Tempest (band)

Tempest is a Celtic rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, based in Oakland, California. They fuse together the traditional Celtic music with Norwegian and European folk, American folk, and progressive rock.

The band formed in 1988 with Lief Sorbye (mandolin, vocals), Adolfo Lazo (drums), Rob Wullenjohn (guitar), and Mark Showalter (bass). The band has seen a changing cast of musicians, with Lief and Adolfo remaining as founding members since the band's beginning.

The current lineup consists of Lief Sorbye (mandolin, vocals), Adolfo Lazo (percussion), Kathy Buys (fiddle), Gregory Jones (guitar), and Caith Threefires (bass), with members from around the world: Lief from Oslo, Norway, Adolfo from Havana, Cuba, Gregory from Missouri, Kathy from San Francisco, California, and Caith from Boston, Massachusetts. In 2010, Temmpest released Another Dawn - it was Tempest's 11th full length studio album. In 2006, Tempest released their 10th full length studio album, entitled The Double-Cross. In 2007, the band released a live CD, entitled Lief's Birthday Bash. The Birthday Bash CD was recorded on the evening of 23 March 2007 at Ashkenaz Dance Community Center in Berkeley, and features tracks including a number of musicians that Lief has played with over the years: both past Tempest members and some members of Golden Bough as well. Much of the recent live CD is actually acoustic. Tracks from Tempest recordings may be sampled on the discography page of the official Tempest website.

The band has held the honor of being invited to play a number of times at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and they also host an eclectic music and arts festival of their own, in Auburn, California, on the first weekend of May each year. The festival is called Karfluki Fest, and has featured such artists as It's A Beautiful Day, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Fairport Convention, Shana Morrison, Wicked Tinkers and Fishtank Ensemble, in addition to an array of side show acts such as belly dancers, a sword swallower, jugglers, acrobats and fire dancers.

1988

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Rob Wullenjohn (guitar)
 * Mark Showalter (bass)

1989

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Rob Wullenjohn (guitar)
 * Ian Butler (bass)

1992

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Rob Wullenjohn (guitar)
 * Ian Butler (bass)
 * Michael Mullen (fiddle)

1993

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Rob Wullenjohn (guitar)
 * Ian Butler (bass)
 * Jon Berger (fiddle)

1995

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Rob Wullenjohn (guitar)
 * Jay Nania (bass)
 * Jon Berger (fiddle)

1996-1997

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Rob Wullenjohn (guitar)
 * Jay Nania (bass)
 * Michael Mullen (fiddle)

1998

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Dave Parnall (guitar)
 * John Land (bass)
 * Michael Mullen (fiddle)

1999

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Todd Evans (guitar)
 * John Land (bass)
 * Michael Mullen (fiddle)

2000

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Todd Evans (guitar)
 * Darren Cassidy (bass)
 * Michael Mullen (fiddle)

2001

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Todd Evans (guitar)
 * William Maxwell (bass)
 * Jim "Hurricane" Hurley (fiddle)

2002

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Joel Monte Mahan (guitar)
 * Mark Skowronek (bass)
 * Sue Draheim (fiddle)

2003

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Ronan Carroll (guitar)
 * Mark Skowronek (bass)
 * Sue Draheim (fiddle)

2004 to 2006

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Ronan Carroll (guitar)
 * Ariane Cap (bass)
 * Michael Mullen (fiddle)

2007-2011

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Michael Mullen (fiddle)
 * James Crocker (guitar)
 * Damien Gonzalez (bass)

2011

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)
 * Michael Mullen (fiddle)
 * Greg Jones (guitar)
 * Brian Fox (bass)

2012-present

 * Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandolin)
 * Kathy Buys (fiddle)
 * Greg Jones (guitar)
 * Caith Threefires (bass)
 * Adolfo Lazo (drums)

Albums

 * Bootleg (1991)
 * Shake It (1992)
 * I Want Some More (1993)
 * Surfing to Mecca (1994)
 * Turn of the Wheel (1996)
 * The Gravel Walk (1997)
 * The 10th Anniversary Compilation (1998)
 * Live at the Philadelphia Folk Festival (2000)
 * Balance (2001)
 * Shapeshifter (2003)
 * 15th Anniversary Collection Box Set (2004)
 * The Double-Cross (2006)
 * Lief's Birthday Bash Party (2007)
 * Prime Cuts (2008)
 * Another Dawn (2010)

Compilations featuring Tempest

 * To Cry You A Song, A Collection Of Tull Tales (1996)
 * Philadelphia Folk Festival, 40th Anniversary Box Set (2001)

Caliban
Lief occasionally plays in an acoustic Celtic folk duo called Caliban, usually joined by a current or former Tempest fiddler, such as Kathy Buys, Michael Mullen or Sue Draheim. They have released one self-titled recording and often do shows during Tempest tours.

The Druid Sisters Tea Party
Kathy Buys was the fiddler with a world fusion band of this name.

Coyote Pudding
Bassist John Land was previously in a band called Coyote Pudding. They had one release, titled joking, drunk, or bored as hell.

Lief Sorbye
Lief has released two solo albums, Springdans (1987) and Across The Borders (1994).