Jonathan Tiersten

Born in 1966 in New York City, Jonathan Tiersten originally got his start in film. After playing a role in a cult horror classic Sleepaway Camp, Tiersten studied drama at the University of New York along with Adam Sandler and Molly Shannon. In 1987, he acted in an after-school show called "Seasonal Differences", but by that time he was tired of the acting industry. Tiersten quit his film career and moved from New York City to Fort Collins, Colorado in 1991. There he operated a bar, the Mountain Tap Tavern, the site of David Gray's first North American appearance. Tiersten began taking guitar lessons and soon was fronting his own band. In 1998, Tiersten released his debut album, Heaven on Hapi Skratch Records. The record proved to be a regional success and received much radio airplay. From there Tiersten formed a short-lived underground rock group called Gafiltaphunk. After the group disbanded, he turned his attention to a folk, rock and blues group called Bambi's Apartment. In 1999, the group released its debut album Who's Bambi?. The band performed throughout Colorado and the Pacific Coast and released two EPs soon after. After 2001's BA2K Live EP was released, Bambi's Apartment disbanded. Tiersten then formed another group, Ten Tiers, a group with similar tones to David Bowie, Neil Young, Counting Crows and Radiohead.