29 March 2011
The Gaslight Anthem frontman, Brian Fallon is wholly humbled when he speaks to TMN at a post Soundwave barbecue in Sydney. Cigarette in mouth, Fallon says the New Jersey boys may not be a punk band, but it’s the punk scene which has instilled their hard-hat ethos.
“We’ve always been more of a punk band in moral and ethics rather than sound, we’ve been more of a rock ‘n’ roll band in sound,” he says from under his signature cabbie hat. “We come from the punk scene and that’s where we get our focus and the things that are important to us.”
It’s been six-years since Fallon and band mates, guitarist Alex Rosamilia, drummer Ben Horowitz and bassist Alex Levine formed through a predilection of blue-collar rock and fellow Jersey musician,Bruce Springsteen. Since the release of their third record, American Slang in July last year, the quartet have sold out arenas, toured worldwide and even been publicly championed by The Boss himself; all with little radio airplay and under indie label, Side One Dummy.
“I think we’re doing it right, we’re not doing it on a hit single, we’re not on the radio that much, we’re not on a big label; a lot of it I feel like we’ve done on our own.”
Fallon isn’t just being modest when he says they haven’t had a hit single, American Slang didn’t even chart here in Australia, yet the band played sold out gigs last month in both Sydney and Melbourne. All this off the back of an album Fallon wasn’t even satisfied with.
“If you ask me in some aspects, and I know it’s terrible to say about a record, but I think that we did some things wrong and some things right; but I think that we’re writing songs that are more educated, better versions of what we did in the past.”
The ‘wrong things’ Fallon alludes to is the same issue media often question the band about. With lyrics soaked in nostalgia like “we did it when we were young” and "Don't sing me the songs about the good times/ Those days are gone and you should just let them go," you have to remind yourself the person who’s singing them is only 31-years-old.
“That’s what I didn’t like about it,” Fallon admits. “Because I realised I was longing for the very things that are passing me by right now today and that was where I made mistakes.”
Because their songs not only have a nostalgic tone to them but they also explore the concept of nostalgia, so it’s apposite for Fallon to feel he may have travelled that path too early. But when he does take a step back to smell the roses, their rise from Jersey basements to sold-out arenas in the space of four-years couldn’t smell sweeter.
“On American Slang I had a lot of reactions against things, I didn’t expect anybody to like our band and they did…We went really big in a lot of places, we went from playing basements, to halls, to venues to Radio City Music Hall in four years which is insane.”
This conscious understanding of where the band fit in the industry and the opportunities they know will soon be at their feet, has brought Fallon to a crossroads; and for a man who immerses himself in every aspect of his career it’s surprising to hear he has no idea which road they’ll take next.
“I don’t know what our next move is; I don’t know whether we’re gonna go to a major label or not. What I do know is that we’re probably gonna end up talking to Side One (Dummy) about what to do.
“Even if you did sign up to a major label, you don’t buy into the thing. You’re not like ‘I’m a rock star now, I’m more important than everyone else.’ You’re the same kid but just maybe, hopefully, you can get your songs out to more people and maybe even get played on radio.”
With a head screwed on as tight as Fallon’s, along with his unassuming ethics and youthful sense of wonderment, it’s clear The Gaslight Anthem will still be telling our stories from stadium stages for years to come.
“Maybe we can play Madison Square Garden, maybe we’re the nextU2, who knows!” he laughs before considering it seriously. “You know what would be really cool is if we were the next U2 and we were still cool and taking out bands like The Bouncing Souls and saying ‘hey kids guess what? You get to play an arena now’; but we were still the same; that’s the cool part.”
American Slang is out now through Shock Records.
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