When Tempo No Tempo began in 2004, the quartet was just four UC Berkeley freshmen fooling around with music. United by little more than a vague desire to be in a band (and a shared love for Fugazi and The Faint), the guys began rehearsing in their dorm rooms and slowly wedged their way into the Berkeley co-op and house party scene.
After some early shuffling, a concrete lineup took shape with Tyler McCauley and Chris Cadena splitting vocal duties while respectively playing the guitar and keyboard. Alex Kaiser mans the drumkit and Jason Wexler rounds out the group on bass. Together the boys craft decidedly uptempo rock music, balancing post-punk rhythms with offbeat pop tendencies reminiscent of mid/late 90’s emo (i.e. back before emo became totally embarrassing).
2006 saw the release of The Get Down, a self-released EP that Pitchfork enthusiastically called a “jagged, melodious blast from start to finish.” Garnering comparisons to bands like Maritime, Q and Not U and Bloc Party, The Get Down received national college radio airplay and prompted San Francisco radio station Live 105 to name Tempo No Tempo one of the “Best 20 Bands in the Bay Area”. Countless shows followed with Tempo No Tempo sharing the stage with bands like Scissors for Lefty, Ima Robot, Persephone’s Bees, Port O’ Brien and The Death of a Party.
Constantly recording at home and honing their craft, the band recently completed Repetition, a new EP that will be released in November 2007.
Other Artists
Spoon, Wire, Otis Redding, Wu-Tang Clan
Band Members
Chris Cadena (vocals/keyboards)Alex Kaiser (drums)Tyler McCauley (vocals/guitar)Jason Wexler (bass)
Influences
Talking Heads, LCD Soundsystem, At The Drive-In, The Strokes, The Faint
Website
myspace.com/temponotempo
