Wild Stormin' with the Tempests
Discover Magazine Sept, 1999.
Rick Gagnon & Dave Gnerre


Picture the scene: it’s 1958 in Rochester, New York. A young rockin’ guitar picker named Dave Casperson is handing out business cards to promote his band. They boast, ‘The Tempests - For the WILD SOUND!’ And they weren’t lyin’!
‘We named ourselves The Tempests because we played like a wild storm!’ exclaimed Casperson, who reverted to the original Norwegian spelling of ‘Kaspersin’ in 1983. Today Kaspersin and his original Tempests aren’t the wild bunch they once were. But in their minds the memory lives large.

Kaspersin’s first group was the Echo-Trons, which formed in 1956. He had started playing guitar during the early ‘50s. ‘Rock ‘n’ roll was my whole life back then,’ Kaspersin said. ‘I hated school, was ugly, and the guitar let me fly away.’

The group’s name reflected Kaspersin’s fascination with reverb and electronics. ‘I was Tom Edison in my last life,’ he quipped. He built the band’s PA system, as well as a portable light show. ‘I hated playing under white lights, and somehow I knew the importance of colors to music. I also controlled the lights myself from foot switches.’


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