The Gaslight Anthem; 2009's Best Live Band
The New Jersey Rockers Relentlessly Tour The '59 Sound
Mar 19, 2009
The accolades are still rolling in for The Gaslight Anthem's latest release, The '59 Sound. Kerrang! Magazine has them at No.2 for Album of the Year (2008), with EMUSIC and Q Magazine naming the top vote-getter outright.
The band is currently touring with Heartless Bastards, and Good Old War on a string of sold out shows from Ontario to New York City further cementing their status as a band sincerely on the rise. "It's totally weird because you don't expect people to be singing your songs when you're touring all over the world, and for people to know your songs just like they do at home, it's exciting," said singer/guitar player Brian Fallon speaking to MTV News earlier this year.
The '59 Sound ranked #3 On MTV's Best Albums for 2008 and signals their burgeoning mass appeal as the manifestion of simple hardwork and tested punk aesthetic.
What They're saying about The Gaslight Anthem
"These songs are simple, mostly, but they're executed perfectly. Fallon and guitarist Alex Rosamilia do this thing, mostly on the quiet bits, where their guitars wrap twinkly harmonies around each other, getting loose and intricate without being...when the guitars turn into chorus-firepower, it just kills because it's been so long since we've heard anyone pull that off with such panache. .THE ’59 SOUND is an answer to a prayer," raves PITCHFORK who gave the band's album an 8.6 out of 10.
"With emo choking on its own forced tears, in 2008 what music really needed was a band with honesty, guts and genuine emotion. Enter New Jersey songsmiths The Gaslight Anthem. With a breeze of shiny guitar, some ragged, bluesman’s charm and a large dollop of Bruce Springsteen, 2008 saw Brian Fallon and Co. netting themselves a full five Ks for THE ’59 SOUND, becoming one of the hottest rock bands of the year," Kerrang's! rousing assesment and connection with The Boss is evident in Fallon's wounded and weary baritone and bares out well in the singer's cover of Springsteen's "Backstreets," which is up on the band's MySpace page.
Where the Band is Headed Next
A new album and studio time appears far off for this band. Their current tour will dissolve into a festival jaunt that will carry them around the globe from Switzerland to Japan before any rest appears in sight. The most recently confirmed dates will take The Gaslight Anthem through the Summer.
The last show state-side for the New Jersey quartet appears to be the Sasquatch Festival in Washington with other notable stops being The Coachella Music Festival on April 19th and a two-night stand in Asbury Park, New Jersey on May 8th-9th. Change lives, check them out.
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