Roaring Back: As Tall as Lions, 'You Can't Take It With You'

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NUMEROUS LINEUP CHANGES, creative breakdowns and failed tours could be the end of any band. But for Long Island's indie rock outfit As Tall as Lions, all those obstacles just helped make the band more resilient — and picky, says lead singer Dan Nigro.

"Each time someone has left the band, it's been hard on everyone for obvious reasons, although it hasn't happened in over five years now," Nigro said. "But from each time it did happen, we learned what we liked and didn't like in that previous member, and tried to make sure those qualities were there or weren't there with the next member."

And now, with a fixed lineup of Nigro, guitarist Saen Fitzgerald, drummer Cliff Sarcona and bassist Julio Tavarez, As Tall as Lions recently released its third album, "You Can't Take It With You," and will hit Sixth and I Synagogue on Nov. 11 as the openers for Mutemath. [Read our recent interview with Mutemath here.]

Nigro spoke to Express about how As Tall as Lions started, the pressures of making music full-time and the recording process that went into the band's latest record.

» EXPRESS: How and when did As Tall as Lions get together, and what was your original vision for the band?
» NIGRO: Cliff, Saen and I have been playing music together since we were in high school. When we were in college, we formed As Tall as Lions with the simple intent of playing and writing music together. I don't think there was a specific focus on any certain style of music, as long as we enjoyed creating it together. As far as commitment-level, we were all pretty committed as much as we could be. We were going to college during the week, and would all come home on the weekends to practice and write. Once we got signed in 2003 [to Triple Crown Records], we all dropped out [of] college and started to pursue this full time.

» EXPRESS:How did you guys create your first EP, "Blood and Aphorisms," and what kind of a role did that album play in your extended debut, "Lafcadio"? I read in a few interviews that putting the first album together was a stressful experience.
» NIGRO: Our first EP was recorded at Vudu Studios in Long Island, where we recorded our self-titled record, over the course of a few months. We were funding it ourselves, so it was done on the weekends here and there when we were home from school and when we had the money. When we signed to our label, they wanted us to record some of the songs off the EP over again for our album, so the intention of "Lafcadio" was to pretty much write a few more songs and basically add onto what we already had.

This was the first time anyone was ever overseeing anything that we had been doing, and for me, one day, it just sort of hit me. I put an unattainable goal on myself of thinking I had to write these songs that were going to blow everyone, my band and my label, away, and would basically just sit in the practice space with writer's block, hoping that these songs would miraculously come to me. Sadly, the problem never really fixed itself, and the record was — for me — a disaster.

» EXPRESS: But your self-titled album came out in 2006 to really solid reviews, especially from places like Absolute Punk and Alternative Press, who praised you for different textures and grooves that bring to mind U2 and The Mars Volta. How did that compare to putting together "Lafcadio," and what did you guys want to achieve with your self-titled?
» NIGRO: We got what we wanted out of our self-titled. We spent about six months writing the record and another two months recording it, so we were very clear as to the types of songs we wanted to write for the record and the type of sound we wanted. We wanted the record to be polished but still have an organic quality to it; there was no sound-replacement or tuning used on the record. All the tones and performances are real, which sounds silly to even say, because you would think that's the way it should always be, but it's really not the case for many out there now.

» EXPRESS: How did your touring sync up with the recording process for "You Can't Take It With You," and how did the process for that album compare or contrast to your previous times in the studio?
» NIGRO: It didn't really sync up — we finished touring off our self-titled in December '07 and started writing the new record in January '08. We had been touring so much off the self-titled we didn't spend much time figuring out when or where we were going to record the next one. Starting in January, we sat down, and the original game plan was to take about four months and write the record. But we spent those months getting used to the dynamic our band had for writing songs together, and also changing the dynamic of it. We also wanted to change our recording approach. While we were really happy with the way our self-titled record sounded, there was definitely a certain staleness to recording it piece by piece. We wanted to make sure the new record didn't feel that way.

» EXPRESS: So how did you do things differently for this album, and what do you think of the end result? Some places like BLARE Magazine have called you guys this year's "musical savior" for the album.
» NIGRO: This record was a little more rough-around-the-edges than the previous. We had originally planned or recording the record live, but due to a few bumps in the road we ended up recording most of it similar to the last. Three of the songs were, however, recorded live, with bells and whistles added later.

» Sixth & I Synagogue, 600 I Street NW; Wed., Nov. 11, 8 p.m.; $20 in advance, $23 day-of-show; (202) 408-3100. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)

Written by Express contributor Roxana Hadadi
Photos courtesy As Tall as Lions