released featuring 4 beautifully intricate re-worked acoustic songs from The Edges Of Twilight and two others, the first entitled, "Time" with Roy Harper on vocals and the second a remix of "Sister Awake." Carrying on their love for the puter the disc also featured a multimedia CD-ROM that the band used as a way to explain themselves, inviting fans to explore the details of exotic instruments, song meanings and video/audio clips.

ALHAMBRA fueled their second Cross Canada tour, entitled 'Alhambra Acoustic and Eclectic'... a small venue junket that allowed the band to share the stories behind some of the songs and instruments with fans in person. Time away from the stage was well spent and it was off the road and into the studio to lay down TRANSMISSION, which dropped in early 1997.

Their first foray into "electronica" did well on the Canadian charts, scoring a HUGE single with "Temptation" and catching the attention of the White Ribbon Foundation (the largest effort in the world of men working to end violence against women), who used the song in a media campaign and prompted the group to release a limited edition four-track sampler featuring their Top 5 single, "Release" while donating all profits to the White Ribbon Campaign.

TRYPTICH dropped in 98 and was not only their most commercially successful album ever, it produced their first #1 hit which was quickly followed up by another top ten in "Messenger" The album itself, as the title alludes to, is done story style, ala Styx, with every three songs telling a story. The group was nominated for "Best Single", "Best Rock Album" and "Best Group" at the 2000 Juno Awards and the disc went on to reach platinum status within a few months of its release.

In 2000 they celebrated 10 years in the business by releasing their first (and only) compilation CD, TANGENTS, and quickly followed that up with ILLUMINATIONS, a DVD compliation of music videos remixed in Surround Sound.

Their sixth album, THE INTERZONE MANTRAS, was released in 2001 and while the singles "Angels", "Lullabye" and "Soulbreaking" did well they failed to break the top 10 on the Canadian Charts. Suprisingly the disc STILL went Gold and once again they found themselves nominated for Group of the Year at the Junos. This led to their most impressive tour to date; they utilized Symphonies in major cities across Canada to help them adapt their music to a more "formal" style.

SEVEN CIRCLES dropped in 2004 and even tho the singles "Stargazer", "Oceans" and "Writing's on the Wall" did well, "Wall" and "Wishing You Would Stay" (a duet with fellow Canadian Holly McNarland) turned out to be more prophetic than popular; one year later the group disbanded due to "creative differences", with Martin abruptly announcing he was beginning a solo career. While Chatwood and Burrows stated on the bands forum that it was merely taking an "extended break", its two years later and the principle players have yet to step into the same room.

Despite the breakup the boys have kept busy; Burrows and Chatwood are still writing together as The Art Decay, while Chatwood continues to compose the Prince of Persia video game soundtracks for Ubisoft Montreal. Recently Burrows joined Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson and other Canadian musicians as drummer in the one-off project the Big Dirty Band (for the Trailer Park Boys movie) as well as presenting the midday shift on The Rock, a radio station in Windsor.

They are

The Tea Party

and their one and ONLY #1 hit

HEAVEN COMING DOWN