First/Last - The Still Tide

"Turbulent and tender songwriting driven by a stormy voice that will leave you a little cut up."

The Still Tide is a shoegaze folk rock outfit from Denver currently on a brief East Coast tour that brings the band back to Pittsburgh on Wednesday  (5/18) at the Pittsburgh Winery with CALI and Mike Molaro supporting. I want to thank Jacob Miller (Guitar) for taking the time to participate in this edition of First/Last.

The first album you ever bought?
Voodoo Lounge by The Rolling Stones. My dad gave me a Walkman when I was about 8 years old, still probably have that cassette floating around somewhere. I also won a game of paddle ball on the beach when I was probably about 12 and used the winnings to buy Sleater-Kinney's Call The Doctor, that would be the first on CD.

Your last album bought?
Two days ago I found a promo copy of some live Springsteen stuff at a flea market in Detroit.

Favorite album of all time?
The Beatles, Abbey Road. We always listened to it in the car on family vacations, no matter where or when I hear it it feels like summer on Cape Cod.

Least favorite/most disappointing album?
Oh man. Putting aside the glut of horrible albums that you just kind of end up with over the course of a tour, Metallica's St. Anger pretty much has to take the cake on that one. I was a huge metal head in high school, we used to drink 40ozs of Olde English and blast Master Of Puppets in my friend Steve's basement pretty much every Friday night so that was a pretty huge disappointment.

First concert attended?
My family's friend Dave Burrell at the Knitting Factory in Manhattan. I was about 4 years old and started crying because the place smelled like pee. We had to leave. The first one that I went to as a semi-autonomous person was L7 when I was 13, a crowd surfer broke my glasses. Also cried, I was clearly built for rock 'n' roll.

Last concert?
Kurt Vile at The Granada in Lawrence, KS. A friend got tickets months ago and we road tripped from Denver to Lawrence to catch the show. Totally worth it, late night partying in the motel hot tub after the show.

Favorite concert ever?
Radiohead at Field Day Festival in Paramus, NJ. Probably 2003? It rained all day, Beck canceled, and the Beastie Boys were terrible, but when Radiohead came out it stopped raining and they played a beautiful set. The rain started up again right when they finished. We had VIP passes for some reason and got to meet Elliot Smith. It was a pretty special day.

Least favorite concert?
Same as above, the Beastie Boys set was awful. They didn't know any of their own songs, kept on stopping in the middle and starting different ones, then ended early. It was a drag because as a boy in NYC I had friends who could do the entirety of Paul's Boutique a cappella, they were a pretty formative group for us.

Any thoughts, experiences about Pittsburgh?
Pittsburgh is always fascinating to me because of its architecture; certain neighborhoods in the city still seem the same as they did when I watched The Deer Hunter many years ago. The light is interesting, somehow clear and mellow all at once.

Thanks, Jake. I don't want to get TOO technical but The Deer Hunter was filmed in Clairton, which is about 15 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. Now if you mentioned Flashdance...