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The Gaslight Anthem Unveil New Album

'American Slang' is finally complete. We went to New York to hear it and quiz the band on the "miracle" of their new album

The mood in The Magic Shop is light as current residents The Gaslight Anthem relax, safe in the knowledge that their new album ‘American Slang’ is finally complete. Tracking officially finished somewhere around the Tuesday mark, today is Friday and tomorrow the band will pack up their gear and leave this well-known yet well-hidden New York studio for good. Producer Ted Hutt (Lucero, Chuck Ragan) will take the record back to California for mixing and, all being well, somewhere around June 14 you will fall in love with the 10 songs made by drummer Benny Horowitz, guitarist Alex Rosamilia, bassist Alex Levine and frontman Brian Fallon.

After the successes of 08’s breakout ‘The ‘59 Sound’ the pressure was on for album three; at similar points in their career Green Day created ‘Dookie’, Bruce Springsteen unleashed ‘Born To Run’, Radiohead released ‘OK Computer’ and The Clash changed the world with ‘London Calling’. The bags hanging under the eyes of each band member manifest the harsh burden of a desire for greatness but their smiles, deep and wide, tell of a resolved confidence in their latest work. Rock Sound gets to listen to four unmixed songs and each sparkles with confidence and bounce. If the tracks are indicative of the entire album then ‘American Slang’ will be boldly assured, powerfully emblematic and more than able to accommodate the mantles, plaudits and commendations that may follow its journey this year.

The Rolling Stones, Sam Cooke, Sonic Youth, Quicksand and Coldplay have all taken their turns making this ground floor studio in SoHo famous; with ‘American Slang’ The Gaslight Anthem might be about to add their chapter. If they do, if they’ve just finished the record that people will be talking about for years to come, singer and guitarist Brian Fallon is more than ready for the success that will be coming his way.

SO, NOW THAT THE RECORD IS DONE, JUST WHAT IS ‘AMERICAN SLANG’ ABOUT?
“It’s about me for the first time. It’s everything I went through without the shadows to block things and hide behind. I wrote this universal record about figuring out my own head, but I did it completely by accident. With these songs I didn’t once sit by the piano or guitar, they came to me. I would get the words and melody in my head and I would have to just figure it out on whatever was nearest to me. It was weird, I felt like St. John when he got the revelation at the end of the Bible. Trust me, this record isn’t going to tell you the end of the world and it won’t save your soul. But it did save me, ‘cos I was stuck.”

DID YOU GET NERVOUS WHEN THE SONGS WERE NOT COMING?
“I was awfully nervous, everyone around me told me I do this every time we write a record but I don’t remember being like that. To me it felt serious; it felt like the well felt dry. It really showed me that musicians are full of garbage, it’s a talent and we’re always at its mercy.”

WHEN DID YOU START TRYING TO WRITE THIS ALBUM?
“Well, I started writing this album in June, but nothing was coming out. There was part of me that was killed in the process of writing, this record took everything I had. It was really difficult. I was searching for something; when I found it the songs poured out but the searching part was a nightmare.”

WHAT DID YOU FIND?
“I thought I found that I couldn’t write any more songs, but that’s not true. With this record we said that we were going to stop blowing the trumpet of our influences, as our goal and business before had been pushing those to the front of our music. If we [were going to do this] it had to be ours with no one else having a piece of it. If we couldn’t do that then I was going to go away and just keep my mouth shut. It was all or nothing, but that’s just how I am. No one features on this record – we have friends who came in to sing harmonies and my mother sang on a B-side we were recording when she came to visit, but none of them are highlighted. This is our record, no one else can have a piece of it.”

WHAT WAS THE FIRST SONG THAT CAME OUT?
“A track called ‘Bring It On’. I was sat there with a guitar and it came out like a miracle.”

WHAT DO YOU HOPE PEOPLE TAKE FROM THE RECORD?
“The discovery of what you are today is a massive part of this record. ‘American Slang’ deals with things I have never touched on, it takes in family issues and that sense of moving on from something that was holding you back. With some issues we all have choices to make – is this thing going to bury me my whole life or do I cut it out? The record is about that and even though it has a lot of New York references because we recorded here, it branches out so you could be from anywhere and still relate to every song.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS IS THE TIME FOR THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM TO MAKE A STATEMENT?
“If we ever had our shot at making a ‘London Calling’ then this is it and I’m really going to go for it. I’m going to do everything I can to be a success as it’s ridiculous to be afraid of that. It’s easy to do this, you just have to keep perspective and stay away from things that make you a mess and ruin your career. Just don’t be a jerk, don’t take drugs, don’t sleep with lots of chicks, don’t stay out until four in the morning. Very simple.”

This article originally appeared in Rock Sound Issue 134.

Andrew Kelham