Niagara Falls man helps Tea Party drummer keep the beat
For Dave Torbett, it’s the gig of a lifetime — and he doesn’t know a lick about playing music.
But the Niagara Falls man has landed a spot on an upcoming Canadian tour by The Tea Party, as the drum tech for skins beater Jeff Burrows.
“I’m not a musician,” Torbett says. “I play no instruments; I don’t know how to play the drums.”
So how did Torbett, who along with his wife, Karyn, throw some good-natured scares into the community with their annual Tunnel of Terror fundraiser, get the gig?
He first encountered Burrows through the band Crash Karma, a group the drummer formed with singer Edwin from I Mother Earth and Our Lady Peace guitarist Mike Turner.
“Karyn and I, as a hobby are always going to concerts,” Torbett says.
Torbett had a chance to meet the band when they were in Fort Erie for the Friendship Festival in 2009.
The chance to meet Burrows was one of those bucket-list type things for Torbett, who confesses that along with Pearl Jam, The Tea Party is among his all-time favourites.
“I saw them play at a high school in 1994,” he says. “My kids’ first concert was The Tea Party.”
When The Tea Party reunited in 2011, Burrows got in touch with Torbett asking for some help refinishing his drum kit.
“I had never refinished a set of drums in my life,” Torbett says.
But he relied on his skills as a carpenter to complete the job and Burrows was impressed.
“These are the drums I’ll now be setting up on stage for him,” Torbett says.
The role of a drum tech is to make sure a kit is set up to the musician’s specifications, drum tuning, maintenance and more, including fixing problems on the fly during shows.
It’s not the first time Torbett is hitting the road with the band. He served in the same capacity during the band’s 2017 tour, including a host of Canada150 and Ontario 150 events during the country’s sesquicentennial celebrations.
The band even flew Karyn out to Vancouver for one of the dates.
And Torbett said he wouldn’t be able to live his dream if it wasn’t for her.
“Karyn has been so supportive,” he says. The Tea Party recently released a new single, “Black River,” and will end 2018 with two shows in Toronto and another in Kitchener. The full tour gets underway next March and will take the band across Canada and along the West Coast of the United States, culminating with a show May 18 in Los Angeles.