“Roulette Waves is a American grunge rock band formed by singer and guitarist Heather Donovan and lead guitarist Jared Augustus Creighton in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in September 2013. Roulette Waves first started out as a three piece with former drummer Aiden Angle. The three piece released a five track EP called “Move, Feel, Live, the Message.” Daniel Gray former bassist also played in the beginning of 2014 with the band. In July 2014, Greg Brunner joined the band as the current drummer along with bassist Gordy Brash in November 2014. Creighton has decided to enjoy music behind the scenes as a recording producer. Derrick Davila will join the band as the new lead guitarist on August 8th. Roulette Waves have played with bands such as Hank & Cupcakes, Shellshag, Kind of like Spitting, Free Throw, and The City On Film.”

Roulette Waves is an ‘in your face, make no apologies’ grunge band from Pittsburgh who will be celebrating the release of their latest (and I might add, excellent) album “Blown Out” this upcoming Saturday (8/1) with a show at Spirit in Lawrenceville with local faves Dumplings, KHeeS and Swampwalk as support. Much thank to Heather Donovan (Guitar/Lead Vocals), Greg Brunner (Drums), Derrick Davilla (Lead Guitar), Gordy Brash (Bass) and Jared Augustus Creighton (Lead Guitars) for taking the time to participate in this edition of First/Last.

The first album you ever bought?

• Heather Donovan: Blink 182 “Enema of the State”.
• Greg Brunner: Green Day “Dookie”.
• Derrick Davilla: Nine Inch Nails “Broken”.
• Gordy Brash: Oh man, I think either Incubus “Fungus Amongus” or Sugar Ray “14:59”.
• Jared ‘Gus’ Creighton: Micheal Jackson “Dangerous”.
• Your last album bought?
• Heather: Jamie xx “In Colour”.
• Greg: Jim Croce “Greatest Hits” (it was 50 cents!!)
• Derrick: Dead Batteries “Sessions in the Red”.
• Gordy: Screaming Females “Rose Mountain”.
• Gus: The Decemberists “Terrible World, Beautiful World”.
• Favorite album of all time?
• Heather: Taking Back Sunday “Where You Want to Be” or The Used “The Used”.
• Greg: Queens of the Stone Age :Songs for the Deaf”.
• Derrick: Red Hot Chili Peppers “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”.
• Gordy: Super hard question so I’ll just go with some albums I’ve been digging a lot lately! Ava Luna “Infinite House”, Unknown Mortal Orchestra “Multi Love”, Thee Oh Sees “Castlemania”, and Screaming Females “Rose Mountain”.
• Gus: “Get Behind Me Satan” The White Stripes.
• Least favorite/most disappointing album?
• Heather: Taking Back Sunday “Happiness Is”.
• Greg: Hmmm… Green Day “Warning”. That’s when Green Day started to suck.
• Derrick: Mars Volta’s “Frances the Mute” only because it followed such an epic 1st album “Deloused in the Comatorium”.
• Gordy: GetGo – Our Food Sucks (you’re welcome, Gordy – Greg).
• Gus: “Newer” of Montreal.
• First concert attended?
• Heather: Three Days Grace in Pittsburgh, 2004.
• Greg: Ha-ha, oh goodness. Skillet with my Dad in 90-something. First big one on my own was Blink 182 in 2002.
• Derrick: Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers 99′.
• Gordy: Neil Young and Crazy Horse in Japan, 2003.
• Gus: No idea.
• Last concert?
• Heather: Interpol got cancelled… BUSH before that.
• Greg: Bush in Pittsburgh, 2015.
• Derrick: Heartless Bastards.
• Gordy: THE ROLLING STONES!!!!
• Gus: Dumplings.
• Favorite concert ever?
• Heather: No Doubt at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pavilion in 2009 or Brand New at AJ Palumbo Center in 2007.
• Greg: Queens of the Stone Age in Pittsburgh, PA in 2013. Hands down. Followed closely by MXPX at a house show just outside of Pittsburgh. That was nuts.
• Derrick: The Dead Weather at The Fillmore in Detroit, MI.
• Gordy: Super hard question once again. Either The Dead Weather’s first show ever at 9:30 club in D.C. in 2009 (Screaming Females opened!!!), St. Vincent and Radiohead back to back at Bonnaroo 2012, or Deerhoof at the Andy Warhol Museum.
• Gus: The White Stripes at the Boston Opera House in 2005.
• Least favorite concert?
• Heather: Alt-J at The Benedum in 2015. They’re amazing but the show was too long and I wasn’t in to the performance. They’re more of a chill and listen band but the concert was huge so it wasn’t intimate.
• Greg: I’m sure I’ve been to worse, but BUSH was pretty boring. Wanted it to be wayyyyy better.
• Derrick: Ozzfest 2000.
• Gordy: I saw NIN and Jane’s Addiction at First Niagara about 6 or 7 years ago for like 5 bucks. NIN was pretty cool but Jane’s Addiction just sucked. Ha-ha.
• Gus: Lynyrd Skynyrd.
• Favorite thoughts, experiences about Pittsburgh?
• Heather: I love Pittsburgh and its music scene. I’m only about two years into the multiple scenes of music (DIY, open-mic, big promoters, or local cliques) and I enjoy experiencing everything. I’ve learned to be strong and true to myself. Musicians can easily get taken advantage of by promoters or writing songs that aren’t really them to please people. Networking is something that is very important and can make or break a band depending on your audience; however music has and always will be a way to express myself. When people are impacted or feel something when we step on stage that’s the response I hope for. Support your local bands and make Pittsburgh a place where musicians come from, because there’s a lot of talent here!
• Greg: Black and Yellow. Black and Yellow. Black and Yellow.
• Derrick: I’ve moved here, moved away, and came back two years ago. I like this city’s contagious team spirit, ultra-supportive art & music scene. It’s a great city to experience a mixture of good old Pgh. Staples, budding venues & small businesses. It’s an exciting city of steady growth of art, music, and culture.
• Gordy: I’ve been living in the city for a little over 1 year now. I love it here, it’s a small town atmosphere just magnified about a thousand times. Just watching the music scene explode over the past year has been super cool. I’m really excited about what Pittsburgh has to offer with all of its “up and coming” hype actually becoming reality.
• Gus: Gum bands, yellow everything.

Thanks, all. Congrats on the record, it is kickin’! Saturday should be a very sweet time.