Recording of debut album

Although other labels expressed interest in Taking Back Sunday, Victory Records encouraged them to make an album. The band’s debut effort was recorded over a period of two weeks in December 2001 at Big Blue Meenie Recording Studio in New Jersey with producer Sal Villanueva . Lazzara fell ill around Christmas, and the sessions were delayed one to two weeks; recording concluded in early January 2002, and ended up costing $10,000. The debut album’s name was revealed in February to be Tell All Your Friends ; prior to the release of their debut, a music video for “Great Romances of the 20th Century” was released on March 4, 2002. It was directed by Christian Winters, a friend of the band. Winters made the video before the group signed with Victory, and the record company enjoyed it. The song was distributed to radio stations on March 12, and the full album was released on March 25. A video for ” Cute Without the ‘E’ (Cut from the Team) ” followed on December 10, 2002, and “You’re so Last Summer” on November 24, 2003, following a radio release the previous September. Both videos were also directed by Winters.