well done Brian Fallon Gaslight Anthem

eboweddie

please read this. i have more respect for him now after writing this


http://thegaslightanthem.tumblr.com/

gettingright

Honest and real; it's rare to get such an inside view of an artists mind, and couldn't help picture Bruce and Ed starting a slow clap at the end

FrankieG

Video of Sunday's "Incident" (facebook)

PJ_Soul

Cool.

Who's Joe??

Zod

So I watched that video and had a hard time figuring out.

I did see a point where he offered to cover Bon Jovi and the crowd was against that decision. Perhaps you shouldn't ask the crowd what songs they want to hear.....

No Coder

I saw Brian and the boys on the recent tour of Oz and I have seen them a few years ago as well. Love this band and appreciate what he is saying - BUT, when you do play a lot of covers over the years, people love hearing them too.

They have worn their love of Bruce and PJ on their sleeves and do some great covers of their songs and of other artists. Fans love to hear these songs live.

I totally understand that they are the ones up on stage and control the gig and nothing annoys me more than when people constantly yell out requests at gigs. I do like that he is stating that the band is changing direction and I'm all for it, but Brian can have a love/hate relationship with his crowd when he is not felling them. I think he needs to chill and understand that he will never make everyone happy and do what he wants without explaining himself.

RS151862

No Coder wrote:

I saw Brian and the boys on the recent tour of Oz and I have seen them a few years ago as well. Love this band and appreciate what he is saying - BUT, when you do play a lot of covers over the years, people love hearing them too.

Not only do they play a lot of covers they released Sliver as a single. I don't get what hes complaining about. Just be thankful that people are willing to pay to see you play.

on2legs

Eh... I really like Gaslight Anthem but he comes off as a bit of a dick in that post.

Vytis33

So this guy asks the crowd in Bruce's backyard what cover song they want to sing along to and they yell Bruuuuce. Fallon literally wrote lyrics that said "no surrender my Bobby Jean." He plays GaGa and Jovi but them yelling for a Boss tune sets him off.

What an idiot.

PJ_Soul

on2legs wrote:

Eh... I really like Gaslight Anthem but he comes off as a bit of a dick in that post.

I understand why he feels the way he does - I think it's pretty rude to yell out songs over and over myself. but it might not have been the best idea to go off about it like that publicly. Fans don't particularly like getting a tongue lashing from a lead singer who doesn't think they are appreciating him properly... They'll appreciate him (or not) any damn way they please (and the other fans will be the ones to give them tongue lashings if they aren't doing it right ). And if he's asking the crowd what they want to hear, then his comment really don't make much sense. Maybe he was drunk posting.

No Coder

RS151862 wrote:

No Coder wrote:

I saw Brian and the boys on the recent tour of Oz and I have seen them a few years ago as well. Love this band and appreciate what he is saying - BUT, when you do play a lot of covers over the years, people love hearing them too.

Not only do they play a lot of covers they released Sliver as a single. I don't get what hes complaining about. Just be thankful that people are willing to pay to see you play.

And their iTunes sessions was pretty much all covers bar 1 or 2 songs. Most youtube videos of Radio performances includes cobvers as well.

cmm6734

I'm sorry, but he sounds like a completely arrogant asshole. You usually start a band because you love playing music, other artist's music. You play covers, get your bearings, then you write your own songs. So what if people want to hear a Springsteen song or a Pearl Jam song? You don't have to insult your fans because you don't want to play it. Grow up.

DPrival78

aren't these guys basically a glorified bar band anyway?

PJ_Soul

DPrival78 wrote:

aren't these guys basically a glorified bar band anyway?

I really had never listened to them until about 15 minutes ago....
Why do they do so many covers??

Digital Twilight

PJ_Soul wrote:

DPrival78 wrote:

aren't these guys basically a glorified bar band anyway?

I really had never listened to them until about 15 minutes ago....
Why do they do so many covers??

How many covers are we talking about here?

scratched vinyl

I really liked Gaslight back in their early days, until I read one too many interviews with Brian Fallon; he's kind of a ding dong. It's the occasional side effect of reading up on artists who's music you like, sometimes they turn out to be ding dongs.

FrankieG

Digital Twilight wrote:

How many covers are we talking about here?

http://www.setlist.fm/stats/the-gasligh ... 644fa.html

Not that many. Not any more than PJ.
FIrst cover is #46 on the list. Many only have a couple plays.

South of Seattle

PJ_Soul wrote:

Cool.

Who's Joe??

Empty Glass

Never been to a Gaslight show. I have their albums and I enjoy them.

I will say this though...I can't stand being at a PJ show or listening to a boot and someone feels the need to yell "Footsteps" or some other song.

It's not the same, he's talking about covers and I'm not, but it's just the yelling of songs. Drives me nuts. Anyway, mindless rant over, continue on your day

rr165892

Ed came out and did S.O.L.A.T with them at Deluna fest it was off the hook.Brian told the crowd he was a 10c member and we can't know his #.Dude is one of us.Let him be.Hope your reading this thread bro.Keep on fighting the good fight.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lRpbltfM_uA

Watch above it rocks!

MagnumPJ

Was at the show last night and there wasn't a rampant "bruce" chant, more so a section up front. Despite quite the unfavorable weather it was a favorable crowd - as it usually is for their shows.

Having seen them a bunch of times and read/seen many interviews with them, it is inevitable that they get asked about bruce almost every time. Now Bruce has played with them and they have dropped little bruce tributes throughout their music in the past, but it has to be brutal even it perhaps was their own doing in the beginning. And if they weren't from the same neck of the woods in NJ as the Boss then none of this would have ever continued to play on the way it has. But it has, and I think he was also addressing that it is a band, not just him. They view themselves as a band, each of whom has different tastes and inspirations. Must be maddening at this point.

Unfortunate the way things turned out last night. Stepping out of the spotlight as he suggests is probably best, as it is could distance themselves from the ominous "B" word. And I'm a huge Bruce fan.

Also, huge Hold Steady fan...last night's opener..check them out.

pnoone320

Joe strummer

Kathi

I really like the first part of his post, about the change and development of bands.

I can also understand that he doesn't want to be constantly compared anymore, and I never had the impression gaslight did that many covers (not for their live shows anyway, more for radio sessions etc). not a big fan of constant request yelling either, worst experience for that were the EV solo gigs last year.
"play blooooood"

PhillyCrownOfThorns

MagnumPJ wrote:

Was at the show last night and there wasn't a rampant "bruce" chant, more so a section up front. Despite quite the unfavorable weather it was a favorable crowd - as it usually is for their shows.

Having seen them a bunch of times and read/seen many interviews with them, it is inevitable that they get asked about bruce almost every time. Now Bruce has played with them and they have dropped little bruce tributes throughout their music in the past, but it has to be brutal even it perhaps was their own doing in the beginning. And if they weren't from the same neck of the woods in NJ as the Boss then none of this would have ever continued to play on the way it has. But it has, and I think he was also addressing that it is a band, not just him. They view themselves as a band, each of whom has different tastes and inspirations. Must be maddening at this point.

Unfortunate the way things turned out last night. Stepping out of the spotlight as he suggests is probably best, as it is could distance themselves from the ominous "B" word. And I'm a huge Bruce fan.

Also, huge Hold Steady fan...last night's opener..check them out.

Very well said... I had a few friends who were there last night and had a similar take on the situation.

One question...still don't understand why he closed the show with Baba?

gus stills

I'm the same age as Brian Fallon. Don't know him, but I get the sense we grew up listening to a lot of the same bands. They (not just he, but the band) have always worn their influences on their sleeve. I think that's one of the more charming things about the band. (That, and Brian's engaging the crowd with stories, movie quotes, etc. You never quite know what he's going to say at a show.) Total respect for that, and the maturation of the band's sound over the last few albums. '59 Sound was my introduction to them a few years ago, and I've been following ever since. I think he's earned the right to let what he plays--and not what others want him to play--define who he is as a musician. His tumblr post was honest as hell, and to just throw him under the bus because he got angry at a crowd that was trying to pigeonhole their sound into what it once was, kind of, but not really, before it developed to where it is today? That's lame.

Anyone remember shoes for my friends? We assholes don't always respect the bands we find ourselves identifying with. Don't know why, but I see it at every show I go too. It's a shame. Art is a process, and it's collaborative between the artist and the audience. When one or the other turns, it just destroys that synergy. Sorry to see it happening to Brian and GA. I've seen them a half dozen times, and chatted with them a couple times, and they all seem like really earnest, down to earth guys. Hope they work through this and keep rocking.

fox_mulderX

The Gaslight Anthem is a band that's slowly growing on me. You can definitely hear Springsteen and Social Distortion in their music/lyrics.
I've been listening to The '59 Sound (I think that's the name) a lot lately and I really like it. Any big GA fans here that can recommend another album of theirs?

hamma

fox_mulderX wrote:

The Gaslight Anthem is a band that's slowly growing on me. You can definitely hear Springsteen and Social Distortion in their music/lyrics.
I've been listening to The '59 Sound (I think that's the name) a lot lately and I really like it. Any big GA fans here that can recommend another album of theirs?

All of their albums are good. Sink or swim and the señor and queen ep are little more punky with great hooks. American slang is good but not as cohesive as 59 sound. The newest one is great in my opinion. 45 hcym Mae black dahlia. Really good and different than the 59 sound. Like someone above said they wear their influences on their sleeves but in a good way. I've been a big fan ever since I fist heard them. They sound like guys who grew up listening to pearl jam , bouncing souls Tom waits and rancid. In a lot of the interviews and message boards I feel like people try to make Brian out to be this eras Eddie or Bruce instead of just letting him be himself.

dottles

PhillyCrownOfThorns wrote:

One question...still don't understand why he closed the show with Baba?

They often close or near close with Baba, that's not unusual for them.
Live they don't do huge amounts of covers in my experience.

I read the blog by Brian. It struck me that this is a chap who has let things build up and there's been the straw that broke the camels back so to speak. I think Brian has been in a bit on odd place anyway of late, he used to use twitter (really interactive, I've had conversations with him on there) and write the TGA blogs etc but then recently that all vanised (TGA (admin I guess) then blogged to say they'd wrestled the password back from Brian and would be maintaining the site themeselves. There was a blog site he set up for his new solo stuff, which he was at pains to say wasn't Horrible Crowes music, and was more 'Americana'.

We shall see, I expect he's reading this thread going - I just lost my rag!

FrankieG

fox_mulderX wrote:

The Gaslight Anthem is a band that's slowly growing on me. You can definitely hear Springsteen and Social Distortion in their music/lyrics.
I've been listening to The '59 Sound (I think that's the name) a lot lately and I really like it. Any big GA fans here that can recommend another album of theirs?

In the order that I love them:

59 Sound
Sink or Swim
Senor and the Queen (EP) (4 songs)
Handwritten
American Slang

No Coder

FrankieG wrote:

fox_mulderX wrote:

The Gaslight Anthem is a band that's slowly growing on me. You can definitely hear Springsteen and Social Distortion in their music/lyrics.
I've been listening to The '59 Sound (I think that's the name) a lot lately and I really like it. Any big GA fans here that can recommend another album of theirs?

In the order that I love them:

59 Sound
Sink or Swim
Senor and the Queen (EP) (4 songs)
Handwritten
American Slang

I started with 59 Sound, then bought Senor and the Queen. American Slang came out not long after and whilst I loved it initially, it has moved to my least favourite - still has some great songs, but as someone else said, it's less cohesive.
I finally got around to getting Sink or Swim a few years ago, and I would have to say that it is my favourite. I like the less produced sound on it and Red at Night would be my favourite song. Handwritten is a great album also, but has 1 or 2 songs that after a few listens, I get sick of.

The Akkus

Being a singer in a band and a long time musician, I kinda feel him, but if people are at the show yelling for you to cover SOLAT, cover the song and dont get mad or just ignore the request. I mean, honestly, I would have never gave this band a chance if it was not for the Pearl Jam connection, and they need to embrace that fact. It has done wonders for MMJ.