The Gaslight Anthem Hits The Road
The Gaslight Anthem is back on the road. After numerous starts and stops, the New Brunswick band is writing their sixth album and will be performing May 19 in Atlantic City. Lead singer/rhythm guitarist Brian Fallon, lead guitarist Alex Rosamilia, bassist Alex Levine and drummer Benny Horowitz have been around for 16 years (their first gig was in Somerville). The 2007 Sink or Swim debut landed songs on the Skate It and Skate 2 video games. Then these literate boys referenced 19th Century British author Charles Dickens on “Great Expectations,” a song off their 2008 follow-up album, The ’59 Sound. They also contributed a song that year to All Aboard: A Tribute To Johnny Cash, covering the country legend’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” They opened for Social Distortion in Europe and Springsteen in England. Bruce came out to jam with them during their opening set. Later, singer Fallon joined Bruce onstage for “No Surrender.” Kerrang! magazine put ‘em on the cover and—bingo—they were big in England.
In 2009, they played Lollapalooza. They supported their third album, 2010’s American Slang, with a slew of festival dates. In 2011, they signed to Mercury Records. The result was their fourth and arguably best album, 2012’s Handwritten. They performed Pearl Jam’s “State of Love and Trust” with Eddie Vedder in Florida. Rolling Stone interviewed them for 2014’s terrific Get Hurt. A bonus track, “Once Upon A Time,” made it into the feature film Devil’s Due.
Then they took an extended break for a few more years reuniting for some 2018 shows. Then more silence, which only seemed to preserve their lasting legacy. Smart. It’s to their credit that this is a band who never got swept up in the rock star dance. To take extended time off and just be regular humans again? Maybe that’s what it takes to avoid “The 27 Club.” Last year, Fallon announced the band was back at it full-time, celebrating the decision with a great set at the PNC Arts Center in Holmdel. The new single is “Positive Charge.” The new album, not yet out, is hotly anticipated.