Obvious Pop - Concert Review By Tony Shore April 2004

Celtic Rock?! While I enjoy traditional Celtic music, I like the merger of traditional Celtic styles with progressive rock and fusion even more. That's where Tempest comes in. Their CD's are for the most part good, but their live show is even better. I saw them for the first time last night in Chippewa Falls, WI. What could have been a small town gig disaster actually turned out to be a phenomenal performance and show. Mostly high school aged kids showed up, and I was wondering what they would think of this Celtic Rock act, complete with fiddle and mandolin. As it turns out, my fears were unfounded, the show was great and they captivated the young audience. There was even a large dancing mob of kids up in front of the stage, bouncing around wildly to the music for the entire show. The songs were great, but the most impressive part of it was the performance. Each of the 5 band members are masters at their instruments. Besides being great, tight players, they really have a wild time on stage. They seem to be having so much fun it's infectious, and the audience has just as much fun right along with them. You can tell it's a great show when everyone from the high school kids to the parents in the back swarm the merch' table after the show to buy the bands CD's. There are two other factors that make Tempest an even more amazing and unique band. One is the simple fact that they are the nicest, friendliest band you'll ever meet. These are real, down to earth people who are enjoyable to talk to. The other thing, which is perhaps the most unbelievable fact of all, is that all 5 members are from different countries. Lief, the lead singer and electric mandolin player is from Norway, drummer Adolfo is from Cuba, the guitarist Ronan is from Ireland, bassist Ariane is from Austria and Michael the fiddle player is from California. Are there any other nationally known bands that have 5 or more members that are all from different countries? Again, the band is amazing live, but the CD's are good too. You can listen to samples on their website at www.tempestmusic.com

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The San Francisco Observer By Frank Zeccola April 2004

Tempest: East Bay Band Hails Celtic Rock OAKLAND -- Fifteen years into a musical career that has taken him all over the world, Lief Sorbye admits that he likes having an American band that is not from America. "The music is a melting pot, "the wild-eyed, ceaselessly grinning, Norwegian-born, Oakland resident confirms. Sorbye is describing the sound of Tempest, his local eccentric rock n' roll band that draws heavily on Celtic, Irish and other 200-year-old European traditions, and contains four other members who hail from Cuba, Austria, Ireland, and Fresno. "The music is really international music played with a rock n' roll energy, so it makes sense to have international people playing it." Tempest's present lineup of Lief, who plays a double-necked mandolin, along with bassist Ariane Cap (Innsbruck, Austria), drummer Adolfo Lazo (Havana, Cuba), guitarist Ronan Carroll (Dublin, Ireland), and American fiddler Michael Mullen tweaks the traditional Northern European sound with heavy modern electric amplification and funky rock improvisation a la '70's jam bands like Jethro Tull and the Allman Brothers. Their instrumental sections will often last upwards of 30 minutes, all the while the band engaging the audience with quirky on-stage antics including humorous wacky choreographed dancing and runs through the crowd. And although the band relies heavily on its influences, the ultimate sound is truly original. "We have a musical policy which is steeped in tradition," Sorbye explains, "but each player brings his own style. We have five members with five strong influences, and therefore we always come out with something that is unique." And Lief's choice of instrument elevates the sound to a whole new level of uniqueness. He plays a double-necked mandolin that he invented and had custom made when he first formed Tempest and decided that one mandolin was just not enough. "It's an acquired taste for a musician, definitely a little eccentric," Lief notes. "It's an awkward instrument to play unless you're a little tweaked." Hence Tempest. The band just finished a West Coast tour that included a 15th anniversary show in Davis with all five members from the original line-up dating back to 1989, and a rare San Francisco appearance at 12 Galaxies on St. Patrick's Day with the current line-up. The 12 Galaxies show treated a joyously enthusiastic, if a tad tipsy (hey, we were seeing an Irish band on St. Paddy's Day) audience to over two-and-a-half hours of feet-stomping original and traditional tunes from 10 albums and a spoof on Spinal Tap's "Stonehenge" as a fitting encore. When you think about the Celtic-Irish genre of music, you don't imagine high-energy intensity that rivals the most cutting-edge party music, but somehow the magical hands of Tempest manage to lead you to the realms of frenzy. Songs like "One for the Fiddler" and "Old Man at the Mill," the titles of which evoke images of serene, rustic scenes from Irish farms, rocked the 12 Galaxies almost as hard as Spinal Tap during their peak performances.

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The Sacramento Bee -15th Anniversary Show Preview By Chris Macias -- Bee Pop Music Writer January 2004

Tempest through the years in Davis celebration Tempest This time, the luck of the Irish wasn't smiling on Lief Sorbye. It was the spring of 2003, and Sorbye was touring the East Coast with his Celtic-rock band, Tempest. The group's van kept breaking down, making it seem like the trip just wasn't meant to be. There was Sorbye, stuck in New Jersey and waiting for yet another mechanic to get Tempest back to speed. Sorbye started thinking about the members who'd come and gone in Tempest, the countless tours and dancing crowds, and the 10 albums that have marked the group's career. Tempest's 15-year anniversary was nearing, and in a moment of lifting spirits, Sorbye figured, "Why not throw one heck of a party?" Saturday, Tempest will celebrate its 15th anniversary with a special show at the Veterans Memorial Theater in Davis. To chronicle Tempest's myriad lineups, Sorbye has invited band members past and present to perform. For the finale, everyone will join forces on stage. "For me, it's been a pet project," Sorbye said. "It's a very ambitious show, and a lot has gone into making this a big party. I want to give the fans the show they always wanted but never thought they'd ever get. We'll do the songs they didn't expect us to do again live, and we've got other surprises." Tempest is certainly familiar to followers of Northern California's outdoor music festivals, such as Sacramento's Heritage Festival. Tempest also is a staple at Scottish games and Celtic festivals around the country. The band has a particular affinity with the city of Davis. Tempest has played plenty of gigs at UC Davis' Whole Earth Festival, plus countless shows at the Palms Playhouse's former location in South Davis. The Veterans Memorial Theater in downtown Davis is another favorite venue for the band. "We have a history with Davis, but more importantly, we have a history with this particular venue," Sorbye said. "I have a long relationship with the guys who are producing the show with me. I know the theater really well. We know every nook and cranny, so it's easy to do the production in there." Although Tempest is based in the Bay Area, its members' hometowns are all over the map. Sorbye, who sings lead and plays the electric mandolin, is a native of Oslo, Norway. Drummer Adolfo Lazo hails from Havana, Cuba. Bassist Ariane Cap is from Innsbruck, Austria, and guitarist Ronan Carroll is originally from Dublin, Ireland. Fiddler Michael Mullen, from Fresno, is the only American-born band member. Musically, Tempest taps into the sounds of Northern Europe, such as Scottish and Scandinavian music, but with an emphasis on all things Irish. Its repertoire is a mix of original tunes, which harken to Jethro Tull and Fairport Convention, and pumped-up versions of traditional Celtic songs. Overall, Sorbye's electric mandolin and an omnipresent electric guitar add edge to the folksy elements of Tempest's sound. "I got into traditional music the first time I realized that I tapped my toe to a fiddle tune and not to a guitar solo," Sorbye said. "Celtic music and Northern European music has a lot of substance to me. It echoes the past and tells a story. I like timeless music, and that idea of combining folk music with rock 'n' roll, combining ethnic music with a backbeat. "Fifteen years ago, there was a lot of debate, and purists were saying that we were breaking the rules," he said. "These days, it's old hat. There's a whole world-music movement that's about mixing styles. I love the way traditional music was played 200 years ago, but I'm not looking for museum pieces. Folk music should be alive." Despite a few glitches, Tempest has enjoyed many highlights as well. Keith Emerson, the famed keyboardist from Emerson, Lake and Palmer, cameoed on 1996's "Turn of the Wheel." In 1989, Tempest performed at the Woodstock 25th anniversary concert. The band also has enjoyed a prolific recording output. The group's next project is to compile a box set featuring radio spots, outtakes and acoustic material. Meanwhile, Tempest will keep gigging. The upcoming summer season will be especially busy with outdoor festivals, and the band's overall goal is as always: To produce a joyful storm of dancing bodies. "I think the strength of the band is that we appeal to more than one age group or market," Sorbye said. "If you're into folk music, or into rock music, it doesn't matter. We're into uniting people behind music. That's why we're out here."

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Amazon.com Review of Shapeshifter Reviewer: happygolightly from San Jose, CA United States September 2003

Tempest expertly infuses ballads and reels with rock, giving traditional folk music a new energy as well as contributing some original pieces that are equally timeless. I like this album even better than their last (titled "Balance"). Though each track is distinct and stands well on its own, they all complement one another and play almost seamlessly as a whole. Maybe I'm partial since I first heard Tempest live as the current ensemble of musicians, but I think newcomer violinist Sue Draheim's harmony vocals add a sweet texture the previous album did not have. Then again, there's just something about the female voice in general that gives authenticity to the emotional layer in folk ballads. At any rate, having seen some of Tempest's live performances, I can attest that all of its current members are highly talented and treat the craft of blending folk and rock with a professionalism that is entirely trustworthy. Listening to this album is like gathering around a home fire and being entertained by a captivating storyteller. Definitely worth hearing...again and again.

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Dave Sleger's Review of Shapeshifter July 2003

After experiencing personnel stability during their early Magna Carta years, Tempest has since undergone numerous changes in which no lineup remained untouched for consecutive releases. In fact, each of their three studio albums since The Gravel Walk (1997) featured at least two new members. The surprising result is that Tempest has retained an amazingly consistent sound despite the upheaval. Shapeshifter welcomes to the fold guitarist Ronan Carroll, bassist Mark Skowronek and veteran fiddler Sue Draheim. And again this band produces at an incredibly high level. Much of the credit goes to frontman Leif Sorbye who is able to achieve his vision of Tempest with a changing cast of characters, but the replacements through the years have always been extremely gifted musicians too, perfectly suited for Sorbye’s ongoing project. And it’s no small feat to routinely trade one guitarist and fiddler in for another when those two instruments are vital to Tempest’s sound. Draheim is the most noteworthy addition as she is well schooled in the traditional and folk-rock idiom given her experience with Richard Thompson, John Renbourn and Albion Country Band. In addition to being the ideal instrumentalist for this band she provides delightful harmony vocals as well, which are a welcome contrast to Sorbye’s rich and omnipresent baritone. Carroll continues the long line of exceptional guitarists that have graced Tempests albums beginning with Rob Wullenjohn. Of particular interest on Shapeshifter is Tempest’s diverse selection of traditional material from the Scottish "Tamosher" to the American "Old Man at the Mill" to the English "Byker Hill" to the Irish "Coalminers’" to the Norwegian "Fjellmannjenta." The real gem, however, is the closing track "The Cruel Brother", a ten-minute track that exemplifies and solidifies Tempest’s designation as premier Celtic prog-rockers. It’s a three-part medley comprised of "The Tempest Reel" in which Draheim’s harmonies sound uncannily like Maddy Prior, "Sue’s Reel," a Draheim original and the Irish reel "Maid of Mount Kisco."

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F5 Wichita's Review of Shapeshifter Jedd Beaudoin, F5 Wichita July 2003

If Balance, Tempest's 2001 release, was a little overfurnished for some, then Shapeshifter, the latest release from this progressive folk/rock collective, is the perfect antidote. Whereas this stormy bunch (led by vocalist/mandolin player Lief Sorbye) sounded positively metallic in places on Balance (their reading of Phil Ochs' "The Iron Lady" had a little more in common with Ozzy than Ochs), here the band sounds more at ease, more in touch with the traditional elements of the material. Much of that has to do as much with a shift in attitude as a shift in personnel. The addition of Sue Draheim (Jon Renbourn Group and Sorbye's other unit, Caliban) has added an extra, deeper and (again) more relaxed dimension to the Tempest sound. Her ultra-fluid fiddle lines and soft harmony vocals lend balance to Sorbye's rough-around-the-edges vocals and hard-rockin' mandolin lines. That said, it's clear that Tempest is Sorbye's band (he and drummer Adolfo Lazo are the only original members left) as he wrote (or co-wrote) all but one of the four originals presented on this ten-song release. It's Sorbye's voice and mandolin that are the band's most distinctive features (at least before Draheim's entrance), to say nothing of his talent for picking traditional songs that have resonance with contemporary audiences, whether picking from Appalachian tradition ("Old Man At The Mill"), English coal-mining territory ("Byker Hill"), or from Norwegian fiddle music ("Numedalshalling" and "Kafjell," both inserted into "Fjellmannjenta," dedicated to a lady with vast appetites). Along the way the band finds time for a murder ballad ("Cruel Brother") and a meditation on a shape-shifting girl ("Carnival"). Shapeshifter isn't perfect ("Winter Night" is a well-intentioned seduction ballad that never really takes off) but whereas some working the Celtic/folk niche are too happy to serve up cold, twice-baked versions of the same old staples, Tempest is full of surprises, offering fresh flavors and variety, especially here.

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Sea of Tranquility's Review of Shapeshifter Michael Popke - Sea of Tranquility July 2003

On Tempest’s tenth album, Shapeshifter, the ethnically diverse folk-rock band does, indeed, shift shapes. This is arguably the group’s most accessible collection of songs - a 10-track 50/50 split of charming original compositions and reworked traditional pieces that swell with Celtic warmth and character. The harmony vocals, courtesy of newcomer Sue Draheim (who also plays fiddle and viola) are more prominent than ever, and Norwegian singer Lief Sorbye expresses himself with a confidence that’s both authoritative and intimate. Rounding out Tempest’s 2003 lineup is Cuban drummer and Sorbye’s fellow founding member Adolfo Lazo, plus American bassist Mark Skowronek and Irish guitarist Ronan Carroll. While Jethro Tull comparisons are still valid mainly because of Sorbye’s singing style, Tempest’s sound remains distinct because of the band’s tendency to rekindle with contemporary drama and flair traditional 19th century songs you’ve probably never heard, such as the 10-minute murder ballad "The Cruel Brother" and the English coal mining rocker "Byker Hill." Likewise, Tempest’s original songs are just as captivating. "Carnival" is an acoustic mythological love song Sorbye wrote with his wife about a man who falls in love with a carnival woman known as a "shapeshifter" - from which the album derives its title. The mandolin-propelled "Winter Night" is lush with aural imagery, while "Natural Law" could be the only pop song the band has ever recorded. While previous Tempest albums tend to grow stale by record’s end, Shapeshifter holds the listener’s attention for the complete 47 minutes. If you’re new to the band, this is a perfect introduction. And if you’ve been a fan for any or all of Tempest’s 15 years, your faithfulness has now been justly rewarded.

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KUAR Radio Review of Shapeshifter Len Holton, KUAR Radio Little Rock, AR June 2003

Classic folk-rockers Tempest's latest lineup has produced their most satisfying work to date with Shapeshifter a finely honed assortment of traditional and contemporary songs and tunes each sitting comfortably and seemlessly beside the other and providing sufficient depth and breadth for both folk and rock elements to display their prowess. The rhythm section is gloriously water-tight, Sue Draheim's fiddle weaves exuberantly wild or exquisitely controlled and guitarist Ronan Carroll's acoustic and electric contributions variously show sensitivity or straight ahead rock'n'roll swagger. The vocal arrangements of the songs skillfully combine three voices to their optimum presentation and the song subjects range from the paranormal, in the wistful "Carnival", to the metaphysical "Natural Law" to love lost in "Winter Night." Played with fire and panache Shapeshifter is a splendid additon to the folk-rock canon.

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All Music Guide Review of Shapeshifter Chris Nickson June 2003

With this album, Tempest seem to have completely found themselves. Maybe it's the new lineup, maybe it's maturity. Whatever the season, it's very satisfying. They've worked their way out of the prog-rock cul de sac that had trapped them recently, and they've also outgrown the Steeleye Span fetish that was a hallmark of their earlier albums. The instrumental work sparkles throughout, and Lief Sørybe's vocals have more punch about them. To be fair, they shine brighter on traditional material like “Tamosher" and “Byker Hill" (a storming version) than their own work, which is treated a little too gently. Notably, they've expanded from the British tradition to take in old American songs here (“Old Man At The Mill"), which might offer a way forward for them — they certainly do it justice. Sue Draheim is a revelation on fiddle, bringing years of playing with her, adding texture and tone. With Shapeshifter, the band does indeed shift shape, breaking out from the Celtic ghetto, while rocking as hard as ever. At the same time, although successful on its own terms, it's impossible to think of this as anything but a transitional record as they head to wherever they're going next.

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Amazon.com Review of Shapeshifter Reviewer: A music fan from San Jose, CA United States May 2003

Tempest is a celtic-folk-rock band that reminds me of Fairport Convention in its heyday. This is their tenth CD, but the first with this line-up. The CD has cohesiveness, despite several different styles of music. The band really plays as a true ensemble, with leads being shared by the 3 lead instruments (guitar, fiddle, mandolin). It seems like the band has made a conscious effort to get closer to their live sound than previous releases, and this is an excellent decision. After listening several times I realized that I didn't notice the rhythm section. The reason being that the drums (Adolfo Lazo) and bass (Mark Skowronek) play exactly perfectly for each song. Both play interesting parts that never "stand out" because of inappropriateness or over playing. The rhythm section is superb (and I'm a guitarist, so I very seldom give praise to a rhythm section). Adolfo continues to be the heartbeat of the Tempest sound while never getting repetitive or boring. Sue Draheim's fiddle has a very warm and rich sound (production by Robert Berry) that just highlights her beautiful playing. Sue really gets to the heart of the song with her playing and makes the melodies come alive, without overpowering the band. It sounds like Sue used an acoustic violin rather than her electric violin, this really adds to the harmonic resonance, and gives it a depth and warmth. Ronan Carroll is the newest member of the band, and an excellent guitarist. Based on this recording, you would think he'd been in the band for years. His playing varies nicely from melodic and mellow to almost heavy metal sound. Like all members of Tempest, his playing fits the songs exactly as needed without overplaying. Lief Sorbye, the lead vocalist and mandolin player, as always gives a strong and dynamic performance. Lief is one of the few singers who seems to live the song as he sings it. There's an old Incredible String Band song that has the line "You know all the words and you've sung all the notes, but you've never quite learned the sung you've sung". This is NOT the case with Tempest; they seem to have learned the songs very well. The harmony singing on this release is very different than prior Tempest releases due to the two high voices of Sue Draheim and Mark Skowronek. In all cases, the harmonies, really work well in supporting the songs. Of particular note are Tamosher and Cruel Brother. On Winter Night, Mark uses a different register, and it really is a nice counter point to Lief Sorbye's lead vocal. The only weakness I see is in some of the song choices. Some songs work great live, but have a tendency to get stale on repeated listening on CD. The two that I think don't hold up are Old Man At The Mill and Byker Hill. The traditional choices other that the two above are outstanding - Tamosher, Coalminers', Fjellmannjenta and Cruel Brother. The original material - Catalina Island, Natural Law, Carnival and Winter Night - is as strong as the above traditional tunes. There are a few standout tracks. Coalminers' is one of the best instrumental pieces that Tempest has done. Strong melodies, excellent playing. Tamosher and Cruel Brother rank up there with the best of traditional material played by a rock band (think Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, etc.) Winter Night written by Mark is a very pleasant surprise, with a strong tune and good lyrics. The highlight of the original songs was for me - Natural Law, with strong tune and good lyrics, somehow this song just gets me every time. The best track of all, and the only reason you need for buying this CD, is Cruel Brother. At 10 minutes and 5 seconds, it's too short (and very seldom do long tracks justify their length.) Cruel Brother flows from section to section without ever seeming forced. The fiddle moves it along in the beginning, and then the true Tempest ensemble sound takes over, and you don't notice if the melody is played by fiddle mandolin or guitar. Beautiful harmonies from Sue and Mark augment an impressive lead vocal from Lief. Overall, the best CD from Tempest so far. Don't miss this one.

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Progfreaks.com December 2001

An interview with Tempest's Lief Sorbye Celtic rock, progressive folk rock, call it what you will, but the fact of the matter is that Tempest is out there and playing it like there's no tomorrow. The California-based band, centered on fearless Norwegian leader Lief Sorbye, has been delivering its own blend of energetic rock music and folk leanings for well over a decade now, with its latest offering being Balance. And with a constantly changing lineup, a healthy amount of side projects, an impressive amount of yearly live gigs, and a mind-boggling rate of releases, Tempest may have very well earned its crown as the maximum exponent of progressive folk rock of the last decade. Of course, the story behind it all couldn't be without its surprises or tricky corners, so read on to learn what Sorbye's take on the last thirteen - scratch that - thirty years! 1 - Way back before Tempest, you dedicated yourself to busking (playing on the streets, impromptu gigs, etc. for money) around both Europe and the United States, but after some time of doing that you decided to settle down and acquire a more organized style of living from playing music. Why did you stop busking and join a stable band instead? Why this need for more organization? Lief: Well, it all started in my teens really. When I first saw the Beatles on TV, I was like "Wow, that's a fucking good job." (laughs) I had bands in Norway back even to when I was nineteen, and the last band I had actually combined traditional Norwegian folk music with rock n' roll. So I had that experience, and was in many bands, and I played youth clubs or whatever. It was my urge to travel that left it all behind, and I figured I could support myself as a busker; mainly traveling around, playing on the streets and informal shows in cafes that happened to have a bar, picking up the odd gig as I was going along traveling. So the busking was a way for me to support myself, travel to the countries I was interested in seeing, meeting people, covering the right songs, and learning traditional music from the places I was staying. I set up my own school of life, it was what I did to get my education, and when I decided I wanted a more organized scenario it was basically because I figured…see, my passion has always been two things: traveling and playing music. So I feel privileged that I can say that I have a job that combines both, you know? And back in the late seventies, after I'd been traveling around the United States and leaving Europe, I happened to join up with a band that offered me a permanent slot in California. And that's when I decided, "well, maybe it's time to settle in with a band," because we still had the opportunity to keep touring in Europe as well as in the United States. The reason was really because I got the right opportunity. I found what I was looking for at that point in time, which was a band that I'd be interested in traveling with and playing the music I wanted to do, but taking it to a level where I could also have a permanent home base. And it so happened that that home base became Northern California, and that's where I still am today…and this dates back to 1979, actually! 2 - You mentioned that you once had a band that combined folk music with rock before. Was that Evil Delight? Lief: Yeah, that was the first one, and then it became a band called Gammal Rull, which was really based on traditional Norwegian music and was more of a folky band; more like Steeleye Span playing Norwegian Music. And, out of curiosity, did any music from Evil Delight ever make it into Tempest? Lief: I don't think so…you know what? This goes back to like the early and mid-seventies. And I'm trying to think…you know…some of the musical ideas probably did! When I start thinking about it, I have no recordings of that band. I know there are some recordings that exist back in Europe, but I don't have anything. For some reason they did not become available to me…I bet you I could trace some of the roots back to that! I bet you there was some music back there that actually did, in one way or the other, translate itself into Tempest some twenty-odd years later. I bet there would be something there! That would actually give me an incentive to trace down some of the early recordings. There are some radio sessions and various things existing back home. If I could just get hold of the right people I bet you I could find some of that stuff. It would definitely be interesting for me, and my own archive… 3 - Back in the early days of Tempest, the band used to put on a really goofy live show. You had Mark Showalter as a bassist, and he used to do crazy "Celtic" dances and everything. And nowadays the band doesn't take itself too seriously either on the shows, it does a great job of entertaining the audience, but it's not as crazy as it was in the early days. Is it ever going to get as crazy as it was back then? Lief: I don't think so. Part of it is that when Tempest first started, the music was a lot simpler and more basic, and as the band's been getting better and new blood's been coming in with a higher level of musicianship, it's got to the point where we're so arrangement-intensive that a lot of the music is really too intricate to be too goofy. If there's so much music to be played right, and you're going to play the music right, it's hard to be too goofy…that's because it's difficult to combine both! (laughs) But our shows are always gonna have a lot of energy and a lot of surprises as far as what comes out of the stage; and it really depends on the players at the time. For a while we had a fiddle player, called Michael Mullen. He would do a lot of acrobatics on stage, but of course the music suffered a little bit, because if you play electric violin and you run around and off stage, the intonation is going to suffer a little bit, because it's really hard to be an acrobat and play the instrument correctly. Especially with something like the fiddle, where it's not a fixed pitch instrument, so that it goes out of tone pretty easily. At this point in time, the current people in the band are still putting on a really wild show, but I don't think it's as loose as it used to be. I think the early Tempest with Mark Showalter, etc., wasn't just goofy, but it was very very loose, and I would say kind of sloppy. Now it takes more of an effort to put in to play right, and our music is so sharp it keeps you on your toes. It's because there's been a concentration; it's not a jam band as such. There are a lot of notes to be played right, and they have to come in the right order, and if you're busy standing on top of your head you might miss that! 4 - I was reading an interview in which you mentioned that during the recording of the Surfing to Mecca album there was a lot of experimentation and branching out, but also that the band lost a bit of focus in the process. When does one realize this kind of thing? Does one realize it while one's actually recording the album, or does one release it and a couple of weeks later realize "Geez…maybe we should have done a couple of things differently?" Lief: I usually realize it after we've been touring under the record a little bit. I think what happened with that particular era, like '94, is that it was a time when we were evolving into sort of a world music band, as opposed to Celtic European kind of stuff, because we were trying to…people were writing in Middle Eastern modes, and we were experimenting with other instruments, and had sounds that were too crazy coming out, which wasn't necessarily part of our musical policy or our musical platform. And it was all in good fun, and I think the band still does it today, to a certain extent. I think it lost focus because stylistically, that record, and the tour behind that record, was really pointing in so many different directions that it became too much of a variety show. It was a point when everybody wanted to write, but everybody wrote something that was completely different stylistically. So we would have one guy, the bass player at the time, who would write sort of goofy country and western-sounding songs; the fiddle player would be into English Morris dance music; and the guitar player would write stuff that would come maybe from a Middle Eastern player; and I would have been in the middle of it with the Celtic and Norwegian stuff trying to hold down the fort. But it seems like it has music that is schizophrenic, because the experimentation maybe went a little bit too far, so that it divided up the styles too much. But having said that, I think it's always been healthy that the band has always been experimenting and always continues to do so…within our musical policy there are enough avenues to explore without losing focus. At that point in time I think it was a lineup that had such a diverse musical interest, and everybody wanted that represented, so it kind of lost it because of this. I think I realized it when it was going on, but I was open to it. I think after a year of doing it I wasn't as open to it anymore, because I thought that it had backfired a little bit, people were going like "What kind of music are you guys really playing?" That was at the time when we signed with Magna Carta, in like '95, and they said the same thing: "Look, you gotta focus back in on Celtic and rock and bring back your focus, because the Surfing to Mecca album wouldn't be music we would be interested in releasing," and I said "Look, I totally agree with you." So I think that's the point when I really acknowledged it; that it was too diverse. At the time we recorded it, I knew it as well, but I was into it and open to it, and wanted to see where it would take us… Tempest has been together for thirteen years and we've recorded nine records, which means we didn't start to record until a couple of years into the band's history. It means that we release an album a year almost, so if you look at a record…the records are really just a recording of what we were doing at that point in time. I think it's a healthy thing; I think that's something that I miss in a lot of bands today. They take too long between records, and with major labels today, two years between releases is normal. If you look back, in the sixties and seventies, you had bands releasing a couple of records a year. And in some ways that's healthier, because it shows the progression of the music and it's more of an honest picture of what the musicians are up to at any given point in time. And you can trace the progression of the band in a whole different way; you can see the evolution. That's what I do with Tempest, I can still see the evolution, and I personally feel that the band has always gotten better, and the recordings will show that. And we will of course continue to evolve, but I think the focus is more intact these days. 5 - You just mentioned Magna Carta and the evolution of Tempest. Tempest is basically more than anything a live band, and what came across as interesting was the way The Gravel Walk was recorded, especially after Turn of the Wheel where there was considerable production, a guest appearance from Keith Emerson, and basically other elements that made it more of a studio album. The Gravel Walk was more of a live thing. Did it feel more comfortable to record that way? Lief: At the time it did, because we had just finished our spring tour that year - we're talking probably '96 or '97. Turn of the Wheel took longer, and it was a lot more studio production with a lot more instruments from Robert, and now I really like that album because it's different, but I like the charm of it a lot. It was more open to experimentation and the arrangements came together in the studio, as opposed to The Gravel Walk, on which what we ended up doing was arranging the stuff, taking it on the road, playing it in front of an audience, gigging it really tight, and going right off the road, into the studio, and recording it all in two weeks with a minimum amount of overdubs. And even if it was a studio record, a lot of the tracks were recorded live on this album; in other words, the whole band would play live and then we would take it from there and maybe change a little bit and do a few overdubs, but it was more based on "Let's do what we did on stage, but do it in the studio." So it was a lot of fun, and it was a lot easier to make, and it was in a way more of a fun deal than Turn of Wheel was. Today, when I listen back to it - I don't really listen to Tempest records at all; I just happen to hear it on the radio, or someone will play it in a club, or something - When I listen back to it, I like Turn of the Wheel, because it was a fun time, and the time we spent recording it I enjoyed. I think that in many ways The Gravel Walk is a more honest record in the sense that "Hey, this is the real deal." There were no studio musicians and there were live arrangements, not studio arrangements…but having said that, we took a lot of ideas from the arrangements of Turn of the Wheel and transposed that into material we did for The Gravel Walk. But I like both those records; I like both ways of working. I've done records that were purely studio things and it's been good, and I've done records…most records have been done based on what we do live. If I gotta choose, I like the live approach better, because it's closer to home, and with the fact that we're a live band, I think recording stuff that we do on stage feels better in the long run and sounds more natural. There's a certain chemistry you get when you're musicians playing together, instead of overdubbing on top of each other. (laughs) I like both, but I just think I prefer the more honest approach. What we normally do, and what I like to do, and what makes the most sense always is to record, I mean, we will write or arrange the stuff first, and then play it live as a test and see if the audience likes it, and the song will have an evolution on stage: it will get tighter, we will fix up the arrangement if we want to…it has a certain early life span where it goes through changes in front of an audience. And when it gets to the point where it feels good and it feels right, and if the musicians are playing it in a way that feels good, then that's the time to record a piece of music, 'cause that's when it really sounds best. So ideally, that's how we like to do it; we like to say "Ten new songs, put them into our repertoire with existing favorites, take it on the road, play it in front of an audience, come back, and then record it." And Balance had a lot of that going on, but it also had a few things that we arranged in the studio as well. We kind of mixed the approaches of Turn of the Wheel and The Gravel Walk… 6 - Now, regarding yourself as a musician in general as opposed to a part of Tempest…all the while that Tempest has been in existence, you've also had an acoustic folk thing going on at all times, which included Tipsyhouse, your solo album Across the Borders, and then Caliban… Lief: Yeah, and also prior to that I did a traditional Norwegian folk record as well, and went out as a solo artist playing Norwegian folk music. I've done that as well…I've done a number of things, yeah. …and why didn't you just try to go back with Golden Bough (Sorbye's acoustic folk band before Tempest) and try to record something with that band again? Lief: I have done that a couple of times. I left Golden Bough at the end of 1987, and since then we've done reunion concerts - when we did the 20th anniversary I went out there and did a whole string of dates with them, and I've been guesting on the albums. Also, some of the early Golden Bough albums that I was on - I think I was on about eight of them - have been reissued with bonus tracks, so we've gone in and recorded some extra tracks and stuff, so it actually has happened. Not a lot, but that has happened, yeah. It's been done. (laughs) 7 - Regarding the style of music that Tempest plays, perhaps a good label for your music would be progressive folk rock… Lief: I think so, because I think that…it's unfortunate, but the nature of the music business, especially in America, is very corporate, and in order to sell a product you have to label it so that people will have an easy time buying it. It's not as bad in Europe and in Britain as it is in the US though. And you always struggle to find the right labels, and it would be a healthier world, I think, if you didn't have to label everything. But if you have to do that, I feel that that's as good of a label as anything, because I feel that what Tempest does with folk music is extremely progressive. And taking the fact that we have rock n' roll as our platform in the band, we ARE a progressive rock band; but we are a progressive folk rock band. And you're absolutely right, that's the truth, we're not a progressive band in the sense of classic rock bands like Genesis or ELP, but what we do is progressive in the true sense of the word, as opposed to the pigeonhole of the seventies stuff. 'Cause a lot of people think of progressive rock as your typical seventies evolution of bands, but I think progressive in the true sense of the word is that you got to pound a new way and a new direction with what you're doing, and make it grow. And in that sense, Tempest is a very progressive band, but not in that classic rock sense. …one of the advantages that I thought possible about that label is mainly the folk part. After checking out some of the festivals that Tempest has participated in, there were some with enormous crowds; audiences that would hardly be found in, say, progressive rock festivals. This folk appeal has been rather good for Tempest in the marketing sense, hasn't it? Lief: I think so, because…my thing is, I started Tempest with the idea of playing the music that was close to my heart. It's never been a compromise between playing the kind of music that gets the biggest crowds and playing the music that we love. It's always been music first and marketing second. But I do believe, after what I have seen in these thirteen years with Tempest, is that our style of music is becoming more and more accepted, and the folk music community has opened up those doors. And yeah, some of our biggest shows have been in bigger folk festivals, Celtic festivals, and also rock festivals…we're the kind of band that will do anything from a Harley Davidson biker festival where we would play with Little Feat and Los Lobos or whatever, to playing a folk festival with The Band, Arlo Guthrie, Judy Collins, etc. And I think that the folk music audience is accepting us, which is because we have such strong traditional roots. If we didn't have the roots we wouldn't be accepted by that crowd, but the fact that we have the folk roots...it's a good audience. We always have one foot in the rock audience and one foot in the folk audience, and we will play the same music to both audiences. And ideally, I think we should just have one big audience; there shouldn't be such barriers between crowds. And I feel that the main strength of the band is that we appeal to more than one audience and more than one age group. Sometimes we'll have three generations of one family coming to our show, and that's a good thing. It gets people together and it unites people. If they go away and their spirits are lifted, I feel I've done a good job… 8 - Now, something regarding folk music in general. During recent years, there has been a stream of world music albums coming out that are supposed to actually be Celtic music or folk music, but which really are more like new age with hints of Celtic tradition in them; music that's intended as background music really. And when one regards the origins of folk music, it was music that was really lively and in constant evolution, not something that people just played as background music. What do you think about this, when there are bands like Tempest bringing new elements into folk music, and on the other side people who aren't purists but are just using folk as background music? Lief: That kind of music is very boring to me, you know? I think the height of new age is gone now. There was this time - it started in the late eighties and happened for most of the nineties, but especially the early nineties - it was a lot of music that I call "soundtrack for your life." It was very dull; it was very much packed and ready music that you don't get involved in; music that is just behind you. And I think that kind of music can have a soothing effect, but it makes you very passive. It doesn't make your ricky tickle boom boom, it doesn't make your blood boil. And it gets very washed out, watered out. I don't particularly enjoy it myself; I think it's the kind of music that works well in a bookstore for atmosphere, and there's a place for that. There's certainly good and bad music in every genre, but I don't think when it comes to traditional and folk-oriented music that "new agey" world music is necessarily representing folk music, because folk music is always alive…folk music paints a picture of the world it's in. And a lot of new age is really just fantasy, which is kind of dull, and I think that music that's dull has its place in the world, but it doesn't excite me. I get that same reaction with disco. I don't like disco much but I can see that people need disco to dance maybe, so maybe they need new age music to sell books. (laughs) I look at it more as a sort of consumer product than actually something with a real heart in it… 9 - Looking at the lineup on Balance and at the entire history of Tempest, drummer Adolfo Lazo has been there since, well, not exactly since the beginning, because he wasn't exactly a founding drummer if I'm correct… Lief: Well, he was the first drummer on stage with us. He's done every show ever with us. Now we've done probably about at least 1500 or 1600 gigs with Tempest…maybe even more. And he's only missed one show ever, and that's when he had an accident and he shot a nailgun through his hand. He was in the emergency room and we had to do the show without a drummer, but except for that, Adolfo's been there since day one. Yeah, he's been there since the first show and that's what counts, so it's been him and I since day one. …you guys must have built up quite a relationship after all that time. Lief: Yeah, we've been very loyal to each other throughout the past thirteen years… 10 - Another thing regarding Balance is that it pushed some more borders, like you already mentioned. There was the folk stuff, and there was that Phil Ochs cover, but there was also for example "Dance of the Sand Witches" from Todd Evans, which reflects his heavy metal side. I'm guessing that Tempest is a result from everyone who's in the band at the moment you record… Lief: Exactly. That's the idea, because Tempest has always been a band that's open to the input from the musicians that are currently in the band, and also because of the fact that we always had an open rotating door of musicians. The lineup of Tempest has always changed over the years, and if I look up a lot of the bands that I listen to that are still around, they do the same thing. I think it's one way to keep a band going, because you're always going to be bigger than the sum of your members. You create your own place in the world. You have a certain style that you keep evolving, and because of that it's healthy to have people coming and going if it's right. And it makes it easier for people; people can come to the band and, for example, if John Land [Ed.note: one of the band's previous bassists] wants to stay for two years…"Look, I know you're looking for a bass player, I would like to play with you for two years, will that work? Because after two years I'm gonna move and get married" or whatever…so we say "Ok, that's fine, you don't have to commit your life to being in the band, but you need to be in the band when it's right for you to be in the band." I've always liked playing with different musicians over the years. Sometimes it's hard to find the right people, and that's the only thing that I don't like about it, but I like new faces because they bring new inspiration. And Todd wrote two pieces for Balance, and they both show his metal influence. We made it work as a band, and a lot of people like it; they're very popular tunes and they work really well live; we're open to that. And that shows that we're still experimenting, but maybe not as intensely as we did on the Surfing to Mecca period. 11 - You've just had a change of fiddle players. Sue Draheim came in during August, September, or around that time. What do you think she will bring into the band? Lief: She joined in June actually! Sue is the third fiddle player in the band, and she's by far the most experienced player in our style of music, because she came from a folk rock background in the height of the era. She played with the first incarnation of the Albion Band in Britain, she toured for years with the John Renborn Group, and she has recorded with people like John Martyn and Richard Thompson…she has a lot of experience in the music. And she has the traditional style down more than anybody who's ever been in the band…actually, she's the fourth fiddle player, now that I think of it! I think what she would bring into it…what she is currently bringing into it is a lot of expertise in the traditional aspect of music, and it's very important that we don't lose that, because it's always going to be a balance between folk and rock, and if one takes over you lose the other; and it's always important for me that we have that balance. That's why we named this record Balance, we were always struggling to have the right balance between the two, and on Balance we show everything from the real folkier acoustic traditional side to a much heavier rock side. So it goes further out to extremes, but keeping the balance! 12 - One of the characteristics of folk music is that people can still listen to songs that were made two hundred years ago, even if the name of the person that created them has been lost. Do you expect people to be taking from and changing Tempest arrangements and songs two hundred years from now? Lief: I hope so, 'cause there's no future without the past and there's no…past without the future! (laughs) If we can put a mark on the future, I think that'll be great. If one of my songs is considered a folk song two hundred years from now, I would be very happy about it. Wherever I am at that point in time, I'll have a smile on my face.

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Celtic Beat by Art Ketchen July 2001

Tempest is a courageous band and they don’t even know it. In an age of politically correct wimps of one stripe or another they will be faulted for one thing (Rock instrumentals), or another (being macho), or another (possibly pagan). But true to real artists they don’t give a damn and keep on playing their music as they see fit. Balance is a supreme example of this. Balance opens up with "Captain Ward," a straight ahead swashbuckler of a song-rocking aggressively.Tempest is no band to hear if you are in a mood to hear historical collections(and that’s fine if you want to hear them). With a repertoire that owes an obvious debt to Steeleye Span and the Child Ballads (and carries that legacy to a kind of musical mannerism), this is a place to hear the familiar in an unfamiliar way, not always, but if you listen... Case in point: "Two Sisters." The rendition of this standard set a new standard, with great percussion by Adolfo Lazo, and mandolins by Leif Sorbye. And a great harmonica, also by Leif Sorbye-a brand new thing for this song. With an unusual instrumental end. Tempest mines the time honored material, coming up with something different and great. Some of the best cuts here, like "Old Man Flint" (with the second part "Trip toYuba City" particularly good) are Twenty First Century Tempest adding to musical tradition. They should never be forgotten for what they do in this particular realm of Celtic music. - A.K.

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Highway 1561 Revisited by Scott Cooper

Few would credit Bob Dylan with pioneering Celtic rock. However, by performing with electric guitars at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, Dylan opened the flood gates through which new forms of traditional folk music could be expressed. Lief Sorbye, founder, singer and double-necked mandolin player from Tempest, is an indirect product of that historic day. "I grew up with rock being the folk music," Sorbye says from his adopted home of Oakland. "Then one day as a kid, I figured out that I was always tapping feet to fiddle tunes but I never tapped my feet to a guitar solo." Named after Shakepeare's play, Tempest is now one of the most inventive and colorful Celtic rock bands in the world. By draping traditional Celtic themes in rock 'n' roll, Tempest delivers a sound big enough to please both rock audiences and traditionalists, and especially those who like the fusion of the two. "There will be a lot of situations where we would take a traditional melody and write new lyrics to it, or we'll take traditional lyrics and write a new melody to it," Sorbye says. "A lot of our songs, you can't tell whether they're traditional or original, because it's got elements of both." While traditionalists can find solace in the meandering fiddle romps and bouncy rhythms, fans of rock 'n' roll, particularly progressive rock, can also sink their teeth into Tempest, who has often been compared to Jethro Tull. "There's enough time changes and key changes to satisfy those people," Sorbye says of the prog-rock crowd. "If they always look for intricate arrangements, we tend to play some fairly large pieces of music." "There's enough rock energy to satisfy the rock audience and there's enough traditional folk music to satisfy the folkies," he adds. "We try to keep a good balance of original and traditional material." Not coincidently, "Balance" is the title of Tempest's new CD, their ninth overall and fourth for Magna Carta records, home to unabashed prog-rockers like Kansas and Steve Morse. "I love to listen to old field recordings, but I also realize it doesn't have a great entertainment value in the year 2001," Sorbye says. "I can respect preserving the very strict traditional form. At the same time I'm always eager to take the next step. It's hard to have a purist viewpoint in this day and age." Not so long ago, however, those purists existed, critical of Tempest for messing with a formula that has survived for ages. "I don't get that negative thing about bastardizing traditional music they way we used to. In the beginning, nobody else seemed to be doing what we were doing and it was a new thing. We got slammed a lot," Sorbye admits. Influenced as a child by Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention and the Incredible String Band, Sorbye founded Tempest in 1988, immediately after leaving the traditional Celtic band Golden Bough. Tempest has gone through a few line-ups but none as robust and talented as the current one. Virtuoso fiddle player Jim Hurley has played with zydeco diva Queen Ida, rock legend Ritchie Blackmore, swinging oddball Dan Hicks and new age/world music band Ancient Future. His jaw-dropping fiddle runs are matched by hot-shot guitarist Todd Evans, a graduate of the esteemed Berklee School of Music. The group is rounded out by bassist William Maxwell and Cuban drummer Adolfo Lazo. "I wanted folk music to be played in a rock band with predominantly rock musicians' viewpoints, as opposed to folk musicians plugging in, which is what really I am," Sorbye says. He may be a folkie, but Lief Sorbye is not actually Celtic; he was born and raised in Norway. "Scottish and Norwegian music are so close, both geographically and musically," he explains. "In Norway, there's a strong fiddle tradition in folk music. I did record a solo album of just traditional Norwegian folk back in the '80s, but it goes so well hand-in-hand with the Celtic stuff. We've got medleys of tunes that combine the two cultures really easily." Similarly, with such ease is precisely how Tempest balances the traditional and the modern audiences.

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CHAOS REALM Ray Dorsey June 2001

I have to say, at the outset, that I am not a lover of a lot of things on the Magna Carta label. There seems to be a myriad bands that fit the "prog-lite" category, such as Tiles, Magellan, etc., not exactly my cup of tea. At the same time, one member of their stable, TEMPEST, is a band I really like a lot. You know well of my affinity for Celtic rock, and these guys have been a damn strong generator of that for a long time. Way back to private releases like "Serrated Edge," (my first experience with the band, bought on a whim at a Wiccan craft store in Rehoboth, Delaware!) they've combined the unique blend of Leif Sorbye's Norwegian heritage with Celtic traditional songs and a fairly heavy rock base to produce one kicking album after another. "Balance" is the latest effort from the West Coast band, and while there are no huge surprises, the quality here seems even higher than ususal for TEMPEST. This ranges from the fresh-sounding covers of trad numbers to killer originals like "Wicked Spring" and "Between Us." When it comes to the Celtic rock sweepstakes, I still place 7N in the winner's circle, but you can't go wrong with any TEMPEST release, "Balance" especially!

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All Music Guide Gary Hill

Although 1999's 10th Anniversary Compilation included new recordings of the group's older material, this disc is the first album of truly "new" songs by this band since 1997's Gravel Walk. Showcasing a new lineup and 12 new tracks, this one continues in the tradition of the group. Tempest is a Celtic rock band that leans quite heavily on the Celtic end of things. They treat their folk roots with a high reverence, and it shows both in the performances and the wonderful explanations of songs in the liner notes. That said, they still are a rock band, leaning to a bluesy sort of prog blend in that part of their style. The comparisons to Jethro Tull are obvious, but really Tempest is a lot more firmly rooted in the old world traditions than Tull. Although there are no real revelations or surprises here, there are some absolutely wondrous moments, and this one is sure to please the longtime fans of the band, and hopefully bring in some new one.

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GC MAGAZINE Ethan Nahté Dallas, TX May 2001

Tempest: Electric Storm Rising When most people think of Celtic music, thoughts of bagpipes and flutes played by men wearing kilts is typically the first thing that comes to mind. When someone hears the term Celtic Rock, a wave of confusion washes over their face. Is it a bagpipe connected to an amplifier or Leprechauns jamming on guitars? Most people aren’t sure what to think or imagine when they first hear about a band like Tempest. Once they see the five-piece, they have a better idea of what Celtic Rock is all about... a combination of electric instruments and traditional folk music, telling stories of ancient Ireland, Norway and Scotland. They even include some North American flavor to their storytelling in the song "Buffalo Jump," about the Cree nation, one of their original pieces. We caught up with them at Fair Park during the annual Texas Irish Music Festival, where they performed four sets over a two day period. The first day made spectators feel like they possibly were in Ireland as the band performed under a white tent while the thunderstorms rolled through, blackening the skies and turning the ground into a muddy mess. The second day was windy and full of sunshine, but the muck was still thick as people crowded into the covered tent and sloshed through the wet earth to find a seat and enjoy the musical revelry. The current band features Norwegian founder and leader of the group, Lief Sorbye, who handles the vocals and the acoustic and double neck electric mandolins and mandolas; Adolfo Lazo, the band’s Cuban drummer; William Maxwell, who plays both fretted and one of the most beautiful fretless basses I’ve ever seen; Todd Evans on guitars and backing vocals; Jim "Hurricane" Hurley on electric fiddle and backing vocals. "I founded the band about twelve years ago," says Sorbye. "We didn’t start playing Texas until about a year ago. This is our fourth time in Texas in a year. It looks like we have an audience here," he states quite happily. "You should get yourself down to The Emerald Mist (in Richarson) on Friday, June 29th and we’ll be in Houston at the Celtic Midsummer Festival on July 1st. We’ll probably play in Austin on the 30th of June." Tempest would like to play more of the festivals, but according to Sorbye, their seems to be a prejudice among purists. "The problem with a lot of the Renaissance Festivals is that we’re not a ‘period’ band. We’re too modern. We plug in our instruments and a lot of the people at the festivals like to keep it on a pure acoustic-period type level. Jim is our Renaissance man. He came to us (Tempest) from Blackmore’s Night." Blackmore’s Night is another amazing Celtic Rock style band featuring legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, Rainbow) and the beautiful and extremely talented Candice Night on vocals. Their first release, Shadow of the Moon [Edel Records] also featured Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) on flute. "It was a fun band," says Hurley. "They do Renaissance music and they have the same problem that Lief was talking about. They’re a little too electric and plugged in for the Renaissance Faires. I think they [the Faires] are going to be a little more open to the electric music because there are so many good bands like Tempest and Blackmore’s Night." Unlike most country and folk musicians, the fiddle that Hurley plays isn’t amplified by a pickup attached to a traditional fiddle. It’s an actual electric instrument that is gaining popularity over the past decade by rock bands such as Kansas and A Perfect Circle. "It’s a Zeta. They make them in Oakland, California, where we’re from. We can almost throw a rock and hit the factory. They make great electric violins and everyone seems to use them. They work perfect for me and they can get very loud, which is perfect for Tempest." Evans, who cranks out the lead guitars and the crunching power chords for the band’s music, uses an old Kramer guitar. Kramer had a great rock guitar sound, but finally went out of business a few years ago. It’s rare to find someone still using them onstage. "The tone is really good," states Evans. "I found it used for about $300. It’s real light weight and you can hardly feel it when you’re wearing it. The neck is real fast so you can play some of those metal shredding licks that I like to throw into Tempest. It’s a great guitar all around. I play a lot of power chords. My background is really more ‘80s style heavy metal. Judas Priest. Iron Maiden. The thing I really like about playing in Tempest is the band can calm down and play some cleaner style stuff and some more sweet stuff. We don’t always have to rock our asses off, but that’s what I like to do best. It’s great! I get to play some real heavy stuff and it involves some pretty technical guitar playing straight fromthe ‘80s. I got that Kramer guitar and that’s what it is, the ability to do some mellow stuff and some real hard-core rockers." Sorbye plays one of the most unusual instruments. Everyone has probably seen a double-neck electric guitar, made famous by performers such as Jimmy Page or Ace Frehley. It’s not everyday that you see a double-neck mandolin. Especially one that has thelook and feel of an electric guitar."It’s my own design," says Sorbye. "When I first started the band, I used acoustic instruments exclusively with pick ups. I would go between the mandola and the mandolin between every song almost. I figured ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if I could have both necks on one instrument and go between the necks in one song?’ That was the idea behind it. Since then I’ve been designing the concept with electric mandolins with more than one neck on them. My acoustics are made in Britain by Andy Manson. My electrics are made by John Knutson. He doesn’t make them anymore because he figured that he’s making two instruments and getting paid for one. It didn’t make sense. He made a couple of copies of it and he still makes them for me. He went on to create the Messenger stand-up electric bass and that’s all he’s doing now. I took ideas from different places and made cardboard cut outs at first. We’ve been working on them for the last ten years and I think we’ve come up with something good. One guy came up to me today and said ‘You’re playing Batman’s Guitar!’ You know what the problem? I designed them out of laziness, but now it’s catching up to me. I‘ve got a bunch of these double necks and I have to tune a minimum of 32 strings before I go on." Some may wonder where the idea to put together a Celtic Rock band may have come from. The style has grown recently, but in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, it was practically unheard of. Sorbye recalls, "I grew up with rock’n’roll and played in rock’n’roll bands. Then I became a folk music purist. I was in an acoustic band when I first moved to the states in the late ‘70s to the late ‘80s called Golden Bough. After 10 years of that, I got the itch to combine the acoustic experience and the traditional folk music with the energy of rock’n’roll basically. So I set out to find rock musicians interested in exploring traditional music instead of just traditional musicians just plugging in. A lot of times they don’t even know where to plug in," he jokes. "It’s all sort of Pan-European music. Our music is either written, based on traditional music, or it’s contemporary arrangements of traditional European folk music with an emphasis on Scottish and Irish, but also lots of Scandinavian influences and some American influences. It’s easier now to sell it as Celtic Rock because people know what rock is and what Celtic is. At least most people do. You combine them and it gives them an idea of what you’re doing. I think that works. That’s the thing with the U.S., you’ve got to have a label on everything you do in order to be able to market it. I think back when the band forst started, we spent a lot of time justifying what we were doing. These days the barriers are broken down. It’s just good music. You either like the music or you don’t. You’re allowed to play what’s close to your heart whether you break the rules or not. We love pure traditional music too, but it’s better played by the people who really know how to do it. We’ve got a lot of expertise in a little bit more modern rock stuff, it’s cool to combine them both. It’s just for good fun anyway. The more we play this stuff and the more we explore it, the more I think we find our own place in the music and we have something to say with what we’re doing, which is uniquely our style I think." Hurley just recently joined Tempest, while Evans has been with Sorbye for two years now. "I was lucky enough to come in at the beginning of the album process,"explains Hurley. "I’m on the new album and I’ve been gigging with Tempest a little over a month." "Balance is the name of the new album. It’s our ninth album," says Sorbye. "It’s our fourth one on Magna Carta (a progressive rock label out of New York). The new one comes out on April 24th." "You can check out www.tempestmusic.com," says Evans. "You can direct order all the Magna Carta CDs directly from the band." Balance is very distinct in it’s look amongst the other rock albums in the CD bin. The Celtic cross divided up by two other Celtic pieces of art, reminiscent of the Yin-Yang from the Asian culture. The album features "Captain Ward," the tale of a famous Scottish pirate, "Villemann," a mythical medieval ballad, sung in Norwegian, about a hero battling a water spirit that has captured a fair maiden and a Irish traditional tale called "Two Sisters." there are also plenty of jigs and Irish reels and other original songs that find the band’s style so intertwined with the traditional songs that it’s difficult to tell which songs are modern and which songs go back 500 years. Balance is a great term to sum up Tempest’s style of playing and their fans. "We cater to two audiences," explains Sorbye. "The folk music audience and the rock music audience. A lot of times, both audiences at the same time. We can go play these niche market Celtic events as well as a straight out music event. There’s a lot of places to play.That’s one reason I moved to the U.S. You never run out of gigs here. It’s a big ass country," he laughs.

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Glass Eye: June Review PO Box 2507, Toledo, OH 43606 TEMPEST Mickey Finn’s (Toledo, OH) 2 May 2000

Celtic rock stalwarts Tempest played their first-ever Toledo gig at Mickey Finn’s, and if you missed it, you missed one of the very finest shows to grace this too-often culturally bankrupt metropolis we call T-Town.  Performing fan favorites like “You Jacobites By Name,” and “Buffalo Jump,” plus some Celtic standards in addition to some new preview songs from their soon-to-be-recorded next release, the band demonstrated a remarkable energy and rapport with the enthusiastic crowd. The band broke their show into two sets, the first very calculated to win over the audience, and it worked: frontman Lief Sorbye, strumming his double-necked electric mandolin, and violinist Michael Mullen marched off the stage and into the crowd, encouraging its members to dance and be merry.  After an intermission, they came back for a second set that showed off their progressive side, concentrating on extended jams and solos.  Everyone stood out and shone brightly, particularly ex-Cherry Poppin’ Daddies bassist Darren Cassidy, who just joined the band in February of 2000.  Possessing a distinct Tony Franklin-like bass-playing style, Cassidy brings a whole new virtuosity to the already stellar musicianship of this unique band.  While the band is grounded in Celtic and folk rock, they never hesitated to rock… HARD.   Sorbye commandeered the small stage, often taking Steve Harris-style poses, pointing the double-necked mandolin at crowd members.  Guitarist Todd Evans and drummer Adolfo Lazo exhibited ferocious chops that could earn them spots in any prog-metal band, and I’d be hard-pressed to find anyone play the violin with as much piss & vinegar as Michael Mullen. Having heard a few of Tempest’s studio albums, and now having seen them live, their studio work just hasn’t been able to capture the true style and sound of this band.  Someone get them on a tour with Tull, and I mean NOW.  These guys rule.  - Mark Tinta

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Celitc Group's Rock Is Distinctive YAKIMA (Washington) HERALD-REPUBLIC Friday,March 24, 2000 By MAISY FERNANDEZ

A breath of fresh air is blowing into town on the winds of March - the Celtic rock group Tempest is performing the March Folklife concert. Blending music from Scandinavia, Ireland, England and Scotland with hard-hitting American rock `n' roll, Tempest creates a one-of-a-kind sound that woos grannies and fills mosh pits. Unlike many other groups, the five-man band fills a niche because it doesn't limit itself to using just one genre of music, said Lief Sorbye, the band's Norwegian lead singer. "The main strength of the band is that whether you're into traditional folk music or rock `n'roll, we have something for you," Sorbye said in a phone interview from Oakland, Calif., the town the band calls home. "Whether you're 12 years old or 82, you're going to be tapping your foot. We do a mix of upbeat dance music; we also do some of the ballads." Tempest, now in its 11th year of performing, has undergone a few personnel changes (the most recent: the addition of bass player Darren Cassidy, formerly of the swing band The Cherry Poppin' Daddies) but has remained true to its vision of making original tunes. The diverse crew also includes Cuban drummer Adolfo Lazo, energetic fiddler Michael Mullen and a guitarist with experience in heavy rock, Todd Evans. In addition to vocals, Sorbye also plays a double-necked mandolin. Sorbye said that while the band labels its music folk-rock, "world music" might be a more appropriate description. "(Music genres) are a very interesting and very American phenomenon," Sorbye said. "In order to be able to sell records and sell yourself to the public, you need to have a label. (Celtic rock) is a very narrow description and doesn't incorporate all that we do, but it gives them an idea. We play traditional music in a contemporary setting - that's hard to define and fit into a label." Tonight's concert features some of Tempest's new sounds, as well as some past favorites. And, like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, you never know what you'll get at any one of Tempest's shows. "We do folk concerts to large clubs," Sorbye said. "We played a Celtic festival recently and we were the band with a mosh pit. The traditional folkies didn't seem to mind. It's a communication between the audience and the performer on stage." "I hope (tonight's audience) will walk away with an experience they can take with them into their daily routines. I hope we can lift their spirits."

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Tempest Set To Storm State By ROGER W. HOSKINS, BEE STAFF WRITER The Modesto Bee Friday, January 7, 2000

Lief Sorbye counts himself lucky to be able to earn a living doing what he loves. "Music is painting on a large canvas," says Sorbye, who is leader, vocalist and plays the double-necked mandolin for Celtic rock group Tempest. "The emotions people feel are very individual. I want people walking away from our concerts feeling rejuvenated... so their spirits have been lifted." That's what happened at the Philadelphia Folk Festival last summer. "We had one of those close-to-perfect moments," Sorbye says. "Linda Rondstat was there and we were the closing act on Friday night. The crowd was just into it with us." Fortunately for Tempest fans on the West Coast, that perfect moment was captured for posterity and is the group's latest CD release. It might be the first recording that does justice to Tempest's energy and musicianship. "Flowers of Red Hill," "You Jacobites by Name," and "Green Grow the Rashes" would be a fitting finale to any music festival. The thousands on hand in Philadelphia were treated to a striking blend of Celtic and rock, a marriage made perfect by Tempest. Modesto audiences can compare Tempest with the Donal Lunny and Coolfin performance that brought the house to its feet at the State Theatre earlier this year. The Jan. 15 concert at the State will reunite Sorbye with Golden Bough, a group he helped start 20 years ago. Called "Celtic Folk Meets Celtic Rock," the concert will feature the traditional Celtic folk songs Golden Bough has made famous and the driving rhythms of Tempest. The two groups will even join forces for a few numbers. "I try to make sure the folk tradition survives," Sorbye says. "I do that by updating it to make it more accessible to the younger audience. I combine it with rock to make it contemporary." He believes his formula is working. Tempest is "picking up younger listeners from those who might think world and folk music is kind of geeky." Sorbye sees a yearning for home and tradition behind the revival of world folk music. "I see people trying to search out their own roots through music. The appeal is a little bigger than just folk music." Sorbye's own roots reach back to the Fairport Convention and The Incredible String Band. He counts seeing the String Band's reunion concert this year as one of the thrills of a lifetime, along with playing with the Byrds' Roger McGuinn when he performed a Byrds anthology. But it was two other rock icons who set Sorbye's feet to the beat of a musician's life. "The first time I saw the Beatles, I knew that was what I wanted to do," recalls Sorbye. "But it wasn't until I heard Bob Dylan, with his simple chord changes, that I knew I could be a musician."

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Chicago Pioneer Press Thursday, April 15, 1999 Storm Warning: Durty Nellie's prepares for Tempest to roar through by Martin A. Bartels Diversions editor - Northwest Group

For Lief Sorbye, leader of the Celtic rock band Tempest, the fusion of different kinds of music has always come naturally. For fans of he group, however, that fusion comes as an addictive kind of surprise. Tempest will perform Saturday night at Durty Nellie' in Palatine. At least part of Tempest's unique sound comes from the widely varied make-up of the band,ranging from Sorbye's Scandinavian background to Cuban drummer Adolfo Lazo, from fiddle virtuoso Michael Mullen to New Mexican guitarist Dave Parnall. Bass is provided by American John Land. "What has happened is that the musical policy hasn't changed, but we are always going to be colored by who's in the band," Sorbye said. "It's a group effort as far as writing goes, but we've also experimented through the decade we've been working together." The band celebrated their ten years together with a new album, "10th Anniversary," released in October. While band members themselves have changed through the years, the common goal has been maintained by Sorbye. "We labeled ourselves as Celtic rock 10 years ago, when nobody knew what we were talking about," Sorbye said. "Now people are more comfortable with it." Tempest's long history and tireless touring schedule has created a substantial fan base - one that has made the band's seven earlier releases more and more difficult to find. While the latest recording recaps many of the "best of" songs, Sorbye said, the songs were first selected by the fans, and then rearranged and re-recorded to capture the band's maturity and intensity. "We've always taken one step on the ladder at a time," he said. "But recently, over the past couple of years, the popularity of the music has just been snowballing. It's threatening to become a fad, and the thing about fads is that they don't  always stick around. But then you look at country music here, and how it has evolved into what it is now. "Celtic rock is upbeat, infectious music that appeals to all age groups." The music on "10th Anniversary" is at once a confounding and brilliant blend of traditions and energy. From the first track, "You Jacobites By Name," the music starts out sizzling and continues to roll, with frenzied fiddle, guitar and bass licks backing up appealing vocals and lyrics. It is a fresh and vibrant voice - even considering the staying power of the band - whether you look at their music as Celtic folk, folk rock, or just plain old-fashioned good music. "My true folk music was really growing up with rock `n' roll, and then I got into the folk revival in the early "70s," Sorbye said. "I played in rock bands as a teen and became interested in folk later. For a while I was busking (playing in the streets) to support myself, and then joined a traditional Celtic folk band - this was a true acoustic experience. Then I formed Tempest. "Basically for me, it has always been a natural thing for me to fuse traditional folk with rock `n' roll forms. Folk music lends itself to that, and I just hear it in the music. If they had electric guitars 200 years ago, I think they would have played their jigs and reels with them." While Sorbye said the band's fan base is substantial and quite enthusiastic - he admitted that the real work ahead lies in expanding that base, often without the help of radio stations. "The main source of exposure for us has just been getting out there and trying to perform for people," Sorbye said. "The real appeal of this music is in the live performance, rather than the recorded format. "The minute you get people exposed to this, they're hooked."

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Enjoy Friday, April 9, 1999 Celtic band bridges old music with rock energy By Karen Feege The Express-Times

The California Celtic rock band Tempest, with its eclectic combination of music that bridges 200-year-old traditional music with a driving rock force, is blowing into town. The band, no stranger to the area, will play Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem for two shows tonight. "The music is old traditional music and we keep the energy going with rock arrangements," says band founder Lief Sorbye,who described the band's sound as "one foot in folk and one foot in rock. It's a combination of two worlds." "The source material may be over two hundred years old- all of our music is based and steeped in tradition," Sorbye says. We want to keep that feel." The last time that Tempest played at the Southside Bethlehem coffeehouse was in 1996, but they were also in Bethlehem for a lively performance at the 1997 Celtic Classic. The band has been performing and recording their unique brand of traditional music with rock intensity since 1988, with over one thousand performances and seven CD's to their credit. While the band is "steeped" the traditional music - playing Irish, Scottish and Scandinavian music and ballads, Irish jigs and reels and folk music - the Norwegian-born Sorbye says the band's members make it much more than a traditional Celtic band. Sorbye is the vocalist, mandolin and mandola player for the band. The rhythm section, comprised of Adolfo Lazo on drums and John Land on bass, is rock oriented, Sorbye says, while he and fiddle player, Michael Mullen are "folkies". The guitar players, Dave Parnall and Todd Evans have backgrounds in both folk and rock. Joining Tempest on this tour is guitarist Todd Evans. "He knows how to play all the notes," quips Sorbye about Evans. "We keep both elements of rock and folk music present in the band." Early in his musical career in the 1970's, Sorbye was a devotee of rock music. But he maintained an undaunting interest in his own Scandinavian music and it's potential to be played within a rock setting. In the late 1970's, Sorbye spent time in Ireland and played acoustic music. He arrived in the United States in 1978 and settled in the San Francisco Bay area for good in 1979, where he met up with two musicians, forming the band Golden Bough. The trio performed a mellow style of Celtic music with some success, he says. Still, the burning desire to form a rock band featuring traditional music haunted Sorbye. In 1988, after the band members of the Golden Bough displayed little interest in his idea on merging the two musical genres, Sorbye formed Tempest. He went on a shopping spree for musicians which he thought might have an interest in the musical style with the prerequisite being that they had to be rock musicians. "When you only get folk musicians to plug in, you don't necessarily get the energy I was looking for," Sorbye says. "I was after an energy in traditional music that I was hungry for and didn't see anyone else projecting it." Early influences for Sorbye and his music included the Beatles, Bob Dylan and "The Incredible String Band," which was a  psychedelic band out of Scotland. "They displayed the mixing of different ethnic instruments to create different sound sculptures." The name "Tempest" incorporates three distinct meanings for Sorbye. The first meaning is a "Tempest Reel" song style; the second meaning is that the word connotes a Shakespearean old world, British Isles feel; and the third meaning is that of a personal nature for Sorbye, reminding him of performing in front of a rock band as an acoustic musician - "which was a bit of a tempest." For the Godfrey's show tonight, Tempest will begin with an acoustic set, gradually adding more instruments as the show progresses. "It's all part of the challenge to play both large and small venues," Sorbye says."We're able to sweat on people in the front row and see the crowd in large settings." Sorbye describes the stage show as a "mock rock show" with a bit of a Spinal Tap routine. "We dance around and make fools of ourselves. We take our music seriously but we don't take ourselves seriously. We have a lot of fun. Each show is different - it's the whole experience." While the band has performed both nationally and internationally over the past ten years, Sorbye says that the band's music inspires the same response in audiences throughout the world - with a few exceptions. The overseas audiences "intellectualize and analyze more so than national audiences, and California audiences are energetic." The band's latest CD, "The 10th Anniversary Compilation" is a recording of audience favorite tunes.

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Tempest: Music from a melting pot An Scathan, Ashland, PA, Jan. 1998 Thomas Larkin

The scene is the main tent at the annual Celtic Fest in Bethehem, PA, and the standing room only audience is caught up in the sounds emanating from the stage. The band responsible for these sounds is Tempest, and the atmosphere is electric. Traditional Celtic rhythms are being interpreted with a rock beat by a truly unique assemblage of musicians: a lead singer from Norway, a drummer from Cuba, a guitarist with roots in San Francisco psychaedlic rock, a Celtic violinist whose energy almost equals that of Eileen Ivers and a seasoned American rock bassist. The vocals and instrumentals alike were energetic and exhilarating. Caught up in the excitement and energy generated by the performance, the crowd danced; clapped and often broke out in cheers. Lief Sorbye and his band were dervishes, often themselves as excited as the audience. "The key to the whole thing, " said Sorbye, "is the communication between the audience and the band. And that is what is exciting to us. It's fun to make records, but the real magic is in front of the audience because you can exchange that electricity. That's what makes it special; that's what makes each performance different from the other." Sorbye was born in Oslo, Norway, and founded Tempest in 1988 after honing his skills with the acoustic band Golden Bough.  His goal has been to meld traditional folk with the music of the 70's, which he loved, and Celtic rhythms, which are both ancient and ethereal. What has emerged from this mix is a remarkable sound. Listening to this music, one can understand the diversity of the Celts because the music combines the many cultures touched by the Celts in their millenia of travel. There is an eclectic mix of different types of Celtic rhythms, not just Scottish and Irish, but the Gallician, even a flavor of Afro-Celt, and eastern/central European, with a touch of the Viking thrown in for good measure. Commenting on this mix of diverse rhythms, Sorbye said, "When you trace the roots far back, you find out there's a lot in common, and in these days, with the level of communication so high, people borrow and steal from everybody so there is a new music emerging out of all this. "We try to write in a traditional style, more or less, so that the mix between original and traditional is kind of an even blend. Hopefully, some of our new songs will become traditional songs a couple of centuries down the line. Much of the traditional stuff is two hundred years old, and it's good material. That's why its survived. We hope that with bands like us playing it, it will continue to survive, that people will continue to keep using these songs." Playing and recording together since 1988, Tempest has recorded five albums, among them are "Turn of the Wheel" and their latest, "The Gravel Walk", both of which will get the old adrenaline going and would be a most welcome addition to any collection of Celtic music. The band plays almost 300 shows a year, a heavy schedule to be sure, but the members seem to thrive on the youthful energy generated by the hectic pace. Asked what his hope for the future is, Sorbye said, "We just want to keep growing and reaching more people with our music. I feel privileged to be able to do what I am doing. It's a great way to make a living. "We want to try to continue creating a little bit of a spirit that is uplifting. With world conditions being what they are, people need things to give them uplifting experiences, and we would like to be able to give them that without people going into drugs and the like. To bring out the positive energy in people is a big part of our purpose." The members of the band along with Sorbye enhance that spirit after the performance by mingling with the audience, greeting as many of their fans on a personal level as possible. This personal touch is certainly not lost on the legion of fans who patiently wait to meet each band member in turn. On shaking hands with Sorbye, they are rewarded with a joyous gleam in his eye that confirms his heartfelt, "It's great to meet you. Thanks for coming." Tempest will begin its 1998 "Tenth Anniversary Tour" in California the third week in January and will continue into the fall throughout the United States. However, the band will tour the United Kingdom and Europe for the first time in July and August. Be sure to watch for Tempest during the upcoming festival season this year and make it a point to experience and electrifying performance.

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Tempest: Old world sounds with new day style Dayton Voice September 17-23, 1998

"We're doing a pretty hectic tour schedule right now because it's our 10th anniversary as a band," Lief Sorbye, leader of celtic rock quintet, Tempest, says from his home in Oakland, Calif. "We are enjoying it. Touring has been our main source for getting the music out to the people. We're selling records and getting some airplay, but the main way we promote the band is through the grassroots method and taking it on the road."  "We've been coming through Dayton for the last eight years," he continues. "I don't think we've missed a year. We've had good shows at Canal Street and always look forward to going back."  Such is the case this Saturday, Sept. 19, when Tempest - Sorbye (lead vocals and acoustic and electric mandolins and mandolas), Adolfoo Lazo (drums), Michael Mullen (electric and acoustic violins and vocals), John Land (bass, vocals), and Dave Parnall (guitar) - returns to Mick Montgomery's music venue on East First Street. Since forming in 1988, the group has logged more than 1,000 live performances and released seven LP's including Surfing to Mecca, Turn of the Wheel, and Serratededge. Along the way Sorbye and his cohorts pioneered a style of music unlike anything else on the musical map.  Tempest puts a progressive rock twist on traditional folk-based music to create something that transcends mere marketing terms. Because of the group's diversified make-up, it would be tough for them to stick to any one style of music. Sorbye, who was born in Oslo, Norway, plays the double-necked Mandolin and brings with him a love for Celtic music, old world Norwegian songs, Irish jigs and Scottish ballads. Drummer Lazo, who hails from Cuba, adds an unexpected, but highly energizing, polyrhythmic punch to the Tempest sound. Season the mix with an American rock bassist, a virtuoso fiddler and a guitarist with a background of classical and flamenco styles and you come up with something quite unique. "The backbone of our music is in traditional, old European folk-based songs with rock 'n' roll energy and arrangements," Sorbye says. "What we've done for marketing purposes is stick with the term Celtic rock. Now it has grown into a genre, but when we started out, nobody else was doing it. People were confused when you said, 'Celtic rock'. Now, mixing Celtic music with rock 'n' roll is something more common. It gives us more competition, but it opens up a lot of tours and gets more attention from the press."  Tempest recently completed a new release that takes a look back at their earlier years. As Sorbye explains, "we rearranged and re-recorded a lot of songs we used to do in the old days. We surveyed our audience and recorded a group of songs that we haven't played in a while." The results, The 10th Anniversary Compilation, won't be available to the general public until the new year, but folks who catch the band at Canal Street will get the opportunity to pick up the new LP early. "The CD won't be in the stores until January," Sorbye says, "but we'll have some with us that will be available at the show." "Our last CD, The Gravel Walk, only came out last year, so it's not that old," he continues. "We've had a new release each year since we started recording. These days groups record an album every three years or so, but if you're inspired and have the material, heck, you should make a record each year for the fans." From their relentless tour schedule, energetic live show, prolific CD output and dedication to fans, it is safe to say that the members of Tempest will be mixing European folk and rock 'n' roll for some time to come. Here's to 10 more years of creating old world sounds with a new day style. -Don Thrasher

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Tempest, the non-stop touring machine Progressive folk-rockers find a home with Magna Carta by Don Dilorio Progression, Winter/Spring 1998

Although California-based Tempest is fast acquiring fans from the progressive fold, this band is not readily categorized with your garden-variety art-rockers. Where many of today's progressive favorites conjure spacey, mind-bending excursions of splashy sonic splendor, Tempest travels a decidedly earthy route that favors rustic acoustic modes  mixed with biting electric guitar. Where other progressive acts mine symphonic grandeur and elegant classicisms, Tempest cultivates the less grandiose influences of early folk music to inform their writing process. (Reference the acoustic side of Jethro Tull, or the works of folk rockers Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span for a notion of Tempest's heritage.) At the same time, though, it's easy to understand the appeal Tempest has to prog fans. Many of the requisite elements are intact: sophisticated arrangements and unexpected meter shifts, cross-genre “pollination” and virtuosic musicianship. All is reinforced by the band's signing two years ago to the progressive-oriented Magna Carta label. The band also can be credited for possessing qualities in short supply among the prog-rock fraternity - mainly, a formidable endurance for touring and a warm, inviting sense of humor. Both attributes have made Tempest a concert favorite, with a reputation strong enough to vault them into a guest slot at last year's Fairport Convention-hosted Cropredy Festival in England. There, they easily made converts of the 30,000 in attendance. 1998 marks the 10th anniversary of Tempest, and by all accounts it will be as busy a year as ever for this unique Celtic/progressive rock band. Their latest album, The Gravel Walk, is their sixth full-length release and second for Magna Carta, following Turn of the Wheel (1996). The latter featured a contribution from keyboard maestro Keith Emerson on the opening number, “The Barrow Man,” and production by prog-rock veteran Robert Berry. Led by mandolin player/singer/flautist Lief Sorbye, the band has weathered several lineup changes over the years but manages to grow stronger   Musically with each personnel shift. Along with Sorbye, other stalwarts are drummer Adolfo Lazo (who's been with Tempest from its inception) and fiddle demon Michael Mullen, who joined in `92. New members are bassist John Land, who joined in September, and guitarist David Parnell, who adds a touch of sophistication in both writing ability and performance - he studied for two years under a Spanish flamenco master. If flamenco seems at odds with a Celtic rock band, think again: Tempest probably will find a way to work it into their repertoire. With a sound rooted in indigenous Scottish, Irish and Norwegian folk traditions, Tempest has been known to effectively assimilate a wide array of influences. "Essentially, Tempest is a world-music band." Sorbye explained in his well-tamed Norwegian accent. "Even if we focus on Celtic and sometimes Scandinavian material, we pick up a variety of other ethnic influences. We have a Cuban drummer, and we've sort of been playing our own form of world music ever since day one.” Indeed, Tempest relishes an adventurous approach, as evidenced by songs such as “Green Grow the Rashes" from the new album, a track which incorporates - of all things - reggae. "If there is a certain groove that works with a certain tune to create a certain excitement or tension or feel, then we use it.`Green Grow the Rashes' definitely has a reggae groove to it," Sorbye said. “I remember arranging that song and it didn't have a  reggae groove until.. .You see, the way we work, we usually don't record something unless we tried it out in front of an audience.We always communicate directly with our audience so our audience has an influence on our recorded material that way. "We could take a new song out, play it a few times, see what kind of response it gets, rearrange it, try different things, and then when it settles in, that's the time we record it. In the case of `Green Grow the Rashes,' that's what we did. We played it a few times live and it wasn't until we got the reggae groove going that it really got a response and felt right. "On Turn of the Wheel, with the song `Cat in the Corner,' you can trace a reggae groove as well. If you go back to some of the earlier albums, the reggae groove has snuck in there a number of times over the years. It’s subtle, because we're a white boy band. We're not a rasta band, and It's not going to sound genuine. But hey, it's part of [showing] there's more than one influence in this band shining through." Sorbye began his music career playing with high school rock bands in his native Norway. Influenced initially by groups like Jethro Tull and Genesis, he eventually soured on rock music's commercial trend in the late `70s. "I was influenced, even as a kid, by American folk singers like Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs and that kind of thing," he said. "As rock`n' roll became more corporate, I lost interest in it. It turned me off. I couldn't handle punk, so I just started playing acoustic music." Playing acoustic instruments proved more practical, because Sorbye spent the latter half of the decade traveling Europe as a street musician, or so-called "busker." He came to the United States in 1979 seeking a new audience, and hooked up with the acoustic folk band Golden Bough, with whom he recorded six albums during the `80s. But eventually, Sorbye heard the call of rock music beckoning once again. When Golden Bough rejected his idea of adding electric instrumentation, he set about forming his own group. In October of 1988, Tempest was born. "Basically, I started off playing in rock bands, then became a diehard folkie. It came full circle after about nine years or so when I formed Tempest to combine the two elements," Sorbye said. He noted it was this distinct combination of rock with other forms that always intrigued him. "What got me into traditional music was the folk-rock movement,” he said. "It started pretty much the same time in the States - maybe a few years later, when bands like the Byrds started doing Dylan songs and folk-rock became its own genre. Then, on the British Isles, you have bands like Fairport Convention dabbling in English folk music and playing in a rock band setting. I got exposed to fiddle tunes by listening to bands like The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention and whatever, and from there I got involved in traditional music." Sorbye relishes the idea of bringing obscure folk music to virgin ears, as well as reworking classics into modern numbers. "We're playing traditional music or electric folk, but to a rock `n' roll audience. A lot of times you'll see people in the audience who are hearing traditional music or Celtic music for the first time. They later get involved in the purer forms of the music from listening to us, which is the reason I did it to begin with. "These days, I think the energy in traditional music is totally relevant to a rock `n' roll band; to me, it goes hand in hand. It also brings the music to a larger audience. You can create a bigger effect because you're mixing the traditional  and modern instrumentation, and you're utilizing contemporary sounds. It gives us a bigger marketplace and we get a chance to play both for a folk audience and a rock audience." Sorbye can most often be seen sporting a doubleneck electric mandolin/mandola onstage when he's not playing flute or harmonica. Along with Mullen's hyper fiddle lines, the duo provides an interesting foil to the drums/bass/guitar rock bombast of their bandmates. The combination yields a genre-busting sound that has pleased widely divergent audiences across the country. "We have such a large variety of audiences and age groups," Sorbye said. "A real strength of the band is the fact that we can appeal to everyone from a punk who really likes the energy to a granny who enjoys the traditional flavor. "At one show, we might have a bunch of [Grateful] Deadheads showing up because they like the groove of our music. In another place, it might be more of a middle-aged conservative crowd. And in yet another place, it will be a bunch of rowdy kids who want to stagedive. It's such a large spectrum that I think whether young or old, whether they're into rock or folk, they can find something to enjoy at a show like ours." Despite the many influences, progressive rock might be the only genre under which Tempest is comfortably classified. For all the traditional ethnicities inherent to their music, there is no mistaking the intricate progressive flair of a tune such as "Plains of Kildare," or the Baroque-flavored "Trip Across the Mountain." Also, the band's penchant for reviving old tunes and injecting a contemporary feel with modern instrumentation and varied arrangements is an approach that most definitely renders a "progressive" evaluation. "If it's a museum piece and you keep it very pure, then it's a lot easier to keep it intact. But when it's part of a living culture, things sneak in all the nine and out of it comes new ideas and new music," Sorbye said. "Folk music is there to be played whether it's electric or acoustic, and it's there to absorb what is going on right now. "With the high level of communication we have now, with the Internet and everything else, people learn, borrow and steal [cultural and artistic ideas] all the time. That's the way it should be when [the music] is part of the culture. Because of that, you can hear traces of different things. There's a lot of crossover, historically. "I love that form of music, because it's got substance and survival potential. Obviously, a song like `Green Grow the Rashes,' which really is 200 years old, is got to be a good song. Otherwise, it wouldn't have survived. I think a new treatment, whether it’s a reggae groove or whatever, is just giving it another chance to go through another evolution and survive. People will sing that song into the next century because people play it. It’s like being part of a living tradition that is constantly changing, like being part of a work in progress." In addition to Tempest, Sorbye and Mullen have just released an acoustic record under the name of Caliban (as in the savage from Shakespeare's The Tempest, for all you literature majors). The disc is out on Magna Carta. Sorbye figures Caliban will give him yet another avenue of expression, though Tempest remains his baby and his priority. Playing some 150 to 200 shows a year, Tempest appears to have a bright future sustained by an enthusiastic fan base and the band's genuine love of what they do, he said. "It's a fun style of music to play. It's very challenging and very arrangement intensive,'" he said. "You don't get stuck in one groove or one sound. There's always another step musically or professionally to be taken. "There's a lot of activity. There's always a new album to be recorded, always another tour to go on, always another musical avenue to be explored. You add all that up and find a lot of movement there and a lot of potential for growing. "I think when you dabble in traditional music, you get into situations where there's a lot of uncharted territory, a lot of possibilities. When you deal with rock `n' roll there's endless possibilities, because you can take rock `n' roll and add anything you want to it and make it your own. That's what is great about rock`n' roll. And what's great about traditional folk music is that there's a wealth of material that hasn't even been discovered. There's so much to be done, you never run out of good material or good ideas or new ideas. "So, because of that I feel it will take a lot to make a band like this stagnate. As long as we're 100 percent into what we're doing it's a heck of a fun band to be in."

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Relix - music for the mind Vol. 26 No.2

Tempest celebrates its tenth anniversary with the aptly titled 10th Anniversary Compilation (Magns Carta). Rather than issue a retrospective of previously released recordings, bandleader Lief Sorbye has taken the current lineup (which features two recent additions) of the band and re-recorded a dozen cuts from the band's career, but there is a distinctly more rock approach to this Celtic-based music. Old favorites such as "You Jacobites By Name," "Montara Bay" (with a great Spanish guitar intro) and the superb "The House Carpenter" are all given revved up, inspired treatments. If you've never heard Tempest before, this is a great place to start, and for fans, this is an absolute must.

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