Saturday, June 27, 2009

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Interview With: Gaslight Anthem

Posted: 27 Jun 2009 08:45 AM PDT

The Gaslight Anthem in a indie punk rock band who got a lot of attention for their fresh sound on The ‘59 Sound. Shortly before their KC show, Joshua spoke with the guitarist Alex Rosamilia and bassist Alex Levine about their roots, inspirations and plans for the future.

Joshua Hammond, PopWreckoning: I'll go ahead and get started because I know you guys have to be back over there at some point. I want to start out by focusing on your New Jersey roots. How did the New Jersey Shore bands influence your career and at the same time, how did New Brunswick hardcore sound influence you?
The Gaslight Anthem: From a personal level, the Jersey Shore thing is not my influence at all. I grew up in the New Brunswick punk and hardcore scene. That was a huge influence on the music I like and the music I like to play. I still go to shows there, so that's a huge influence. Musically as a whole, we tend to take bits and pieces of that, but we tend to walk away with a little more ethically light side to it. Even though we're getting bigger, we try to hang on to some sort of sense of who we are and not lose that by keeping an idea of community.

PW: The next question I had, I reworded like 800 times because I didn't want to come off as me saying this. Do you guys as a band ever have a hard time finding how to balance your sound? I guess what I'm asking is have you ever gotten a negative feedback from your punk following for, I guess, as they would word it, not being as punk enough as you could potentially be by choosing say between Brian [Fallon] and Brian's influences or choosing to sound like Dave Matthews Band?
GA: I don't read much from the message boards or any of that stuff, so I don't really know. I can imagine there is some. But especially in the punk community, I've read somewhere that the early bands were all these shitty little bands, but then you get into Dave Matthews, you know? But there are many who believe that if you are to remain a punk band, you have to stay and struggle, especially if you are a band that is embraced by the punk rock community. If you move outside of those boundaries, they almost get offended that you even pushed forward. So, I can imagine it has been said, but I don't really know what people say about us. I don't know. It happens. I've read stuff, out of curiosity, and there has been some feedback. I think people recognize that we are to a point punk and hardcore. And where we came from is one of the reasons we got labeled with that, but we never waved a flag of punk rock. We probably didn't have any different aspirations than the bands that we love probably did. There is a part of it where it is a disconnect from what people consider punk rock. At the same time, it has been so weird since the conception of punk, I bet if I were to ask anybody, what the fuck is punk rock anymore, you wouldn't get a clear answer. You could write a book trying to explain it, where it started, and where it went wrong. All you can do, people that are related to the punk scene, you just walk away with it. ga2
PW: I think in the articles that I've written about you guys, I think it is something that I pick up from a punk stand point with you guys is that the music you write, you guys have a punk work ethic. The album you recorded, you have no problem, you have no problem embracing and bringing in other punk bands to work with you, but you have no problem embracing other bands and making references to others like the despite that people might not be comfortable with that, but you do it anyways. I think that's punk. I don't know why I'm answering your question.
GA: I think it is an extension of what I was saying and I appreciate that it is noticed like that. I think that's something we try pretty hard to maintain. I just recently had a conversation about punk fashion and other fashion and what is punk rock. It doesn't makes sense to me. If you have to take care of anything for twenty minutes in the morning, it isn't punk rock. Put on a t-shirt, leave the house, and go do something. That is really more of what it has been about to me.
PW: Punk is a movement, not a look.
GA: Oh yeah, definitely. The casual look is just an extension of punk rock. You leave your house in the morning. They go together. I don't know. I wouldn't even consider my look punk. I don't know. I like punk rock, but I don't know if I'd say I "look" punk rock.

PW: That's something I've picked up in your interviews, you guys have that attitude without working to have that punk rock attitude. I like that. Let's move on to talking about the album a little bit. Your last album, we may have already covered this, but your last album was at times called the "best album of 2008." Has the recent success in any way shaped the rest of the dynamics of your band?
GA: I don't think so. Not as far as the four of us. The family has gotten bigger. As far as the way the four of us treat each other and the way we act with each other, it hasn't changed at all. We'll still have the same kinds of conversations and sit down about what we should be doing, but it happens to be about different kinds of things now like how to do things publicly. There aren't a whole lot of elephants in our past. We're just pretty straight up dudes. We've learned a lot in the last few things, if anything, about the music industry. There are a lot of things to navigate through in these times and it isn't like any of us have done it. But we're pretty stoked and we'll keep our heads on and go at it.

PW: In lieu of the last question, is this the first American headlining tour you guys have done?
GA: Full U.S., yes. We have been out a couple of times on headlining runs, but it has never been our tour. It has been small or co-headlining.
PW: Turn out has been pretty good?
GA: Yeah, better than we could have hoped and we're playing some bigger venues than we thought we could in some of these cities.
PW: I was pretty stoked you guys got to play the Buzz Under the Stars show. They've been playing you guys a lot. Then you're at an all ages venue here, which should bring a lot of those kids back. I don't know if you guys heard this, but after you guys left, a lot of people giving feedback about that show said you were their favorite act there.
GA: Oh really? Wow.

PW: They enjoyed you guys a lot. It should be a good turn out here. This question might not make a lot of sense to you guys since it is tilted more toward Brian than you, you guys make references to a lot of artists on your album like , Bob Dylan. Where did that idea come from to incorporate other band's lyrics into your songs?
GA: I don't want to speak for Brian, but I know he likes, and he has told me, but I'm not entirely certain on this, so don't quote me, but it is like, he analogizes, analogisies…How do you say that? He compares it to Hip Hop and what they do, where he pays tribute to those artists by putting them in and pay homage and get kids who aren't familiar with it to hear it. Like I learned about rock bands from listening to Miles. So maybe somebody learned about Miles Davis from our record.
PW: So it is sort of like an encyclopedia. I like that. Yeah, I was listening to it and I'm a huge fan and I when I heard it I was like "That's totally Round Here" and it took me by surprise a little bit. It is cool to see bands outside of that fold and pay homage. I liked it a lot. ga1
GA: Thanks.

PW: You guys have been really good about releasing your music on vinyl. Did you guys do anything to play or promote Record Store Day?
GA: We put out a live 10 inch of a set we did in a record shop in Orlando. A couple songs. I think it was only available at independent stores on Record Store Day.
PW: Would others who missed it be able to get their hands on it somehow?
GA: I don't think so. I don't even have one. It is tough these days. We do love to do vinyl, but there is crazy shit going on with the vinyl market now. It definitely is a fact now that people will go and put the record on Ebay and that pisses me off when they'll just jack it up for people who really want to listen to music. So there is a downside to it, but for people who want to hear it on vinyl, we think it is important to have everything pressed on vinyl. At least for listening, things sound better on vinyl.

PW: I own the record on vinyl and it sounds better on vinyl. You guys are at Lollapalooza this year. Do you have any large festivals or other big things lined up?
GA: June, July, we're touring fests and some scattered headline shows. How many shows do we have? It is something we have to get used to, just playing festivals and trying to get it figured out. It is like 3 in the afternoon in 100 degree heat in the middle of an open field and making it sound like it isn't 3 in the afternoon.
PW: So you've never done Lolla before?
GA: No.

PW: It is my fav. festival to cover, but it is like 150 degrees. Maybe not on stage, but I'm surrounded by 100,000 people. The last question I got is what should we expect in the future?
GA: The immediate future, it is just a lot more touring. We're not going to get any significant time off until the winter. We'll have some time off a couple months in the winter and get some new ideas together for a new record. Then next year start to record said record. Then put it out and tour it for like another six years or something. That's the plan. I don't know what people can expect. The unexpected? Dun dun dun…Haha. I don't know. What can they expect? A bunch of dudes. Sorry, we're not very polished about the music.
PW: You did very well. When we catch people right before they're going to play, we usually get 3 to 4 word answers, but that was very good.
GA: Cool. I still appreciate that people actually want to interview us.

The Gaslight Anthem: website | myspace

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