So, one of my favorite bands is a Canadian band called The Tea Party.
I really enjoy their blend of acoustic and electric instruments, as well as their world music influences. I particularly like the acoustic musings of Jeff Martin, the guitarist and singer in the band. Very Zeppelinesque, (for me, that's a good thing), yet they have carved out their own unmistakeable niche. He/they have had much influence on my own music, and no small part in why I'm building acoustic guitars at all.
Presently they are touring the 20th anniversary of 'The Edges of Twilight', their sophomore jinx album which is IMO a pretty powerful musical statement.
Anyway...
Our budget brand name, Halcyon, was poached from one of their songs called 'The Halcyon Days'. We had a running joke for a long time that we owed Jeff a guitar as a royalty payment. Then one day, I was like, 'Hmm, actually, we really should...'
So we bumped into him about a year ago and made the offer, brought a couple of boxes for him to peruse, he took a glance and chose an NL-00 and probably forgot all about it.
On Friday, we finished the guitar after lots of last minute happenstances (I haven't needed to do that much time/people/task management since Larrivee days, lol) and were able to hand it off. On his birthday, nonetheless! I expected a handshake and a farewell, but he invited us for drinks after the show.
After seeing one of my favorite albums played live stem to stern, employing saz, ersaj, hurdy gurdy, all kinds of cool stuff, experiencing 20 years of nostalgia and reminiscence, with a second set of their more recent work, we made our way into the after area to hang out.
After a bit, he pulled me aside and said that in the short interval between sound check and the show, he'd had a chance to give it a spin in the dressing room. Much to my surprise, he'd in that short amount of time decided to play it onstage during their Aussie leg of the tour to play one of my favorite acoustic songs of theirs, The Badger.
Feeling a bit of that nice mission accomplished feeling:)
