Live!
Who: Tempest and Patrick's Head When: 9:30 p.m., Saturday Where: Jammin' Java, Vienna
The music of Tempest, whose five members hail from five countries, reflects strong traditional European folk influences.
(By Don Corning)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Oakland, Calif.- based Tempest is a folk-rock band that comes down decidedly on the folk, rather than the rock, side of the equation. That's not to say the band can't get raucous and even heavy, but its mixture of traditional and original Celtic and Scandinavian melodies sounds more conventional than that of popular Celtic punks such as Flogging Molly or the Dropkick Murphys.
What a rock fan gets out of listening to Tempest is a sense of just how influential traditional European folk music has been to some of the great rock bands. Try listening to Tempest and not hearing just where Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull got some of their best ideas.
Tempest has been together more than 17 years in one incarnation or another, the two constants being singer and electric mandolin-player Lief Sorbye and drummer Adolfo Lazo. Rounding out the band's current lineup are guitarist Ronan Carroll, fiddler Michael Mullen and bassist Ariane Cap.
The band is a mini-United Nations: Sorbye hails from Oslo, Lazo from Havana, Carroll from Dublin, Cap from Innsbruck, Austria, and Mullen from Fresno, Calif. Their newest album, "The Double-Cross," was released this year by Magna Carta Records.
Philadelphia's Patrick's Head, which also performs on Saturday, independently released its fourth album, "Traditional Gentlemen of the Road," last year. The roots rock trio comprises guitarists Patrick Mansfield and Scott Wikander (Philly and Jersey boys, respectively) and Dublin-born singer John Byrne.
-- C. WOODROW IRVIN
Jammin' Java is at 227 Maple Ave. E. in Vienna. Tickets are $15. For information, call 703-255-1566 or visithttp:/
