Tempest is an American Celtic rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, based in Oakland, California. They fuse the traditional Celtic music with Norwegian and European folk, American folk, and progressive rock.
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History
The band formed in 1988 with Lief Sørbye (mandolin, vocals), Adolfo Lazo (drums), Rob Wullenjohn (guitar), and Mark Showalter (bass). The band has seen a changing cast of musicians, with Sørbye and Lazo being the only two constant members throughout the duration of the band's existence.
The current lineup consists of Lief Sørbye (mandolin, vocals), Adolfo Lazo (percussion), and returning former members; Rob Wullenjohn (guitar), Jon Berger (fiddle) and Ian Butler (bass). Lief is from Oslo, Norway and Adolfo Lazo from Havana, Cuba, while current members Rob, Jon and Ian are from the United States. In 2010, Tempest 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. In 2022 the band released the CD Going Home, their first album after leaving Magna Carta records. It was released on Celtidelic Records, and engineered by Robert Berry at Berry's Soundtek Studios.