Tempa and the Tantrums Band Biography

Westword Music Showcase Awards Best Blues Band Nominee for 2001 and 2003

Voted one of the Top Ten Blues Bands in Colorado!

Nominated for Best Blues Band in the 2001 Annual Colorado Springs Music Awards

Tempa and The Tantrums -

     Tempa's searing,soulful voice brings energy and excitement to the Colorado Music Community. She is most commonly compared to Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, Koko Taylor, and Diana Krall.
     With more than 17 years of professional experience, Tempa knows how to entertain her audience.
     Before starting her own band,Tempa captured the attention of Denver music lovers as a member of the Flesh Mannequins.
     Tempa's style infuses Blues, Cajun, R&B, Bluegrass, and Rock to create a style all her own.
Tempa's childhood was filled with rich musical influences. Her first memory is of hearing music.
When she was a little girl she was fed Bluegrass and Gospel music for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A childhood evening was usally spent watching and joining in with her grandmother and uncles singing, playing, and dancing.
     She moved to Florida at the age of five and lived in a bus with no electricity on 71/2 acres with her her lovely enchantress hippie mother. At the age of four she wrote her first song. At the age of seven she was asked to sing it for the local radio station. From that moment on she knew she wanted to be a singer/songwriter.
     The Tantrums evolving lineup includes Joseph Barton on guitar. Joseph is also Tempa's songwriting partner. David Foret "Puddin" on bass and backing vocals.
     They must be doing things right because their fanbase is growing and Tempa and the Tantrums have been nominated for 2 Westword Music Showcase Awards in the last three years. {2001 and 2003}
     Tempa has shared the stage with such notable acts as BB King, Jeff Beck, Bernard Allison, Luther Allison, Lucky Peterson, Tab Benoit, Lonnie Brooks, Shemika Copeland, Coco Montoya, Anson Funderburgh, and RL Burnside {to name a few} at major festivals and theaters all across the region. {they recently played Fiddler's Green!}
     Additionally, her music has been played on various radio stations such as The Peak {96.5 FM} Alice {106 FM} in Denver, KGNU Boulder, and other radio stations worldwide.

Joe Seph - I first remember hearing the drums in an Elvis song at the age of seven or eight. I was attracted to the rhythm, but parents don't really want to buy their children drums. At the age of 16 I bought myself a twelve string acoustic guitar because of the big full sound I got when I played it.
I studied Music Theory, just enough to get me into trouble. I got my first Gibson,ES 355 and so began the guitar collecting phase of my life. I had a bad experience with a guitar repairman on a setup, and with that came the lesson that if you wanted something done right, you best do it yourself. From that moment on I did all my own work on my guitars.
After several years of music projects not working out, I put music aside and traveled the country for a few years. The music stayed with me and finally in 96/97 I came back to music by picking up the Bass guitar. I became a full time Bass player playing with various Denver bands where I learned the subtleties of rhythmic variation.
I ran into Tempa several times in 1999 at various open stages around town. Tempa and I with our new found friend and drummer Brian McClure, formed Tempa and the Tantrums in March of 2000. This gave me the chance to apply to the guitar what I had learned on bass.
Tempa and the Tantrums has always been a band with amazing vocals, dynamics, & musicianship.
The new lineup is the BEST it's ever been!

I am David Foret and here is my story.

I grew up in the swamps of Louisiana, a stones throw from New Orleans. When I was nine I started to learn the guitar. My grandfather, who lived fifty miles away would visit once a week. When he would visit he would hand me a piece of paper with a few guitar chords on it that my cousin Neil would send me. I would learn those chords and by the time my gramps would visit I would be ready for the next set of chords. Soon I started to jam with friends. We played Rock & Roll, Country, Cajun and Zydeco. There were a ton of great players in my neighborhood. I started to feel lost in a sea of great players. Then on day at rehearsals, my piano player looked over at me and said "Hey Dave, you suck on the guitar. You should play bass and we should hire a killer guitar player." I was upset for a short period. Then I realized that there were no bass players around and that I could get a lot of work. I became a student of the instrument and it has put food on my table and a roof over my head. I now thank my friend for telling me that I sucked on the guitar. It changed my life.
Since then it has taken me all over the world. Here are a few of the artists that I have had the honor of laying down some Fat Grooves for.
Blues guitarist Tab Benoit
Sixties icon Mitch Ryder
Guitar legend James Burton
Zydeco practitioners The Zukes Of Zydeco
Drum great Gregg Bissonotte
For the past five years I have played bass for Doug Kershaw. I have also been recording with a new up and coming guitarist and vocalist Michael Hornbuckle. You will hear from this kid!!!
When I heard Tempa sing, I knew I had to be part of her band.

Needing your soul saved?
See Dave!!!

Roxane Staples

Special guest artist for Tantrums unplugged "light" shows

I am a deeply strange woman, with a bizarre background. I am from Detroit, Michigan (where the weak are killed and eaten). I come from a family of classical string players. I spent the first 20 years of my life closeted in a basement practicing the flute, with the intent of becoming a classical flautist. The practice of working on a 13-minute piece, non-stop for months at a time instilled a lifelong habit of demented music listening. When I get a new CD, I will listen to the first cut over and over again, and then move to the second cut. It can take months to listen to one album, from beginning to end. I am constantly "discovering" 30-year-old albums (I say constantly, but each one takes half a year to digest).

Back to my boy-in-the-bubble background. When I was 13, the family television broke down, and nobody ever fixed it. I hardly noticed, since I spent all waking hours in the before-mentioned basement. The result of all of this myopia is that I find myself approaching 40, having lived in a cultural vacuum. I have no musical influences, and have never watched the Simpsons. Thank God that I am charming.

It will not surprise you to hear that the movie character that I most identify with is Chancy Gardner, played by Peter Sellers in "Being there".

I went to college to study Music at Eastern Michigan University, and dropped out in my third year, after a dog chewed on my hand. A very strange thing happened then. I put my flute in its case, and didn't remove it for 7 years. I didn't even think of myself as a musician, since I hadn't finished my "studies".

I ran door-to-door political canvasses all over the country for years until I found myself in Toledo, Ohio (South Detroit, minus the charm). One day I saw an ad for an open mike at the only Jazz club in town and decided to go. I went home and practiced scales all day and went to the club that night, fearful that someone would corner me, screaming "impostor!"

Oh course, that didn't happen. When I got on the stage, the band asked me what tunes I know. I told them to play something, and I'd fudge it. When we finished the song, everyone in the band was shaking their heads and one of them said "Biiiiggg Ears".

Since then, I have only been in two bands, but I have been welcome on the stage on anyone who has ever heard me. This is probably because if I can hear it, I can play it.

I think that the flute is a sweet, sexy instrument, and should be played accordingly. It's also pretty damn fun.

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