As Tall As Lions – Sonic Cocktails

Musically evolved beyond their years and worldlier than their Long Island roots, As Tall As Lions consists of lead singer/guitarist Daniel Nigro, guitarist Saen Fitzgerald, bassist Julio Tavarez and drummer Cliff Sarcona.   Their first CD, Lafcadio was an indie rock collection released in 2004. All the signs of brilliance were there – intricate instrumentals, lyrical depth and the vocal genius of Nigro.  In 2006, their self-titled sophomore album dug even deeper into the soundwell – reaching a new range of introspection, both musically and emotionally.

As Tall As Lions is a landscape of instruments that continually overlap to create a sonic cocktail – part orchestral pop, part lounge with a Latin backbeat holding it all in check.  The opener, “Stab City” has cinematic callings with echoing keyboards and theatrical horns that lift and lower in cascades.  Nigro’s passionate falsetto adds to the mix, as each song seamlessly segues into the next.   “Love, Love, Love”, “Ghosts of York” and “Milk and Honey” further channel ATAL’s creative steam with plummeting guitar riffs and shuddering keyboards.  “Song For Luna” is a percussion-driven samba with romantized lyrics, “Sing into the moonlight/Who could ask for more?”  And quite honestly, with Nigro’s voice laying down the tracks, who could ask for more?

But apparently, their record label asked (Triple Crown) and ATAL answered with the EP, Into The Flood this past November.  Nigro’s captivating tenor continues to transcend us from darkness in one moment to daydreams in the next.  Just enough of a good thing to hold us over until their third release due out later this year.  Glide got a glimpse into the Lion’s den and here’s what Nigro had to say…

Tell me about your band name?

Our guitarist had it in a poem of his.  When I saw the name, it always irked me that people would misinterpret it and say, ‘but lions aren’t tall’.  But it’s more symbolic for pride. 

What are some of the major differences between your first album, Lafcadio and As Tall As Lions?

Growth and maturity.  There were a lot of insecurities going into making the first record.  We were between 18 and 20 when we wrote most of the songs.  Some were even written in high school.  So there was a certain amount of innocence in it for us.  As we grew older and experienced touring, we were able to capture more in our second album…we sort of knew what we should and shouldn’t do.  We were able to break down those walls and be more open in our songwriting.

You sound very worldly.  What are some of your influences?

Besides the obvious of listening to Radiohead, Julio and Saen started getting into Buena Vista Social Club and that led into listening to Ibraham Ferrara who went solo from that band.   Then Julio got into Can which is a krautrock band and Saen and I got into Neil Young and Bob Dylan.  We also dabbled in Motown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield.  So, we’re kind of all over the map.

What was the motivation behind the songs seguing into each other on As Tall As Lions?

For a lot of songs, we wanted to create a certain momentum.  We found that our favorite records were those that went in and out of each other.  But we didn’t consciously decide to do that.  After we finished the album, we sat with it for about two months before we came up with a track listing.  We had about 10 different variations of how they should flow into each other and we finally figured out which ones belonged back to back. 

There’s references constantly to your similarity to Jeff Buckley…

Well, I’ve listened to him for the last five years and I love the comparison.  He’s one of my favorite singers.

What would you say are some differences between As Tall As Lions and your EP, Into The Flood?

One thing we wanted to steer away from with the EP  was over-thinking every song.  We were extremely over-meticulous with our second album…sitting on songs for months at a time, going over vocal melodies, changing lyrics here and there.  When you keep on playing a song so much, it kinda loses its feel.  With As Tall As Lions, we spent 6 weeks recording it…with Into The Flood with spent only six days.  The biggest difference for us was just going for it.  We didn’t debate over guitar tones for nine hours.  We just picked up the guitar, plugged it in, got something that sounded good and recorded it.

The record label only gave you three weeks to record the EP.  How hectic was that?
 
Those songs were all literally picked out of a hat.  Everyone in the band writes songs, so we have all these demos that we’ve recorded on our laptop.  Saen would record himself playing the drums, overdubbing it with some piano and bass.  And then I would come in and lay down some piano and a vocal melody in a one minute clip.  So they weren’t actually songs, but more of song ideas.  We picked five ideas out of all the demos.  We could have had a whole album again, but it was a real rush.  Not something I want to do again anytime real soon.  All in all, we spent a year making the CD and three weeks making the EP (laughs).
 
It’s hard to believe you’ve never had any vocal lessons, since your voice is constantly applauded…

Well, I’ve had a few lessons recently, but I haven’t had any formal vocal training.  I always wanted to sing, but when we started our band in high school, my cousin was supposed to be the singer.  He didn’t show up for the first two practices, so I offered to fill in.  I had no clue how to sing and no idea what being in pitch was or what harmony was.  As ridiculous as it sounds, I was 15 years old and I just wanted to be the frontman.  I was never in the chorus at school and I actually had a pretty terrible voice (laughs).  My training was listening to singers like Jeff Buckley and trying to sing like him.

Are you classically trained?

Yes, I took piano lessons as a child and I play the piano in the band.  Not live, but on our album I play 90% of the piano parts.  We have an honorary member, Rob Parr from Ohio, and he plays keyboards while we’re on tour.

You’re compared to Coldplay constantly, but I don’t hear it…

Well, it’s interesting because everybody in our band at one point or another was a big Coldplay fan.  I was very into them from my freshman to junior year in college.  They’re definitely embedded in our music history, but we don’t listen to them anymore. And people say we sound like them, but we never hear it either.  I guess with any music you listen to over the years, it influences you consciously or subconsciously.

Between the second album, the EP and now the third album plus touring, there seems to be no let-up.   How do you handle it?

Well, with any job or type of art, there’s days that you love it and days that you hate it.  Right now we’re in a real positive place.  We just started writing for the new record and we’ve had some very productive practices.  Whereas two months ago, all of our energies were drained from the EP.   We spent three weeks, 14 hours a day in a studio.  So we took a few weeks off …didn’t play music at all.  It was the best thing that could have happened.  We felt refreshed coming back in.

It was very encouraging that the record company wanted you to put out an EP right after your album…

Yeah.  Our record label is definitely behind the band and that’s a good thing because lots of bands suffer from having a label that doesn’t return calls, is hard to get in touch with, etc.  We have a good relationship, so we’re grateful for that.

You often refer to artists such as Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye.  Would you have liked to be a musician in the ‘70’s?

Well, it’s funny because Julio always says, “Man, I wish we were around in the ‘70’s.”  I think it would be easier for our band to be successful in those times. It’s very hard to be unique these days and have record labels spend time or money on you because it’s all about the singles and bands that can pop out hits or have a ‘schtick’ to them.  For instance, I think if “Love, Love, Love” was around in 1968 it would be a hit.  A song like that has a timeless appeal – at least in my head.  In today’s society, all the radio is playing are these uptempo songs…people don’t want to listen to slow songs. 

What direction are you heading in with your third album?

That’s still to be determined.  As I’ve said, everybody in the band writes — even though there’s an overall ATAL  aesthetic to it, there’s definitely variations in our songwriting.  For instance, recently we were working on two songs which sounded completely different from each other.  We weren’t sure that they belonged on the same record, ya know?  Should we limit ourselves or should we just put anything out there and make it as crazy as we want?  

I say go with your gut like you did with “Love, Love, Love”.  Two years ago, you thought it was crazy for children to be singing in the chorus, but you did it anyway and it sounds amazing…

They were actually Julio’s brother, his two sisters and their friends.  It took us a long time to get them to sing well (laughs).  It wasn’t all honky-dory like, “Yeah, we’re going into the studio and we’ll do one take!”  We spent about three hours at Julio’s house practicing with them and then we took them into the studio for another four or five hours to get it right.  But it was pretty incredible…they were just a bunch of little kids that sang in really high-pitched voices.

Your songs are known to be sexy.  Has Marvin Gaye rubbed off on you?

Oh, definitely (laughs).  People always say that they like to have sex to our records.  I think that’s a great compliment.

What has been the most memorable moment for you up to this point?

I have a lot of them.  Playing on Jimmy Kimmel in July was definitely surreal.  Sitting backstage with Petra Nemcova in the dressing room next to us and then waiting to go on stage with some guy with headphones on yelling, ‘You’re up in two minutes!”  It was pretty unbelievable and Jimmy Kimmel was a really nice guy.  Very down to earth…so that was pretty cool.

Joanne Schenker lives in New York and is a contributing writer for Glide and music columnist for Canvas Magazine.  She can be reached at [email protected].  or at her blog: www.jocoschenker.typepad.com.

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