Caliban is a duo that is part of a larger ensemble called Tempest, which invites you to think of Prospero, Ariel, Miranda, and that lot.
Lief Sorbye, a native of Oslo, Norway and a founder of the parent band (Tempest), played his MandoGuitar, an instrument built by Andy Manson. It's a sort of mandolin-on-steroids, a longer than normal neck, and electronics built in, for amplification.
Lief's first musical hero was Bob Dylan, then a friend played an Incredible String Band record for him and the rest, as they say, is history. He began to bring celtic and other assorted esoteric instruments into the rock band mix.
In 1978 he embarked on his great american quest, writing songs and playing on the streets of America from coast to coast. In 1979 he lived in Galway, Ireland, and absorbed "jigs and reels and pints of Guinness stout" before returning to the sunnier weather of California, and where he has remained to this day.
In the winter of '79 he heard members of what was to become the Golden Bough, a celtic folk band, playing Incredible String Band covers in the Plough and Stars in San Francisco. It didn't take long to meld, and the Golden Bough produced six albums with Lief, who left to form Tempest in 1988, but they remain good friends and still play together occasionally. His vision for Tempest was "to combine the folk music experience with the passion of rock and roll."
Michael Mullen is a California native from Fresno and Reedley who developed his musical soul playing in school and youth orchestras before discovering the heart of folk-oriented genres, as opposed to classical, or "serious" violin. (Someone once asked Duke Ellington about the difference between a jazz musician and a serious musician. Duke said he didn't know of any musicians more serious about their music than a jazz musician. And when someone asked Pops aka Satchmo aka Louis Armstrong what he thought of folk music - Peter Paul & Mary, Kingston Trio, Weavers, etc. were big at the time - and Pops said "I don't know no other kind. All the music I know of, folks is playin' it!" Of course, that was before synthesizers, sequencers, and computer-generated "music.") Michael absorbed the influences of country fiddle, swing jazz, and particularly celtic sources; reels, jigs, airs, and celtic songs, as a more exciting alternative to his orchestral musical life.
Michael has had an extensive career in various bands, sometimes as a member of somebody else's project, sometimes as the founder and leader: rock, celtic, country, one imagines there must be some bluegrass in the mix, though his press material doesn't say so specifically. Michael joined Tempest in 1992, was on and off, pursuing other projects, and "rejoined" in 2004. His solo album, Fiddler's Creed, is available here.
Caliban's repertoire ranges from "traditional" (or "folk") celtic material to a cover of Richard Thompson's Beeswing, including a version of a song Traffic popularized as "John Barleycorn Must Die"; "Bold John Barleycorn" (the Caliban version, needless to say, is much different, but the kinship is obvious), and a norwegian 16th century ballad, "Jet Lagde Meg Sa Silde" ("I Laid Me Down to Rest").
In the course of the evening Michael played a short solo set, employing what seems to be a new toy in his arsenal, the Boss Loop Station, which allows a musician to record parts in "real time" and trigger them to play, or not play, as the musician continues to add new material as an overlay, or as an additional track to be called upon, or not, at the performer's whim. It can be a tricky bit of business to get the tracks on and off where you want them, but Michael seemed satisfied with the complex texture he wove, and then unwove, with the help of the device.
Tempest official website - wherein one may encounter the dirt on Caliban, band member bios, and sundry other matters.
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