Last Tide

When Afrobeat marvels Nomo came to DC9 two months ago, not many people had heard of their opener, Last Tide, and certainly nobody there expected a sound that drifted so far from jazzy horns and African percussion. Last Tide’s atmospherics lay somewhere between shoegaze-inspired haze and dark new wave synths. This is especially noticeable when keyboardist Libby Dorot takes the vocals, recalling Tina Weymouth’s Talking Heads tracks.

Despite producing songs are that dark and mysterious, singer/guitarist Nate Frey, singer/keyboardist Dorot, bassist Rob Miller and drummer Misha Alexander are full of good humor. DCist sat down with Last Tide over a few drinks in Bethesda and talked about their current project and influences, covering songs from the ’90s, and the mysterious story of how they all met.

See them next: Tonight at the Black Cat Backstage with Ringo Deathstarr and State Department. $10. 9 p.m.

Find them online at: http://www.myspace.com/lasttide

Buy their album: At the Black Cat tonight. It’s their CD release party.

So how’d you guys meet each other?

Misha: (laughs) So we went to a strip club…to a Swedish underground bondage party.

Nate: Yeah, we’ll go with that. Not on Craigslist, certainly.

What I’d heard is the BYT comments section.

Misha: Oh, that’s probably in reference to the Great American Challenge.

Rob: We could have more interviews about giant dildos if you want?

Who the hell interviewed you about giant dildos?

Nate: Patrick from Ra Ra Rasputin.

Is he in your band now?

Nate: Sometimes. He’s going to play the two shows at the end of this month with us and hopefully some fraction of the November shows. We kind of agreed that he has Pat Smear status. Comes and goes as he pleases, kind of.

Misha: It sounds really good when he plays in practices with us.

Libby: I really like what he adds.