As Tall as Lions
| As Tall As Lions | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Long Island, New York |
| Genres | Indie rock, emo, alternative rock |
| Years active | 2001–2010 |
| Labels | Triple Crown Records |
| Website | www.astallaslions.com |
| Past members |
Dan Nigro Saen Fitzgerald Cliff Sarcona Brian Fortune Duncan Tootill Brian Caesar Julio Tavarez |
As Tall As Lions was an indie rock band from Long Island, New York.
High school friends Dan Nigro (lead vocals & guitars), Saen Fitzgerald (guitar, keyboards, & percussion), Brian Fortune (guitars & keyboards) and Cliff Sarcona (drums & percussion) founded the band in December 2001 as they were looking to continue the momentum of a previous project.
"Blood and Aphorisms" was released in July 2002 at local venue Backstreet Blues. Upon its release, vocalist Dan Nigro sent the EP to some websites, which caught the attention of then-influential "thescout.net". The EP garnered the band local radio airplay and the attention of the local music scene. Without a permanent live bassist however, the band used studio engineer Rich Leigey, who had worked on the EP, and friend Julio Tavarez, before Dan Nigro began auditioning and recruiting bassists. It wasn't until October 2002 that the band brought on board bassist Brian Caesar. A few months later the band signed a joint development deal with Island Records and Triple Crown Records.
In May 2003, the band relocated to Chicago, Illinois, to record their debut album, Lafcadio with Sean O'Keefe. Asked to re-release the EP by the label, the band settled on handpicking songs from "Blood and Aphorisms" as well as adding new ones.
At the end of October of that year, Nigro, Sarcona and Caesar went back to Chicago's Gravity Studios, using money out of their own pocket and successfully remixed and re-tracked the final three songs. Later the band returned to O'Keefe on several occasions to record the songs "33" & "Mellon Collie..." for an unreleased Smashing Pumpkins tribute album, the song "Children in Bloom" for the Counting Crows compilation album "Dead and Dreaming" and the song "Girl of the North Country" for a Bob Dylan tribute album.
While three of the band members were in Chicago, guitarist Brian Fortune had enrolled at St. John's University in Queens and withdrew from the band. After months of auditioning guitar players with little luck, the band agreed to move vocalist Dan Nigro to guitar (he had previously been strictly a vocalist) and continue on as a quartet. The band set out on numerous tours in support of "Lafcadio" and while they admit they were "young and having fun," they were losing money daily. Then in July 2004, bassist Brian Caesar left the band citing a desire to lead an ordinary life.
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