Davis Enterprise, January 2009, 
Article by Landon Christensen

Lively folk rock band celebrates two decades on the stage

Surviving 20 years in the music biz is cause to celebrate.
The folk rock band Tempest has been at it since 1988, and isn't stopping any time soon. Tempest recently released 'Prime Cuts,' 
a career retrospective of the band's most requested songs and a two-hour DVD of live performances throughout the years.

The DVD provides a taste of the live Tempest experience, but nothing compares to the real thing. Catch the band in action - 
teamed up with the Celtic folk band Molly's Revenge - at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Veterans' Memorial Theater, 203 E. 14th St., 
Davis. Tickets, at $20, are available at DeColores Trading Company, 713 Second St., (530) 758-9417.

By fusing traditional Irish, Scottish and Norwegian folk with classic rock, Tempest is in a class all its own. The band 
consists of singer and mandolinist Lief Sorbye, drummer Adolfo Lazo, fiddler Michael Mullen, guitarist James Crocker and 
bassist Damien Gonzalez.

Sorbye, the band's founder, was born in Oslo, Norway. He began playing guitar at age 7 and occupied his teen years with 
various garage bands. He spent the 1970s 'busking' (playing music on the streets) in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London, Geneva 
and Venice.

In '79, Sorbye moved to San Francisco and joined the Celtic folk band Golden Bough. After eight years, he left that group 
and formed Tempest with the idea of combining traditional folk with rock 'n' roll.

'Back then, it was innovative,' Sorbye said, during a recent phone chat.

He laughed. 'Now it's as common as bread and butter.'

At the time, though, folk purists weren't keen on this new style.

'It was like, 'You can't do that to folk music because it's pure,' ' Sorbye said. 'We're not in the business of presenting 
museum pieces; we're interested in playing what we love. The Internet finally killed the purists. Now people learn from 
each other: beg, borrow and steal from all cultures. It's all up for grabs.

'Rock audiences were easy to win over. Heavy metal fans were the easiest. They embraced us early on.'

Sorbye is particularly proud to have introduced people to traditional folk.

'We turned a lot of people onto it ... not because we were the greatest, but because we introduced them to it. They could 
relate to a backbeat and electric guitars.'

He laughed again.

'We won over a lot more people than we annoyed.'

Tempest plays original songs alongside traditional folk tunes. It all flows seamlessly, making it difficult to separate 
'original' from 'traditional.'

'That's how we want it to be. A lot of bands that dabble in this style, their originals don't mix well with the traditional. 
We want to add to the traditional and keep it alive.'

Obviously, Sorbye has made it work.

'You Jacobites by Name' is a perfect example. It's an old song from the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland; Tempest kicks it 
up a notch and turns it into a hard-rocking anthem.

'That's one of our signature songs,' Sorbye said, 'and our arrangement works pretty well. I added a metal riff to it; 
people keep asking for it.'

Aside from being an innovator in folk rock, Sorbye also has created new instruments. He invented a double-necked mandolin, 
which besides being functional, looks really cool on stage.

'My acoustic instrument couldn't compete with the electric instruments,' he said. 'I was looking for solid body electric 
versions of my acoustic instruments. I have an electric mandola and mandolin. I thought, if I could put both on the same 
body, I could carry one instead. I could switch from one to the other when I perform bigger soundscape, and have more range 
to work with.

'I love having great instrument makers grab these ideas, and put them into the physical universe. I can express myself. 
The instruments are so specialized, they won't compete in the music store.'

He paused.

'Although I have gotten some commissions over the years.'

Sorbye warmed further to the subject.

'Now I make acoustic instruments that can compete with electric instruments. You have to have good pick-ups, with a warmer 
wood sound. I like the heavy guitar sound with sparkly mandolin; it adds depth.'

Unfortunately, Sorbye fears that the new generation doesn't know what good sound is.

'They have no idea. MP3s on computer speakers don't do it justice. I miss records: the touch, feel and smell, the concept 
of an album as opposed to downloading. Music has lost its value. People don't want to pay for it.'

On the flip side, though, Sorbye pointed out that 'live music is better than ever. People always want to see real people 
with instruments.'

To see an example of great live music, watch the 'Tempest through the Ages' DVD from 'Prime Cuts.' The DVD is an excellent 
assortment of performances for the novice and hard-core fans. You can see the band's progression, starting with live 
performances from the late 1980s, when the sound was influenced heavily by classic prog rock, through the '90s and to the 
present day.

'My sister in Norway got the DVD for Christmas,' Sorbye laughed, 'and her kids wondered about the hairstyles.

'It was fun to put that together. We wanted to do this for our fans, for our 20th anniversary. Instead of putting out some 
slick, polished DVD, we went through the old archives and picked some fun moments.

'We wanted to keep it light.'

The band watched it for the first time on a big screen at the Acorn Theater in Michigan.

'I was laughing really hard,' Sorbye admitted. 'We put in some embarrassing moments, to spice it up. It's how the band is: 
lifting your spirits and having fun. It shows the band's development: where we've been, what we sounded like and looked like.'

After 13 albums and thousands of shows, Sorbye still loves performing.

'The band is as enjoyable now as back in the beginning. We all still love it.'

While Tempest has had many line-up changes through the years, original members Lazo and Mullen remain.

'Three out of five for 20 years is pretty good,' Sorbye said. 'We're not tired of it; we're just scratching the surface. 
Everyone is bursting with ideas, and we have lots of new material coming up.'

Sorbye looks forward to returning to the Vets' in Davis.

'We're keeping our tradition of playing January shows at the Vets'. We've been doing this since the mid-'90s. The members of 
Molly's Revenge are friends; we'll do a song together in the finale.'

Tempest unites fans from a wide range of genres: Celtic, folk, classic rock, prog rock and metal. If you're not into the 
aforementioned genres, you're still guaranteed a great time.

And don't worry if you saw Tempest in early 2008.

'This show will be completely different,' Sorbye promised.

'One heck of a fun show!'