Tempest in a must-see spot Thursday, January 22, 2004 By David M. Meyers/Enterprise music critic It makes perfect sense that a group founded with the fresh idea of fusing musical traditions has created such a rich one of its own. Tempest, a band that remains a one-of-a-kind blend of traditional Celtic music and hard-driving rock 'n' roll, will take the stage Saturday evening at the Veterans' Memorial Theater to celebrate its 15th anniversary. "This will not be a predictable Tempest show at all," said Lief Sorbye, Tempest's founder, lead vocalist, mandolin and mandola player. "We've got lots of surprises, and we'll do stuff that people never expected us to do again." The 8 p.m. show will mark the passing years by reuniting the band's various lineups at different times throughout the evening. Sorbye has poured through old memorabilia, and he even plans to raffle off a copy of the band's original demo tape. "Our musical platform was established from the beginning," he recalled, when asked about the band's origins. "I was still in Europe in the late '70s, supporting myself as a street musician. I started getting into Norwegian music and had the idea to combine the traditional sound with rock 'n' roll-type music." The idea sat quietly with Sorbye for years, as the native Norwegian made his way to San Francisco. Once settled, he began playing with the traditional acoustic Celtic group, Golden Bough. "I played their style for eight years, but I've always had one foot in traditional music and one foot in rock 'n' roll." In 1988, Sorbye knew the time had come to combine his two passions. "I started Tempest with a clear vision of what I wanted to do," he continued. "We were going to combine the melodic, rhythmic sensation of traditional Celtic with the energy and power of a full rock band." Sorbye recorded a demo with original bassist Ian Butler, enlisted guitarist Rob Wullenjohn, and - once a drummer was safely in tow - the band quickly lined up its first gig in Berkeley. The newly formed Fab Four, however, didn't quite make it to the show intact. "We'd been practicing for our debut performance ... Ian, Rob and I, plus a drummer who none of us knew that well. On the day of the show, I woke up and found a note from the drummer on my mailbox, that he'd left in the middle of the night. It said he couldn't make the show! "Now, this show had generated a lot of buzz. There was a lot of PR, some people were angry with me for leaving Golden Bough, some were curious, excited ... and there we were, without a drummer. "Well, four years prior, my ex-wife had run away with this Cuban guy, who also happened to be a drummer. I figured he owed me one. So I called and asked if he wanted to do a gig that night, and he said, 'Yeah, I'm there.' So we practiced the day of the show, Ian and Rob met him for the first time on stage ... and Adolfo Lazo hasn't missed a beat ever since." Given Sorbye's well-established connections, Tempest took off right away, both figuratively and literally. "We started booking tours immediately," Sorbye said. "Three months out, and we were off touring the Pacific Northwest. Later that year, on our first time out on the East Coast, we happened to be playing somewhere in upstate New York. After the show, we were invited at the last minute to play at the 20th anniversary of Woodstock. We shared the stage with Richie Havens and Arlo Guthrie ... and people responded really well to our music. "That was a magical moment, and it happened for the band right away." In 1992, Tempest expanded to its current five-piece format, by adding Michael Mullen on the fiddle. "Mike is our token American," Sorbye joked. "He later left the band for awhile, but he's rejoining us as of this date ... for him, everything's coming full circle." Mullen, a Fresno native, had been a long-time Tempest fan; with his addition, the band's fusion finally was complete. Unlike other new bands, however, Tempest never has experienced the typical growing pains that mark the demise of so many fledgling groups. "We did our first recording within three months of playing our first gig, and we've been fortunate enough to always have a label." Backing by a label is no guarantee of success, but with someone outside the band to handle the production and distribution aspects of the business, Sorbye and his crew were free to focus on what mattered most: making music. After some success with smaller, now defunct labels, Tempest now records for WEA subsidiary Magna Carta. And, as Sorbye noted, hooking up with Magna Carta was a match that was meant to be. "We'd always used big budgets in the studio," he joked. "As we were recording, 'Across the Borders' in Portland, the label people pulled me in and told us they didn't have the capacity to fund us after this, and that we should look for another label." Feeling dejected, Sorbye and his mates soon had no choice but to return home. "I flew back to California that day and happened to go into a record store, where I saw one of our records in the 'used' record bin. Well, the next morning I got a call from a man named Mike Varney. He'd been in the same record store that day, bought that record, looked on the back and saw that our number was local, called it, and when I answered the phone said to me: 'I want to sign you.' "We've been with Magna Carta ever since." The band has recorded a total of 10 albums to date, and Sorbye plans to spend some time this year compiling a Tempest Boxed Set. "The CDs under our belt have shown the band's progression and evolution over time. Each album has reflected a point in time of where the band was ... a lot of them are distinctly different, but we never run out of inspiration, because there's so much source material." Sorbye has no trouble being pragmatic: "It's really cool to see how much good, bad, mediocre and great material we've done." The current lineup features Sorbye, Lazo and Mullen, along with Dublin's Ronan Carroll on guitar and vocals, and a newly added Austrian, Ariane Cap, on bass and vocals. Saturday's show will be hosted by Mike Gerrel. As a city of Davis employee for 24 years, Gerrel was responsible for managing the Vets', and also has served as a longtime friend of band. "We met many years ago, when I was stage manager for the State Fair," Gerrel recalled. "They were playing five or six sets over as many days, and I was working their sound at the time. I remember them mentioning that they needed a place to stay. Well, I had an extra room, and they all wound up crashing on my floor. "We've been friends ever since." Given all the anticipation, Gerrel was asked to describe what to expect at a typical Tempest show. "Loud," he said, without hesitation. "But it's great rocking, raucous Celtic music." The band is proud to bring its anniversary show to Davis - and a portion of the proceeds have been earmarked to support the Navajo people of Big Mountain, Ariz. - and while Sorbye noted that our fair city has been one of the anchors for the band's fan base, the setting really prompted the decision. "We've been using the Veterans' Memorial for 10 years, and we love the venue. People are coming from Washington, Ohio and Texas to see the show .... and people in the Bay Area don't seem to mind driving up an hour, hour and a half, to see us play this particular show. "We've got great seating and a great dance floor here," Sorbye continued. "And I'm really looking forward to it. "It's cause for celebration. The whole purpose of the band is to make people feel good, and give them a good experience they can walk away from. "This is a way of saying 'thank you' to our loyal fans."