Tempest blends rock with ancient rhythm
By Meg Dedolph
OreQori Ptm* fm&akl
Some things |ust don't go
together. Chocolate sauce on fried
shrimp, for example. Other
things seem like they shouldn't,
but do. like honey and mustard,
or hard-rocking guitar riffs and
older-than-the-hills Irish jigs and
reels.
But Tempest, a five-piece Bay
Area band, is indebted to tradi
tional folk music, mainly from
Ireland, Scotland and England as
the basis for their "rock n' reel"
music, which has not only gui
tars, but luiss and drums as well.
The band includes l.«if Sorbye
on lead vtxali and electric man
dolin. Jon Berger on fiddle. Rob
Wullenjohn on lead guitar, tan
Butler on bass and Adolfo l.azo
on drums.
Despite his background in r<x k
music, especially when he was
younger. Sorbye, the hand's
founder, said he wont through
a period in which he listened
almost exclusively to acoustic
traditional music.
But. some time in the mid
1980s. he said he "opened up
and got it to where I wanted to
combine the two (rot k and tra
ditional music)."
Tempest was the result
"As much as I like traditional
music ns it was played in the old
days." Sorbye said, "it could
ht*( ome a museum piece if it
doesn’t evolve."
Sorbye. who spent eight years
with Coition Bough, an acoustic
(Celtic, hand, lie fore forming Tem
pest in 1988, saiti rock and tra
ditional Celtic music are a
natural mix because the struc
tures are similar
"It's the sourt e music for rock
and roll." he said. "The founda
tions, the six-eight and four-four
times are standard backbeat
rhythms.
"Fans probably have a lot of
different opinions on what a
Tempest song is,” he said. "For
me, a Tempest song is something
that sounds natural when we all
play together and we have a < er
tain feel together.”
"We take our music seriously,
but not ourselves.” he said
"We're having fun with what
we’re doing and not preaching it.
We re pretty loose as far as what
we put across."
Sorbye admits, however, that
Tempest’s approach, combining
traditional music and rix k. is not
necessarily new Bands like
Jethro Tull. Fairport Convention
and the Pogues — all Tempest
influences — have su< i ossfull)
merged folk and rock
comifsv pmoio
Tempest will play John Henry's Saturday. July 23. Admission tor the
show Is $5. Celtic harpist David Hellord will open for the band
"There's a lot of room to
explore within this form," Sor*
hye said "There's tons of tradi
tional material, plus, everyone in
the band writes."
On Surfing to Mecca, the
band's latest album, the group's
traditional ties are apparent, com
bining tunes taken from the
Oxford Book of Carols with Eng
lish Morris dance tunes.
The album also draws heavily
on Irish. Scottish. Shetland and
Norwegian musical traditions,
and nods briefly at Middle East
ern music on the title track. In
which a minor-sounding fiddle
melody mixes up with a surf-ruck
bass line and backbeat.
"The guitarist (VVullenjohn)
w rote ' Surfing to Mix ca." Sor
bye seid. "He'll discover wmn
thing and go with it without run
essarilv being steeped in that
tradition."
But despite the bend's four pre
vious albums. Sorhye said Tern
(Hist is best live
"l personally feel we're
stronger live than in the studio,"
he said. "In the studio, recording
is just one performance, but on
tour, it change! from night to
night depending on the audience
It 's a very energetic tyf**r of musu
- we go out and t rente an effect
on the audience "
Tempest will !>e at John Hen
ry's on Saturday, July 23, at 9:30
p in Celtic harpist David Helford
will he opening for the band.
Admission is $5.
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