In terms of success stories, there are few that are as likely as The Gaslight Anthem’s tale of New Jersey punks to globally feted ‘next great American rock band’ –
In terms of success stories, there are few that are as likely as The Gaslight Anthem’s tale of New Jersey punks to globally feted ‘next great American rock band’ – well, it’yet to outstrip the tale of one Snake Plissken in Escape From New York . That said, while The Gaslight Anthem haven’t saved the President of the USA from a band of Isaac Hayes-led criminals on a Manhattan Island-turned-penal colony, they have, however, crafted one of the last decade’s finest musical canons (nor have they come up with anything as regrettable as Escape From LA ). While the idea of ‘next great American rock band’ remains something of a misnomer – as unless a band resonates culturally as much as, say, The Strokes, it’s hard to give out that title, hell, even The National aren’t quite there yet – The Gaslight Anthem are one hell of a rock ‘n’ roll band, and guitarist Alex Rosamilia couldn’t be happier with that.
"Yeah man, it’s fucking awesome – I don’t have any other word for it," he laughs. "It’s extremely humbling to be able to do this, and to do it for as long as we’ve been doing it now. I’m one of the luckiest men on Earth."
He’s one of the luckiest men on Earth – alongside bandmates in vocalist/guitarist Brian Fallon, drummer Ben Horowitz and bassist Alex Levine – through a combination of things. One: the obvious musical talent the four share in crafting a punkish, garage-tinged brand of rock ‘n’ roll that also lends itself to the integration of soul, reggae and blues, as well as pop. Two: the band elicit a certain kind of honesty that is rare in contemporary music, and that endears them to fans like few other bands. Three: their ability to wrap their minds around the current state of America, and through Fallon’s lyrics give voice to the frustrations and insecurities of modern society. And finally four: they’re a bunch of no-nonsense guys from New Jersey who really don’t care for bullshit.
It’s this last something highlighted when Alex ponders the acclaim the band have garnered in their career, cemented again with the release of their third album, last year’s opus, American Slang.
"We don’t – we don’t take it," he says of all the commercial and critical lauding. "I appreciate the sentiment, but it’s not something I would take to heart, because if you start doing that, then you start believing it… then you become…"
An arsehole?
"An asshole, yeah," Rosamilia agrees. "A rockstar if you will – and I don’t want to do that. That was never part of my plan."
The plan was originally for the band to adhere to that idea of musical honesty – to create within a punk ethos that extends even to this day – and even with the endorsement of New Jersey’s patron saint Bruce Springsteen, the band work tightly on every aspect of the band with people they know and trust, and keep everything as self-contained as possible. Roughly, the opposite of Kings Of Leon.
It was something that led to the band once again working with producer Ted Hutt in recording American Slang – but the album itself found the band branching out even further from its predecessors debut Sink Or Swim and much-loved follow up, The ’59 Sound. Suddenly there were gospel vibes, echoes of old-timey English blues, a sliver of reggae and even a brushing of surf-roots sitting next to yelp of Fallon and The Gaslight Anthem’s usual soul-ish punk. It means certain songs sit outside the ‘usual’ Gaslight Anthem placeholder, but as they slowly reveal their charms, the album is all the better for it. Rosamilia still appreciates that the band took those routes and
"I love it," he reflect of having American Slang out for over six months. "I think it’s great, and honestly, some of the songs are the same way with me too," he says of that slow reveal. "I liked them when we wrote them, but there’s a couple that I’m starting to like more. So it’s maybe that they didn’t really feel like us, but now the more I listen to it – like The Spirit Of Jazz – it’s becoming my favourite on the record.
"They just kinda happened," he adds of those added elements to American Slang, "we were like ‘let’s write’. We didn’t try to write slower or writer slower songs; it’s just what came out. I wouldn’t have thought we would’ve written anything like this four years ago."
As for the reaction to American Slang from those most important to a band – no, not a spot on Sunrise – it’s been the way their fans have taken the album to heart, even if there was slight criticism initially if only because The ’59 Sound set the bar so damn high, that has once more impressed Rosamilia.
"It’s been very good. The kids definitely know all the new stuff already, and it’s been getting ridiculous. The venues have gotten a little bigger, and it’s amazing seeing all these kids knowing all the words to all your songs. I mean, not even with my favourite band I couldn’t do it – if I went and saw them live and if they played for an hour and a half I’d still miss a couple of songs, but these kids got everything – it’s ridiculous.
It’s a curious idea – Gaslight Anthem do seem to inspire a crazy level of commitment from their fans. Rosamilia is stumped when it comes to pondering as to why that is.
"Awesomeness? Nah," he laughs. "Awesome music transcends all language barriers? Nah," he chuckles quickly. "I have no idea. I really don’t.
"I’ve been writing the same stuff for fuckin’ years, and it’s the same with Benny and Brian too – we’ve all been in bands since we’ve been able to kinda sorta play the guitar or drums, and I don’t know. None of us have drastically changed styles or anything, it didn’t happen ’til we were all together – maybe we complement each other, but it could be anything – I just know that we got together, started writing stuff and it was the first time my mom was like ‘oh, I can actually listen to this’."
That may’ve been because his mother had to put up with a metal head son ("I grew up as a metal head. I was a weird, long-haired, pierced dude for a while, and I still love metal, and I love playing it. Gaslight is probably the least metal band I’ve ever been in by far…" laughs Rosamilia – and he has his ‘hobby’ metal band, Something About Death Or Dying) who now gets to remedy the fact that The Gaslight Anthem haven’t toured Australia since before the release of ’59 Sound AND to play with Iron Maiden, Slayer and a raft of other punk and metal luminaries at Soundwave 2011.
"I think it’s awesome. I’m so excited we’re playing with Slayer and Iron Maiden. You love that?" he replies to the suggestion that The Bronx are also on the bill, "I’m the motherfucker that gets to play with them every night – well, not with Iron Maiden, but on the same stage as – it’s awesome. We’re going to challenge them to a soccer game – I’ve heard they’re pretty good."
Well, Steve Harris played youth team football for West Ham.
"Well, I’d at least be happy to say we had our ass kicked by Iron Maiden," Rosamilia laughs. "Not everybody gets to say that."
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM play SOUNDWAVE at the Melbourne Showgrounds on Friday March 4 with Iron Maiden, Queens Of The Stone Age, Slayer, Slash, Rob Zombie, 30 Seconds To Mars and heaps more. It’s sold out. They also play a SIDEWAVE with Social Distortion and Feeder at The Palace on Wednesday March 2 – which is also sold out. It’s because they’re fucking awesome. Their latest album, the kickarse American Slang is out now through Shock.
BILLY D. RODRIGUEZ
