After meeting as students at the University of California-Berkeley,
Tempo No Tempo's original foursome -- Tyler McCauley (guitar, vocals), Alex Kaiser (drums), Jason Wexler (bass, synthesizer/keys, vocals), and Chris Cadena (vocals, keys) -- solidified as an official band in 2005. Despite each member coming in with a wide variety of musical influences, the group started with a dance-punk sound in order to get shows playing at collectives and house parties. In 2006 the band self-released an EP,
The Get Down, which stayed with their dance party, synth pop sound, but by 2007 and the release of their second EP, Repetition on Double Negative,
Tempo No Tempo had expanded their sphere of influence to include African Ewe drumming (thanks to a course offering at Berkeley) and allowed more flexibility for their indie rock influences to come through. In 2009 Cadena left the band and
Tempo No Tempo continued on as a trio, recording their first full-length, Waking Heat, with Jay Pellicci, and self-releasing it via limited vinyl pressings and digital copies. Waking Heat expanded on their West African rhythm fascination -- as heard in their song "Pole Position," where the underlying melody comes from a Ghanaian traditional call-and-response tune. The band has since been invited to play at the 2009 and 2010 South by Southwest music festivals and has toured nationally. ~ Jeremy Shulkin