Web exclusive: A conversation with Dan Nigro of As Tall As Lions

If it felt like you hadn’t heard anything new out of AP Tour alums AS TALL AS LIONS, there’s a good reason. The Long Island indie unit released their self-titled album in 2006 and aside from their 2007 EP, Into The Flood, the band had been relatively quiet as they were hard at work and re-work on a follow-up full-length. Fans prayers were answered last week when ATAL unveiled You Can’t Take It With You, a lush and layered effort that marks a slight departure for the band. Frontman DAN NIGRO spoke with LUCY ALBERS to reveal what went into their new album.




How does it feel to be finally be releasing a new album?

We’re pretty excited. It’s nice to know you’re releasing something you’ve worked on for so long. It’s really an exciting time. We’ve been working on the album for about a year or a year-and-a-half now. I guess we’d like to get the same feedback that anyone would be looking for. We want people to like it, but we realize we might lose some fans and we also might gain some. I’ve read some reviews online, and some [critics] love it to death and some don’t like it at all. I think it’s cool that we’ve made a record that people either love or hate. But, obviously, we want more people to love it.



You began recording with producer Mark Howard, but ended with Noah Shain. Why did you make the change?

Basically, we had worked on the album for quite a long time and it came to the time where we had to find a producer. We had worked with several people, but finding a producer is like looking for someone to deliver your baby. It’s a difficult project and we were kind of overthinking it. We wanted to find a person who could really add to the band. After we fired [Howard], we met with a few other people, but Noah [Shain] was the most passionate by far. He gave us a free session, so we recorded a song and it went really great so went with him. I think we all thought we had more time and the producer always wishes he had an extra week or so, but I think it’s the best we could do.



How does You Can’t Take It With You compare to your previous work?

I think that the biggest difference would have to be that we didn’t spend as much time perfecting it. Basically, we weren’t as meticulous as we were for the last one. We just went for things off the top and tried not to overanalyze everything. We spent less time on each song to let it be more natural. So I guess it’s a little more rough around the edges and a little more natural and heartfelt. [Our self-titled album] seemed so meticulous and perfect. When we were writing the new record, we were writing the record to each other. We felt like if we were doing something too different or going too far off the deep end, it was still going to sound like our band. We thought that if we could find confidence in that, we would feel like it was still our band. Lyrically, it’s different. With the last record, it was really based on relationships ending and falling apart. This is more of an introverted album and about just yourself as opposed to someone else. This is about coming to terms with God and becoming and adult and all the things associated with that–like money and the anxiety of becoming an adult and finding your place in the human race. I always feel a sense of therapy when I’m writing lyrics-more so than writing music. It’s a given. Music is an outlet of expression. You can feel like shit that day and play music with a friend and just let out all of that aggression.



With some of the trouble you went through, were there times where the future of the band was unknown?

There were a bunch of spots. There were two or three different times where we felt like things might end. We spent a lot of time with the record not getting very far and it was making the band feel unhappy as a whole. With all the trouble, it just leaves you questioning yourself and wondering if you were made out to make music at all. Everyone has a different opinion on things, and you just have to fight through everything. I think that kind of separates bands: Those who can make it through the different opinions and those who can’t. You can hear the struggle through a lot of our new songs. “Circles” is a good example of the anxiety attacks that stem from the pressure. “Sixes & Sevens” deals with a lot of the inner struggles of the band and the sarcastic twist of bands focusing on making money and whatnot.



How do you feel about your band’s level of success?

We’ve always kind of liked where we are. There’s a certain kind of pressure that gets put on you at a certain level of popularity. We would like to be a little more successful, but we have a good relationship with our fans and we like the role we play. I don’t really know how to describe the level of success because success is all in your head–it’s so relative from person to person. Some people think we have no success at all and others think we’re very successful.alt