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THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM
TATS AND TUNES
By Reyan Ali
Live Photos by Colin Smith
Group Photo by Lisa Johnson
From the October 2008 issue of PRICK Magazine
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Even though it’s only been three years since their
formation and a year since the release of their
first album (2007’s vast and winding Sink or Swim
on XOXO Records),The Gaslight Anthem have already
made it. For a young band without a major label push,
they’ve already got all the enviable benefits of an entity
well-established: Enthusiasts absorb the sound, ruminate
on the words, ferociously track their vinyl output
(the website of their current label, SideOneDummy,
crashed on the first day of pre-orders for their new
record after an influx of traffic), and pack into undersized
venues by the hundreds. With September’s
release of the much-anticipated The ’59 Sound, four
guys from New Brunswick, New Jersey have already
used their wandering Americana style to craft the kind
of mature and emotionally complex sophomore album
that’s always a rarity.
Describing the music of Gaslight is a bit of
a difficult task. They’re punk, but not in a snarling
and confrontational sort of way. They’re folk yet
can be loud enough to tear through any slow
conventions.They’re rock ‘n’ roll in the way that
rock ‘n’ roll used to be. In terms of comparisons,
their warm and modest vibe resembles the
work of both blue-collar icons Joe Strummer
and Billy Bragg and contemporary tour-horses
like Lucero and Against Me!. Above all, their
work is closest to the best of Bruce Springsteen
at his boldest—the ultimate New Jersey compliment.
However, even that deeply favorable comparison
sells The Gaslight Anthem short
because the raw sincerity that they bring to
their material is what turns all of their work
into something undoubtedly theirs.
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Their latest disc, The '59 Sound, exemplifies
the intangible factor that makes them great. It’s
a LP so lovingly devoted to a by-gone era of blue
jeans and leather jackets that never feels false or
reaching. With distant vocals that beckon the listener
to pay closer attention, there are slow
stories that recall past glories, proud tributes
with low tones sweeping across miles of traveled
highway, and ballads that wildly chase
something lost. For vocalist/guitarist Brian
Fallon, the missing element in question just
might be the style of the sound itself: “I would
consider it one of the best sounds to ever
exist, [but] there's no band since The Clash
that [has given] any reference to it at all.”
Creating an authentic ode to this old studio
sound required some modifications to production:“
I didn't use any distortion or any modern
effects. You're going to hear slapback on the
vocals. Anything that you find on an Elvis
Presley record or Wilson Pickett or Roy
Orbison, that's what we would use.” As his
well-matured drawl alternates between furtive
and bursting, Fallon's lyrics hearken back to
that aesthetic now lost, filled with intermingling
imagery of deep skies, jukeboxes, radios,
gorgeous cars, dancing, choirs, and “high-top
sneakers and sailor tattoos.”
Those “sailor tattoos” likely denote
where most of the thematic work Fallon’s got
done on his body found its inspiration: “A lot
of the stuff [I have is] of the ocean, of the
water. I'm from down by the shore, New Jersey
is where I was born, and the ocean always
played a part growing up. I really love it down
there. I’ve got a fascination with the ocean.” His first tattoo came when he was sixteen
when he got the Bouncing Souls logo imprinted onto his body from a friend
working at First Place Tattoos in Hackettstown, New Jersey. The first one was all that
he needed to be hooked, as he recalls, “That was it for me.” Now, with full sleeves all
the way down from the shoulder and hundreds of smaller tattoos linking into five
canvases on different sections of his body, he has no regrets about any of them, but
he does have a favorite: the lions on his hands.
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Fallon’s not the only member of Gaslight dedicated to his ink: Drummer Benny
Horowitz has a brain full of exploding dynamite drawn onto his chest (“Whoever did
it is a phenomenal artist,” says his bandmate) and guitarist Alex Rosamilia’s got a shot
of Bruce Campbell’s mug on his arm (“He’s definitely out of his mind” is the vocalist’s
note).
Even as Fallon adores tattoos he understands how people can subtly abuse the
craft. He notes that where you get your ink done is sometimes more indicative of
your dedication to the art than what you get done: “When it’s just random areas, you
can almost tell when they got it because of whatever the trends [that] were popular
[at the time]. With some girls nowadays, when there’s something on their leg and
there’s something on their shoulder, it’s just like,‘Aw lady!’”
Now, as Fallon and company arrive at a point where others are getting are
Gaslight’s imagery tattooed on their bodies, it’s become an appropriate full-circle for
a group so deeply committed to the ideas and imagery of a certain kind of sound -—
that ’59 Sound, wholly impervious to any trend.
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