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The Tea Partys reunion in 2011 healed some of the acrimony from the trios 2005 split. Now, with its first new album in a decade, the band appears to be back for good. The Tea Partys tour in support of The Ocean at the End stops at Metropolis, 59 Ste-Catherine St. E., Friday, Nov. 28 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $37.50 viaticketmaster.ca.

The Montreal Gazettes Jordan Zivitz spoke to frontman Jeff Martin before the tour. Heres a full transcript of the interview.

Montreal Gazette:Was it a foregone conclusion that new music would follow in short order after you got back together?

Jeff Martin:A conclusion, no. A hope, yes. (Laughs) Theres a lot that we had to get through before we could get to that headspace. First of all well, my take on it, anyways, and Im sure Jeff and Stuart have different ones, but my take on it was that the band, after being apart for seven years, could we still be that band live? The Tea Party is by all accounts one of the great rock n roll bands, and we had a reputation as far as our live performances were concerned, so the three of us had to see if we could still do it after being apart for so long. And much to our joyous surprise (pauses) well, I wasnt surprised, but yeah, there was a bit of trepidation. But especially when we did the Reformation tour here in Australia, thats when we knew that, yeah, OK, this is still gold. Its magic still. So that was the first thing. And the second thing, more important than the first, was we had to get our friendship back, that brotherly love. You hear so many bands say, Oh, were like brothers, but when it comes to the Tea Party, I mean, you think about the longevity of the friendship and all that. I mean, Ive known Jeff Burrows since I was 5 years old. We had our first band together when I was 10 and he was 11. And then meeting Stuart the first year of high school weve known each other a very, very long time. And we love each other like brothers and we fight and have disagreements like brothers. And the way that the split happened (pauses) our MO now is that we didnt break up it was just a hiatus. Because now we love each other. (Laughs) So yeah, we had to get over a lot of things. There had to be that trust again, and the unconditional friendship. And without going into detail, which I dont really want to, a lot of it was on my shoulders. Hindsight being 20/20, I can admit now that I let Jeff and Stuart down as far as being the captain of the ship, so to speak. There were just too many cooks in the kitchen towards the end towards 2004, 2005. And so when we got back together, before we could make new music, they needed to know their leader was focused and back on. And that was proven. So once that box was ticked, it was like, Weve GOT to make new music now. Because we didnt want to be one of these bands there are so many bands getting back together from the 90s, and we didnt want to do this for reasons of sentimental value, you know? The Tea Party is art, its artistic rock n roll, hard rock, and its like, Lets make a statement now. Where were at as individuals and as a collective, and make it great. Lets take our time. As the Tea Party, weve got to live up to The Edges of Twilight and Transmission and all those big musical statements. So yeah, we took our time and just let it grow organically, and the three of us are very, very proud of the outcome.

MG:If you hadnt managed to create new music you were satisfied with, do you think that would have been the end of the reunion? Or do you think you could have carried on like the Pixies did for a decade or so before they finally released new songs?

Martin:No, I personally wouldnt have been interested. Im not really interested in nostalgia. For me, as an artist, its my blood thirst, its my vitality to create new things. Im always, always working. I have to or else Im going to become a dangerous person (laughs), not only to myself, but probably to others. So yeah, it had to be the outcome, or respectfully I would have just walked away.

MG:You said the album came slowly, but did it still come somewhat easily? Or was it more difficult to get what you wanted in the studio than on stage?

Martin:Well, its just the magic of the three of us being in a room together. When we started writing together again, I invited Jeff and Stuart here to Australia. I was living in Byron Bay at the time, which is kind of known for a surfing lifestyle, so it was a very, very different scenario for the dark and brooding Tea Party. (Laughs) But it was great. It took us out of our element. We were in a very, very small rehearsal space together, so no luxuries like what the band had been used to. And it was great. It was like the three of us being 19, 20 years old again in Windsor, you know? Without all the gadgets and everything. It was just like, Lets write some rock songs. And that was the start of it. We had another marathon session in Windsor, our hometown. I flew over to Canada to be close to my mom, who recently passed away, so it was wonderful to be there with my family. And we wrote the bulk of it in Windsor.

MG:Was there anything you definitely wanted to capture again on the album in terms of what had come before, or anything you definitely wanted to keep out?

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The Tea Party: the complete conversation