Tea and Coffee

With three siblings forming a majority, local band Tea and Coffee is raking in the accolades in the short time together as an official band.

Burlington-bred Tea and Coffee took first place at last weekend’s Exfest held at the CNE.

The three siblings, vocalist and keyboardist Alexandra, drummer Christian and vocalist and keyboardist Taylor Battista formed Tea and Coffee a year ago and have since added bassist James Metcalfe and guitarist Mike Riehl.

The Battistas grew up in Burlington under the tutelage of musician mom Andrea, who recently organized, and performed in multiple fundraising piano concerts entitled Keys to the Future, which helped to raise $120,000 for the Burlington Performing Arts Centre’s concert grand piano.

Both Taylor and Alexandra attended Notre Dame high school, where Alexandra directed and sang in the musical Godspell and Taylor starred as Judas Iscariot. Taylor also did the music direction for Notre Dame’s Guys and Dolls, as well as sing in the lead role of Sky Masterson. Alexandra was also music director at the Burlington Student Theatre summer camps for six years.

Brothers Christian, who plays the drums, and Taylor, who provides vocals and keyboard, started performing together two years ago when they were living in London while obtaining their postgraduate education. Christian is completing his PhD in neuroscience while Taylor was studying chemistry.

“We started playing because we were in the same city,” said Taylor. “We started making actual songs and playing a lot of open mics.”

Alexandra joined her brothers and now co-writes the band’s lyrics and music along with Taylor.

In the past year, Tea and Coffee has won multiple band contests held throughout southern Ontario.

“We had won studio time in one battle of the band (contest) so we recorded a demo album,” said Taylor. “Using the demo, we were able to get shows more easily. We started building a fan base then decided to participate in the Road to Exfest contest.”

The band played a battle of the bands at the Sound Academy in Toronto and when Tea and Coffee won that show, the band advanced to the CNE.

“We then won Exfest, which was exciting for us as it was judged by the bassist from Down with Webster, record label reps and the other half of the votes was from the audience. We came in first with the judges and the audience so it’s quite exciting.”

As a young band, the accolades received from the industry professionals validated the siblings’ decision to form a band.

“We’re only a year old and we got to meet industry reps who had good things to say,” Taylor said. “They said our songs could take us to where we want to go and to not give up.”

With the prize money, the band plans to first record a music video to upload online.

“We’ll keep recording new tracks as we won some more studio time,” he said. “We will keep performing, building our fan base and get online exposure.”

If all continues to go well, the band hopes to tour across Canada next summer. For more information, visit www.teaandcoffeeband.com. - Burlington Post (Inside Halton)

With three siblings forming a majority, local band Tea and Coffee is raking in the accolades in the short time together as an official band.

Burlington-bred Tea and Coffee took first place at last weekend’s Exfest held at the CNE.

The three siblings, vocalist and keyboardist Alexandra, drummer Christian and vocalist and keyboardist Taylor Battista formed Tea and Coffee a year ago and have since added bassist James Metcalfe and guitarist Mike Riehl.

The Battistas grew up in Burlington under the tutelage of musician mom Andrea, who recently organized, and performed in multiple fundraising piano concerts entitled Keys to the Future, which helped to raise $120,000 for the Burlington Performing Arts Centre’s concert grand piano.

Both Taylor and Alexandra attended Notre Dame high school, where Alexandra directed and sang in the musical Godspell and Taylor starred as Judas Iscariot. Taylor also did the music direction for Notre Dame’s Guys and Dolls, as well as sing in the lead role of Sky Masterson. Alexandra was also music director at the Burlington Student Theatre summer camps for six years.

Brothers Christian, who plays the drums, and Taylor, who provides vocals and keyboard, started performing together two years ago when they were living in London while obtaining their postgraduate education. Christian is completing his PhD in neuroscience while Taylor was studying chemistry.

“We started playing because we were in the same city,” said Taylor. “We started making actual songs and playing a lot of open mics.”

Alexandra joined her brothers and now co-writes the band’s lyrics and music along with Taylor.

In the past year, Tea and Coffee has won multiple band contests held throughout southern Ontario.

“We had won studio time in one battle of the band (contest) so we recorded a demo album,” said Taylor. “Using the demo, we were able to get shows more easily. We started building a fan base then decided to participate in the Road to Exfest contest.”

The band played a battle of the bands at the Sound Academy in Toronto and when Tea and Coffee won that show, the band advanced to the CNE.

“We then won Exfest, which was exciting for us as it was judged by the bassist from Down with Webster, record label reps and the other half of the votes was from the audience. We came in first with the judges and the audience so it’s quite exciting.”

As a young band, the accolades received from the industry professionals validated the siblings’ decision to form a band.

“We’re only a year old and we got to meet industry reps who had good things to say,” Taylor said. “They said our songs could take us to where we want to go and to not give up.”

With the prize money, the band plans to first record a music video to upload online.

“We’ll keep recording new tracks as we won some more studio time,” he said. “We will keep performing, building our fan base and get online exposure.”

If all continues to go well, the band hopes to tour across Canada next summer. For more information, visit www.teaandcoffeeband.com. - Burlington Post (Inside Halton)

Driven by brothers Taylor (keys) and Christian Battista (drums) alongside the sisterly vocals of Alexandra, Tea & Coffee’s sing-your-heart-out style landed them a gig at The Sound Academy (Battle Of The Bands finalists). This five-piece delivered boisterous, theatrical power-pop accented with a variety of tempos and styles, including country, soul, and hip-hop (be prepared to sing-along). Trading vocals accompanied by catchy choruses, songwriting savvy and key-driven charm, this was a textbook example of onstage confidence which only a close-knit family can create. - Lonely Vagabond

Driven by brothers Taylor (keys) and Christian Battista (drums) alongside the sisterly vocals of Alexandra, Tea & Coffee’s sing-your-heart-out style landed them a gig at The Sound Academy (Battle Of The Bands finalists). This five-piece delivered boisterous, theatrical power-pop accented with a variety of tempos and styles, including country, soul, and hip-hop (be prepared to sing-along). Trading vocals accompanied by catchy choruses, songwriting savvy and key-driven charm, this was a textbook example of onstage confidence which only a close-knit family can create. - Lonely Vagabond