Tall Firs are an American, New York City based underground electric

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

band, originally formed in 1990 by teenagers Dave Mies and Aaron Mullan in

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Their album, ''Tall Firs'', was completed and released sixteen years later in 2006 on the independent music label

Ecstatic Peace! Ecstatic Peace! is a record label based in Easthampton, Massachusetts, Easthampton, Massachusetts, founded in 1981 in music, 1981 by American musician Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. The label name is borrowed from a line in Tom Wolfe's 1968 nonf ...

. Tall Firs grew out of an over-the-phone collaboration between Mies and Mullan, school friends who lived too far apart to walk to one another's houses. Allegedly, the two sat at home and cued up cassettes from the

Circle Jerks Circle Jerks (stylized as Ciʀcle JƎʀᴋs) are an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California. The group was founded by former Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson. To date, Circle ...

and

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

to play over simultaneously. They did not play their first concert until eleven years later.

History

In 2006, the band was signed to

. Their first album, ''Tall Firs'', was made in the

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

studio. The band is based in Brooklyn, New York. Tall Firs' second album, entitled ''Too Old to Die Young'', was released in March 2008 and includes the contribution of drummer/ vocalist, Ryan Sawyer, who toured and collaborated with the band as a full-time member until 2011. Tall Firs were chosen to perform at the

All Tomorrow's Parties "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warh ...

festival that he curated in March 2012 in Minehead, England. In November 2013, the band played the final holiday camp edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Camber Sands, England.

Members

Mullan began collaborating with

Chris Corsano Chris Corsano is an American drummer, improviser, and composer. Career Alongside his solo work, Corsano has performed on over one hundred records with artists including Evan Parker, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Six Organs of Admittance, Dredd ...

before moving on to work as a

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

and instrumentalist. He also plays bass guitar in the trio Hallogallo with Michael Rother and Steve Shelly. Mies fronted a blues-rock band in Baltimore, backed by the Emo performers Colin Seven (

Universal Order of Armageddon Universal Order of Armageddon was an American hardcore band, active from 1992 to 1994 and reformed in 2010. History The band formed in September 1992. By early 1993, after quickly gaining a small but devoted following, they recorded and toured ...

) and Monica DiGialleonardo (

Moss Icon Moss Icon is an American post-hardcore band formed in late 1986 in Annapolis, Maryland, United States. Its original lineup comprised vocalist Jonathan Vance, guitarist Tonie Joy, bassist Monica DiGialleonardo, and drummer Mark Laurence. Alex Bad ...

) before joining Mullan in New York to begin Tall Firs. Drummer Sawyer is from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and was one of the first drummers in the band

At the Drive-In At the Drive-In was an American post-hardcore band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 1994. The band's most recent line-up consisted of Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals), Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, vocals), Paul Hinojos (bass), Tony Hajjar (dru ...

. He moved to New York City in 1997 and has recorded or played live with acts such as

Mekons The Mekons are a British band formed in the late 1970s as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. The band's style has evolved over time to incorporate aspects of ...

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...

TV on the Radio TV on the Radio (TVOTR) is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2001. The band consists of Tunde Adebimpe (vocals, loops), David Andrew Sitek (guitars, keyboards, loops), Kyp Malone (vocals, guitars, bass, loops), and Jale ...

and

The Fiery Furnaces The Fiery Furnaces are an American indie rock band, formed in 2000 in Brooklyn, New York.. - ''In 2000 they moved Brooklyn... and began playing as the Fiery Furnaces late in the year''. - Allmusic The band's primary members are Matthew and Eleanor ...

. In addition to his role in Tall Firs, he is a member of Stars Like Fleas and

Eye Contact Eye contact occurs when two people look at each other's eyes at the same time. In humans, eye contact is a form of nonverbal communication and can have a large influence on social behavior. Coined in the early to mid-1960s, the term came from t ...

. Sawyer participated as drummer 62 in the

Boredoms Boredoms () (later known as V∞redoms) is a rock band from Osaka, Japan formed in 1986. The band's sound is often referred to as noise rock, or sometimes Japanoise (Japan’s noise music scene), though their more recent records have moved towar ...

77 Boadrum ''77 Boa Drum'' is a live album by Japanese experimental music group Boredoms, recorded on July 7, 2007, at the Empire–Fulton Ferry section of Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. It was released on two CDs, plus a 20-mi ...

performance on July 7, 2007, at the

Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park Brooklyn Bridge Park is an park on the Brooklyn side of the East River in New York City. Designed by landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the park is located on a plot of land from Atlantic Avenue in the south, und ...

in Brooklyn.

References

External links

*
Ecstatic Peace! page for Tall Firs

Interview: January 7, 2007

Listen to "The Woods" by Tall Firs

77 Boadrum Site Profile
Viva Radio, September 2007. (

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid ...

) {{Authority control American folk rock groups Indie rock musical groups from Maryland Ecstatic Peace! artists ATP Recordings artists