As Tall as Lions With Saen Fitzgerald, Cliff Sarcona and two other high school friends, Nigro formed the indie rock band Sundaze in 1998, releasing an album called "Seal of Approval", that included "King of the World", which became a local fan favorite. In 2001, he formed
As Tall as Lions, with Saen, Cliff and Brian Fortune. In 2002, they released their first
EP,
Blood and Aphorisms. In 2003, they signed a record deal with
Island and
Triple Crown Records and left college with the full support of their parents to pursue music full-time. In 2004, the band released their debut album,
Lafcadio, and began touring. In 2006, after some lineup changes, which now included Julio Tavarez as their bassist while Brian Caesar left the band, they released
As Tall as Lions and began a headlining tour. In July 2007, they appeared on
Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In 2009, ''
You Can't Take It with You was released, peaking at number 88 on the Billboard'' 200 chart. By September 2010, the band split up. Upon the announcement of the news, their last shows sold out and more were added to the schedule. They immediately planned what would be billed as their reunion, which was performed in 2015 without new music to supplement it.
Songwriting Nigro moved to Los Angeles to become a songwriter, collaborating with childhood friend Justin Raisen. He found initial success with a
jingle for a
McDonald's advertisement and then with
Sky Ferreira. Nigro began as a songwriter then learned production as he felt belittled by producers he worked with and didn’t feel like he could exercise full creative control over his work without being a producer.
Amusement Records After Nigro and singer-songwriter
Chappell Roan had worked together for years, Roan was dropped by her former record label. To continue writing, producing and releasing songs together, Nigro formed independent label Amusement Records. As of September 2024, Roan is the only act signed to Amusement. Nigro also said that he does see himself signing other acts to Amusement in the future. "But it's about finding the person I want to invest 300 days of my time with," he says. "It's not simply finding an artist that I like and thinking that they're great. It's about, 'Do we feel a connection that we can spend so much time making something and then promote it and find the right creative teams and annoy you about content?' It's everything." ==Personal life==