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The Gaslight Anthem to Change Sound on Upcoming Album, Handwritten

Brian Fallon sat down with RollingStone to talk about the direction of his band's new album, revealing a shedding of the past to pursue new sounds.

Their debut album in 2020, Sink or Swim, cut through the subculture with sounds heavily derived from other punk groups such as The Replacements, Social Distortion and The Clash (with a tribute song to Joe Strummer, another idol of Fallon's, on the record), with hints of classic songwriters like Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Springsteen and The Rolling Stones, and even rock groups like The Cure. Already on this record listeners could tell there was something different about these guys, but it was still hard to pinpoint exactly what it was. But it was new punk, and the most "punk" of their discography to come, and it sounded great in the car, kind of like music played to your own daydreaming and idle reminiscing.

Everything changed in 2020 with the February EP Señor and the Queen that added a little more of that mysterious element and heavier lyrics as a prelude to the band's golden ticket later that year, The '59 Sound. They basically re-introduced the world to the power of soul music, back before The Beatles when soul was an accepted genre on the radio led by Motown greats, something mostly foreign to rock and punk in modern times. The fusion of the genres worked, and the direct inclusion of classic lyrics, such as Bob Seger's "Night Moves" on the opening track, and Tom Waits, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan scattered along the way, was like the cherry on top that made fans of anyone willing to really sit and listen. The ambition of the Jersey boys exploded off the vinyl with lyrics and breakdowns that teased everything you ever thought about late at night. Even Springsteen was moved to the point that he reworked a quote once said about him, claiming he saw the future of rock and roll, and it was The Gaslight Anthem. With Bruce aiding the record's promotion just by showing up on stage a few times on the continuous tours throughout 2020 and 2020, Gaslight propelled to the top of small label bands.

The third record in 2020, American Slang, proved to be a real challenge. They had all eyes on them, including Springsteen, who was a blessing and a crutch to their rise in fame in the sense that he was quite the icon to be compared to, but everything they did from songwriting to making chicken stir fry was compared to him. It was the first album people were going to hear now that they had a significant fan base, so the pressure was high to find the sound of Gaslight, break away from the Bruce spotlight, and still make a good record. The result was very American indeed, resembling Tom Petty perhaps the most heavily in structure and even certain vocals, but still with all the other influences there, The Replacements being another fairly vivid one. The punk element became more embedded in the roots of the bandmates personally that you could hear if you knew to look for it, where the full sound leaned more towards alternative rock with bits of the soul that The '59 Sound capitalized on. Overall, American Slang slow danced with the fans, many stating it started off good and grew over time to great, but not '59 Sound great.

Finally, Gaslight Anthem released an iTunes Session consisting of variations of original songs and covers like The Who's "Baba O'Riley" and Tom Petty's "Refugee." Fallon's vocals on it seemed raspier than usual, fit for rock, which helped the cover of Pearl Jam's "State of Love and Trust." The band ended out 2020 with a hometown show that Springsteen showed up at, which Fallon stated in a recent interview with RollingStone was like a farewell to the past; they are off to write about different things now. The interview (found here: ) hints at a change of sound for the fourth album, Handwritten, most possibly straying further from traditional punk song structure.

So will this change be good or bad? Well, Gaslight has never had the same sound. I think despite their multiple influences, there are three genres involved in the big tree of their sound: Punk, Soul and Rock. We've seen them all, but haven't fully explored them all.

For example, heavy punk fans, if they haven't already dismissed the band for not repeating Sink or Swim, will be doubtful of the new direction. But punk is such a broad, practically indefinable term anyway that teenagers especially bicker over. If you look back to the start where meaning and morals mattered, like The Sex Pistols, The Ramones and The Clash, or even 90s bands like Pennywise and Bad Religion, you will find a shared sound. It's fast playing, power chords, raspy vocals, and often (not always) monotonous drumbeats, however fast they are being played. Gaslight Anthem has never been fully dedicated to any aspect of that sound. "Red in the Morning," a song off Sink or Swim that they rarely play, is perhaps the closest tie to it; but even there, Alex Rosamilia toys around on the high end of the neck, and Benny Horowitz keeps the drumming fresh with fills and a decent tempo that's not too over the top. But the best way to compare Gaslight's kind of punk is to pin them next to bands like The Loved Ones and Alkaline Trio.

As far as soul, The '59 Sound played around with gospel singers and also blues rock guitar licks like in "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" and "Film Noir," the former of which especially features powerful vocals remniscent of something you'd see from a soul artist. Gaslight has also been well known to improv live with old soul and motown songs in the middle of their original tracks with artists such as Wilson Pickett, Jimmy Ruffin, and Otis Redding. They also covered "Once Upon a Time" by Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise. This aspect of their sound I think is what was so pivotal in their separation from the "just some more punks" stigma.

Finally, rock is a weird one. We've seen alternative rock. We've seen Tom Petty kind of American rock and roll and the Bruce Springsteen Jersey Shore sound. But we haven't seen anything like Pearl Jam, Brian Fallon's often mentioned favorite band, aside from the cover of "State of Love and Trust", and we haven't seen something close to Foo Fighters either. Going back to the RollingStone article and therefore probably most importantly, we haven't seen something like Soundgarden, until now with the apparent guitar work in "Too Much Blood," which I am now personally eager to hear. All of those bands are different kinds of rock entirely to the music fan, and it's hard to see the four Gaslight guys suddenly going, say, grunge. So now rationality comes in.

We have followed Brian, Alex R., Alex L., and Benny long enough to know they are as real and down-to-earth as any man can get. They hold true to their values and appreciate a wide spectrum of music. We've seen them explore different sounds and maintain their appeal and integrity, and honestly turn us on to music out there we might not otherwise ever have known about or bothered to investigate, like old growly Tom Waits. Fans are also aware of the moody sound of Brian's side project with guitar tech Ian Perkins, The Horrible Crowes, which came between American Slang and the iTunes Session. All of this reflects one very important thing: they refuse to be caught as part of one category. They don't want any labelling at all. It's just music that's meant to be explored. If they repeated Sink or Swim four times, what would they be as musicians? They have stated that they want people to look back and say, "That was a good band." They want to be the next Jersey guys, but not a repeat or emulation of Bruce, or the Bouncing Souls. It would be ridiculous and childish of us to doubt them, however drastic or not so drastic the dismissal of the past and change of sound on Handwritten may be. If bands didn't change or grow, slightly or not so slightly, they'd just become stale and one-hit wonders.

Brian Fallon said it the best: "If you want to hang with us, you have to grow with us. That's the deal." And that's exactly what they're doing - growing, as musicians and people. Any new sound can only be good.