The Gaslight Anthem Band • Page 21

Need to revisit Painkillers tonight now

 

"Nobody Wins" is the best pop song he ever wrote.

 

I can't help but smile at the chorus of "Nobody Wins" every time it comes on.

Funny story - That record came out just before I went on spring break my senior year of college. For whatever reason I've never been someone who takes naps, so after a day of beach drinking everybody would pass out in their hotel rooms for a few hours and I'd sit on the balcony usually with just one other friend. Had a great view and I would just play songs from Painkillers and smoke cigarettes (not a big smoker, but hey it's spring break) and talk to this friend -- he wasn't even a close friend but just the fact that he was the only one also awake meant I would talk for hours with the kid every day.

One of the best things about music is how you can tie it to a specific place and time in your head. Where some albums make me think of some pretty heavy memories ("Elsie", yikes...), I'll always associate "Painkillers" with a really peaceful time. Love when an album comes out exactly the moment you need it to.

 

My least favorite songs on Painkillers were the singles, minus Wonderful Life.

 

Same thing for me, spring break senior year. First time I listened all the way through was on a beautiful central Texas drive from College Station to Austin. Somewhere between the freedom of school and the impending reality of how everything would change in two month's time.

And to add to that weird push and pull between nostalgia and anticipation, I remembered the fact that 4 years previous I was making the drive UP to college with Handwritten on repeat....Fallon was bookending a huge phase of my life. 'Twas awesome.

 

Perfect way to describe it.

To cap off this reminiscing, I still remember distinctly the first time I heard 59 Sound. I had read the name of the band in the comments of some Amazon review, maybe for a Killers record. I listened to a preview on Itunes, stopped 10 seconds in. Bought the album immediately and put it on my iPod classic (those were the days). It was like midnight and I was just about to go to bed but the second Great Expectations started I was wide awake.

I remember after every song thinking, there's no way the rest of the songs on this album are this good. This is the most perfect thing I've ever heard and sounds like it was written just for me. But I loved every song more than the last. By the time it got to "Here's Looking At You Kid" I was basically speechless. Somehow I remember when it got to the "boys will be boys..." part, I KNEW the next line was "..and girls have those eyes" despite never having heard the song, and when he sang it I had to pause it and chill for a minute. It just all fit so perfect. Didn't go to bed for like four hours. That next day I was counting down the minutes until I could listen to that album again.

And I am really not someone that gets too passionate or serious talking about music. But discovering the 59 sound was like, a major moment of my life. I am 100% sure I'd be a different person had I not found it.

 

Randomly stumbled upon this interview from a little while ago and he gets into detail about what the second album will sound like. (11:26 into the video)

"Painkillers was more of like, an Americana record. This one is not like that at all. It's more uptempo and I'm getting into... I sort of flirted with soul music and what I call R&B...I flirted with it a lot especially in the early Gaslight days with like 'Senor and the Queen' and even on 59 Sound. There was a little flirtation with soul music and now I'm like, let me see if I can just do it...I'm looking over to the 60s British artists who did that, like the Animals..."

He goes on for a while so it's worth a listen. I didn't write up the whole quote but this makes me super excited for the album. I feel like the soul-inspired stuff in Gaslight's early music, especially in some live versions where they went further into it, is a great sound for his voice.

 

Brian Fallon and Frank Turner both in a studio recording albums. I doubt either album gets released in 2017 but man, I fucking cannot wait.

 

So, is Gaslight done?

 

I think all my friends discuss that every weekend.

Brian used to always go out of his way on social media to remind fans it was "not a breakup but a break." But it's nearing two years since the hiatus, Brian will record his new album, probably tour for a year again, and then it'll be 2019 and 4 years out.

I really want them back because I crave seeing Gaslight live again, but my hope diminishes each year.

 

They'll make music again. It'll be awhile, but I'm sure it will happen.

 

I feel like Fallon really felt a lot of pressure during the last two Gaslight albums -- you could tell in his interviews, the way he occasionally lashed out at some of the labels being put on the band's sound and influences. It even seemed to affect his songwriting (pre-Get Hurt, he was all "this is totally different! totally new sound!" and "No mentions of the radio or Maria or anything like that!"). He seems to be more comfortable in his own skin as a songwriter since then and is enjoying the process more.

I too think the band will be back. Admittedly I am just as excited by his solo stuff as I am by the band, so it doesn't really feel like I'm "missing" Gaslight as I would if Fallon wasn't making any music at all.

 

I mean, Painkillers is a way better record than Get Hurt imo, so I'm also just as excited about getting more solo stuff at this point.

 

After Elsie had been out for a while, I remember reading an interview with one of the other guys in the band - I can't remember who it was - saying something to the effect that they would have been interested in doing Elsie as a Gaslight album, albeit one with a bit of a different sound. It struck me because Elsie really doesn't sound that different from Gaslight to me, especially on a song like Mae, and as much as I love Elsie, I honestly feel like if it had been a Gaslight album it would be even better than it is, perhaps an all time masterpiece.

I was struck again later on when the Molly & The Zombies songs eventually saw the light of day and they were fantastic. I couldn't figure out why they weren't just being used for the next Gaslight album... ...aaaand then I heard Get Hurt and the sound they went for on that and I realized that yeah, the Molly & The Zombies songs really didn't fit.

I guess my point is just that if you look at the credits on the Gaslight albums it always lists the four of them, even though I am pretty sure Brian writes the songs. Kinda like Coldplay. So only the guys in the band and a few other close people, like producers, really know what goes on behind closed doors. Maybe during the making of their albums Brian was pushing them toward a sound more like Elsie and the one or more of the other guys really fought against it. I can't imagine four people always agreeing all the time on anything, and its gotta be hard when you've been friends for a long time and now your creative endeavor is actually your job and source of income.

I am sure they have their reasons for doing things this way, and for the hiatus, but I feel like there will definitely be more Gaslight music in the future.

Also, I am insanely excited for this new Ted Hutt-produced Brian Fallon album they're working on down in New Orleans as we speak.

 

I think theres a chance we could see a late fall release for frank turner - he seems to be moving through the recording quickly, from what i can gather from his social media postings. Hopeful to have a new FT album on my end of year list (also hoping for a bit better of an output....was not big on positive songs at all....)

 

I bet we get both before the end of the year.

 

After revisiting Painkillers I ended up playing a lot of Gaslight this weekend, and man American Slang doesn't get enough credit as a fantastic album IMO.

59 Sound may be my favorite, but I think AS is their strongest "album" in the sense that it is so cohesive and thematically tight. Everyone talks about Fallon as a nostalgic songwriter, but American Slang is such an interesting album about nostalgia.

Every song approaches the past in a different way, and I can't get over how smart the little lyrical changes in "Old Haunts" are. The chorus repeats "God help the man who says if you'da known me when, old haunts are for forgotten ghosts" but then at the end it's "God help this man, my baby if you'da known me when -- old haunts are all we've ever known". It's a really honest admission of failure in a way --- he knows there's no use in dwelling on the past, but he can't help it.

And then "We Did It When We Were Young" with the double-tracked vocals, makes it sound like an old man and his younger self simultaneously singing. Really strong ending.

 

"when we were young" is similar in my opinion to "i believe jesus brought us together", both outstanding songs and closers. I'm with you in that i think AS often gets, not overlooked, but maybe some unfair judgement and criticisms. It's such a great summertime hot weather album and I look forward to giving it a few plays sometime soon.

 

American slang is their best album. One of my favorite summertime albums. Probably just favorites overall

 

This belongs on the "unpopular opinion" thread haha

 

I got some really good unpopular gaslight anthem opinions haha. Get hurt is their second best

 

Good God man

 

I still have hopes that Gaslight will return Fall of next year and do 59 Sound at some festivals / hometown show

 

Doubtful

 

A very underrated record! Great summer jam for sure