As Tall As Lions - 4.10.06 - Interview

Home

Profiles

Exclusives

Blogs

Forums

Reviews

Gallery

Interviews

Releases

Articles

Advertise

Contact

Submit News

Search

Content

Interviews

As Tall As Lions - 4.10.06

Browse Interviews

Alphabetized Listing

Most Popular Interviews

Need Help?

Interview

Hint: Have a band you'd like to see interviewed? Tell us.

Inside AP.net View Artist Profile View News Articles Buy the Album or MP3s	As Tall As Lions - 4.10.06 Interviewed by: Frank Giaramita (04/10/06)
	Introduce yourselves and your roles in the band. Julio- Hello. my name is Julio Tavarez and I play the bass guitar in the band As Tall As Lions. Dan- I'm Dan. I sing. Saen- My name's Saen, I play guitar in the band. Cliff- I am Cliff, the drummer of ATAL. Can you give us some basic information about your new record? (Title, Release Date, Producer, How many tracks are on it?, song titles, etc.) Dan- The album title and release date for our record are unknown at the moment. We had been hoping for a Mid-May release, but we had to fix up some of the mixes and finished up the artwork so it looks as though June/July would be a more realistic time for release. Mike Watts and Steve Haigler co-produced the record together. Mike Watts worked on Blood and Aphorisms with us back in 2002 as well as doing Deepsleeper for our Japanese release. We always loved working with him for his honesty and were confident he would right for us. Mike had suggested we use Steve Haigler as a co-producer because Steve had working on Long Island with Mike on a few projects, had heard Deepsleeper and wanted to work with the band. We met up with him a few times and really hit it off. As far as tracks are concerned we are still debating between 10 and 11. Some of us want 10 and some want 11...the label wants 11 as well but that should all be decided in the near future. And like last time, we wait till the very last minute to decide on song title. Some of our original titles will remain the same.. "Love, Love, Love (Love, Love)" "I'm Kickin' Myself" "Maybe I'm Just Tired" "Ghosts Of York" "Milk And Honey" "Stab City" The others are being talked about at the moment...the "Mariah Carey Song"... "Orgymouth"...etc..obviously need work. ----- Frank- In your opinion, how does the production on this new record compare to the production on your previous release, "Lafcadio"? Dan- Production...well first off I want to say that we all love Sean O'Keefe, he is a really talented producer and have used him several times on various projects. I think that wih Lafcadio, We as well as Sean were very new to what was going on. We had very ambitious goals as far as what we wanted to acomplish and not really the understanding of how to accomplish them. With the new record we spent time in our rehersal studio demoing out songs before it was time to record. We worked on harmonies and initial production by ourselves, reworked the songs to our liking then brought these ideas to Mike. Mike would then sit in at practices and do a second round of preproduction and finally before we started recording Steve came in and worked with on the final round of it. I feel like we had alot more confidence recording the new record, where there were many ideas we could have tried on Lafcadio but were afraid to because we were insecure or too closed minded i.e. on Lafcadio we shyed away from vocal harmonies because we thought they would been seen as over the top but on the new record we embraced harmonies (even three part harmonies) because we knew they would enhance the part. I also think that Mike and Steve being older and having been recording for a longer helped because they weren't afraid to tell us a part of a song was bad...or if a vocal melody was redundant etc... Sean O'Keefe was the same age as us and I think he was a little intimidated by us at first and he held back from saying things sometimes. ----- Frank- Speaking of Steve Haigler and Mike Watts, how was it working with those guys and the rest of the folks at Vudu Studios? Could you give some more insight on the experience? Julio- I couldn't be happier with the work that both Steve Haigler and Mike Watts put into the making of this album. The amount of passion that both of those men have for music is something that I admire grealy. Working with Steve was quite a humbling experience for me because of the fact that he has worked with artist that i grew up listening to. Records that i sat in my room and played my guitar along to. He guided us through it all and with his wisdom we were able to make a piece of music that exceeded all of our expectations. Mike is one of the hardest working men I have ever met. The amount of extra time he spent on making this sound the way it should in undeniable. I honestly cannot express the appreciation that I have for his dedication and contribution. Working at Vudu was one of the most memorable times I've had being in this band. Everyone there share the common ethic of what it is to work with musicians and the love of music in general. ----- Frank- As far as writing goes, what is the usual As Tall As Lions writing process? Does the whole band write songs together or does one member usually command the entire process? How many new songs were written when the band entered the studio? Cliff- There is no 'usual' writing process for us - it seems to happen differently for each song we write. I couldn't complain about that, it keeps things a bit fresh you could say. For the album we just recorded, I can say that 95% of the songs were written 'together' - meaning that a lot of the time one of us will come to rehearsal with a small idea, i.e. a short piece of music, a drum beat, a vocal line. What's great about this is that whatever happens from there is derived from pure inspiration, allowing ourselves to be inspired by the initial piece and collectively come up with parts and structure to go along with that idea. We used our laptop a lot this time around, allowing us to come to our rehearsal space on our own time and record ideas. Then the next time we meet, it gives us the ability to sit and play our ideas for each other, talk them out and give them a try. Our band is very equal that way. We agree on parts and write together, as opposed to a 'one-man' operation - which i've seen more often in bands we work with than i would expect for some reason. Other songs have been born just from sitting down and playing together, with no preconceived notions. For me, its been such an exciting experience, because I had inspired 2 of the songs on the record with initial ideas, something that I had struggled to do in the past. Saen- Our goal was to write 20 songs that we were completely happy with, go into the studio, record about 15, and then put 11 on the record. Things never turn out the way you'd like them to. We wound up only writing 12 songs before we went into the studio, so we recorded all of them. Now it's time to decide whether to put 10, 11, or 12 songs on. I'm sure it will be 11, but we'll see. We had a brief discussion with each other whether or not to put "Deep Sleeper," a song we recorded for a Japanese release, on the new record. No conclusions there, I wouldn't expect it, though I'd like to hear it on there. ---- Frank- Is this record the usual As Tall As Lions sound, or did you guys take a different approach this time around? Saen- It's a bit different; we decided to focus on different elements of song writing this time around. Compared to "Lafcadio," the drum and bass rhythms are much thicker, much more exciting. The vocals are smoother, bluesy in my opinion. I'd say it's some of the most tangible songs we've ever done, but also some of the most atmospheric. The overall goal was to write a bunch of these trippy, 3 and 1/2 minute pop songs. I think we achieved that goal and a lot more. There are a lot of exciting textures within the songs, such as live horn sections, a children's choir, electric sitars, glockenspiels, etc. I'm so inside the box though, I couldn't really tell you what it sounds like. ---- Frank- Dan, I know a lot of local kids miss seeing you strictly rock a microphone. Is there any chance o fthe band adding a second guitarist and having you dance around the stage like you used to? Dan- Well...yes and no. I'm not sure if we will ever add an additional guitarist to the band. After Fortune left, we spent alot of time looking for a new guitarist. We tried out so many people, which by the way is one of the most awkward processes to have to go through. We even tried out Julio, who I was really pushing for, but the timing just wasn't right. While we were trying out all these different guys I was playing at the practices in between and we started to get really tight together. After about 10-15 bad tryout outs the guys asked me if I just wanted to give it a go, and to be honest, I like it alot better this way. When I was just singing I used to have all these points during the set where the guys would be jamming out and I would just stand there looking silly or dancing silly. Also, it's alot easier when we are writing because if it was a song that I wrote, I wouldnt be able to have much input on the creative direction of the song because I wasn't playing an instrument so I would be excluded from jamming out the kinks or coming up with parts. However, we just added our friend Rob Parr to our live show and I think in time he just may take over playing guitar on a song or two so yes...there is a chance to see me dance around stage like I used to. ---- Frank- What are some of the band's main influences for this new record? Does the new material directly reflect the bands' influences? Julio- People ask us this question often and its strange for us because we don't tend to be directly influenced musically by bands that we listen to. The unique thing about the writing of this record was I feel we were more influenced by each other than anything else. Me personally, I feed off what the other boys are playing and try to compliment them. Yes of course the bands we listen to have an influence on us, but maybe more in conceptual ideas than sonically. If we used our musical influences we might have written a hip hop or salsa record. We all started to get jaded with rock music and all have a great passion for rhythmic music. I believe those ideas played a large part in the making of our record. ---- Frank- As we discussed a few nights ago, the Long Island music scene is in pretty bad shape. What are your thoughts on the lack of venues around your local area? Does it effect the band in any way? Cliff- Long Island indeed has taken a turn for the worst. And I don't it's because 'the scene' is dead or is dying, but because of the lack of a good venue. We had one good venue, the downtown, and it's gone. The kids are still listening to music and want to see their favorite bands. Long Island is still a great place to play. But there is nowhere to play. I'm seeing more and more tours skip Long Island completely because of it. And it's not because the tours won't draw. It's because the packages have no legitimate place to play. And it's sad. Most of the bands we've toured with in the past (when the downtown was open) loved to come to play long island because the kids are great, enthusiastic and genuinely dedicated to their bands. If I had enough money to buy that place and re-open it I would. It just needs to be run correctly and a lot of people would benefit from it. I just can't understand why no one can see see the potential in that place. It's just sitting there waiting to be turned into a terrible restaurant. And yeah, of course it effects our band - long island is our home base, and we need to play in front of our favorite crowd. Playing terrible venues where you can't hear the music because the sound is bad and the bands are treated like crap is not our idea of a homecoming. But we are helpless to it. So for now we just grind it out. ---- Frank- Julio, you sing in almost every song on the new record. When did the rest of the band realize you had a solid voice and decide to utilize it on the album? Julio- Well, Dan and I worked together on many of the vocal melodies on the record. We would get together almost everyday and work on harmonies and different vocal phrasings that we each had in mind. one goal that we initially had for this album was to make it as dynamic as possible. knowing that my voice was solid enough, we wanted to add as many textures as we could and having different voices throughout the songs was one aspect that we definitely wanted to embrace. ---- Frank- Since we have yet to discuss touring, does the band have any tour plans in support of this album yet? Saen- At the moment we have nothing planned after the album's release, although we do have a nice tour with our friends The Receiving End of Sirens in April. The shows will be great, and we'll be playing loads and loads of new songs. We are also in negotiations with each other whether or not to sport mohawks and mustaches for the tour. I'll get back to you. ---- Frank- In one word (only one), what can kids expect out of this record when it hits shelves? Cliff- SEX. Julio- BOOTY. Saen- Hypnagogia.