The Gaslight Anthem "Its no surprise that The 59 Sound is filled with songs about working-class heroes and hard-luck teenagers, cruising around in the backseats of cars and washing away sin with cheap whiskey and beer. The shocker is that The Gaslight Anthem has taken these well-worn Jersey-rebel themes and revived them through the sheer power of youth. They are destined for greatness. EMUSIC.COM "While virtually every other band in the world has a natural inclination to reach for the sky, these guys have the intelligence to know that such an ascension would take them further away from the street-soul and underdog spirit that makes The 59 Sound so special, so resonant and so necessary." ROCKSOUND "Its an album that makes you want to run away into the darkness, to give up everything you have for a life of uncertainty and late night melancholy, for unending American highways and a sad lifetime chasing love through the backstreets of a dead-end, run-down town. Simply incredible." ALOUD.COM
Originally forming in New Brunswick in 2006, of the quartets name, Brian has revealed, "The Gaslight was an old club in New York City in The 60s, where Bob Dylan and several other folk singers got started, so the Anthem was tacked on for the collective idea." In their short time together, the group has so far released two exceptionally well-received full-length albums, Sink Or Swim (XOXO Records) and The 59 Sound (SideOneDummy Records), plus one EP, Señor And The Queen (Sabot Productions). Impressively, they were also the first act to ever appear on the front cover of Kerrang!, having never previously been featured in the pages of the weekly rock bible before with the magazine hailing them as The best new band youll hear in 2008! Draped in grinding raw emotion, gravely / sincere vocals and good old-fashioned storytelling, of their rough-around-the-edges songs, extracts from the quartets Official Bio further elaborate Despite the professional set-up that went into making The 59 Sound, the disc retains the bands dynamic and youthful live energy, which has become a hallmark of the bands performance style. We tried to make these songs feel as alive as possible and approach it like we were writing a set list, Fallon describes. Instead of thinking about it like writing a record, we just wanted to write the coolest live songs that we could. We wrote this record with the intention of playing it live and its really a preview of seeing us onstage, he adds. The result is an album that is so timeless that it could have been recorded in 1978 or 2008, eschewing distorted guitars and endless layering in favour of carefully arranged tracks that were painstakingly thought out and flawlessly executed. When I was a little kid listening to Springsteen, I remember thinking these arent songs, these are gigantic rides you went on and I thought if I could even attempt to do that, that would be excellent. Lyrically, Fallon isnt afraid to wear his influences on his tattooed sleeves, and his growth as a songwriter is evident in the way hes been able to step outside of himself on The 59 Sound. Im actually telling a few stories about some of my friends this time around, because it fits in with this theme of growing up and stepping into adulthood. Unlike a lot of todays rock sensations, The Gaslight Anthem arent going to take a single second of their ride for granted. Were not that young and weve already had our hands in the real world, working terrible jobs, Horowitz explains, adding that The Gaslight Anthems line-up has never changed, and that theres a bond between all of them thats difficult to describe. So, to help promote the release of the groups next UK single, Great Expectations, Benny has taken time out to complete an Exclusive R*E*P*E*A*T Questionnaire. And as a band with fire at their fingertips, who have touched so many people, finding legions of devoted fans worldwide, now would be the ideal time for newcomers to also let The Gaslight Anthem fill their lives with The 59 Sound. Because to quote Oscar Wilde, We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars a theme that permeates much of the New Jersey outfits affecting and rugged music
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1.In The 70s, having a DIY ethic and being non-conformists
formed the original basis of punk but is this true of The Gaslight
Anthems mindset, or have you appropriated the spirit of punk into
something new and unique to the band?
A very special thanks to Benny and to Sarah @ Division Promotions, for all of their time and help. www.myspace.com/thegaslightanthem
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