The Gaslight Anthem Band • Page 181

is his reluctance to do a gaslight album more due to personal issues than creative? that would make sense because, in all honesty, pretty much everything he's released could comfortably fit under the gaslight banner. it's not like he's out here making harsh noise records or something lol.

 

I think life can sometimes get in the way. Between their personal relationships, kids, other business interests, and even sometimes geography can have major impacts on the band.

They also seemed burnt out by a certain type of media and fan interaction.

Brian’s said they didn’t collectively know what to do next or have any ideas for Gaslight songs, which to me means they kinda decided not to force the issue and not work together as that band. The motivation sounded gone.

I was surprised when they did a ‘59 Sound 10 Year Anniversary Tour. Sounded as good as always. I guess it wasn’t fun enough or inspiring enough to start working together as Gaslight, or they just kind of felt they accomplished what they wanted.

Brian had freedom in going solo, and even more so now being independent in terms of a label. He has worked with Ian, and Alex R did tour with him.

I can sometimes just be dynamics and life changing. I think they’d easily get financial support from a label like Side One or something if they were allowed to release new music (not sure if they fulfilled their contract). Guess they need that spark to ignite gaslight, but that may never happen.

I do think some of Brian’s songs really could have been Gaslight songs, so that cool. Gaslight had broad sound.

 

yeah i think that's about it, but i feel like a lot of his reluctance to do gaslight is due to the expectations he has for it. there was a brief moment where they really were on their way to being absolutely massive and you could hear that he felt it when he'd describe whatever they were working on (american slang was the clash, handwritten was pearl jam). things never quite hit the height that people (or maybe just brian himself) were expecting, and then the response to get hurt, i think, really hurt him. to lay your heart out in your "divorce" album and have people openly mocking him (see the pitchfork review) had to have been painful.

honestly, i think more than anything his ambitions were simply beyond what he was capable of. without the gaslight name, he's gone back to making really straight forward (and very good!) rock albums, more in the vein of early gaslight; painkillers, in particular, could sit comfortably between the 59 sound and american slang. i think if he was able to realise that he could simply do that as gaslight, rather than making his clash album, or his springsteen album, or whatever, it would be a lot easier for him. my inkling is that he will eventually come around on that, probably quite a few years from now when gaslight are a legacy act. which is absolutely fine! though i do feel there's been a missed opportunity to really cement gaslight's legacy with all the work he's done, and he may well be absolutely fine with that, too.

 

I think more than anything, Brian has said again and again that he hates the rock star ‘lifestyle.’ He hates doing press, and he hates playing to 20,000 people and he hates being forced to tour and he hates caring about album sales and he hates a million other things. He’s said the reunion was miserable because it was just once again being a band dude instead of a dude who puts out music when and how he wants.

I just think they reached a certain level of success and Brian said ‘this isn’t for me.’ I saw him play a 300ish cap bar in 2019 with Ruston Kelly and he seemed happy as a clam about it. He clearly likes doing different things and not worrying who else likes it but him, which we can see from his solo stuff. He just doesn’t want to do Gaslight because he doesn’t want to have to be the Gaslight dude. And I get it. Heck, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often with bands (and maybe it does and we just never hear about it).

 

Brian also said he wanted to play big arenas around Handwritten's release. What we want changes over time. I think the momentum and stress personally and professional can grind people down. Maybe the shine wore off with dealing with stuff back home and having select media members or press people trying to pick you apart. Not everyone's designed for it. Brian's obviously very passionate about music no matter what and it's probably nice to concentrate more on that part of things, and if that means it can't be in Gaslight I get it. I think the only easy way for them do anything new for Gaslight would be write and record secretly, do something for charity or as an anniversary.

As long as he keeps making music I'll be listening.

 

Plus, having heard Brian talk about making Get Hurt now over the years since it's release, it really sounds like he wasn't a fan of how that album came out, the songs that ended up making the album, etc. Any time people mention some of the bonus tracks being great, it seems like he agrees and says that he wishes that the album had gone more in that direction.

On top of all of the other stressors people have mentioned, just straight up musically being pushed into making a kind of music you don't really want to be making and you want to be making something else has to suck.

I'm not sure if he's referencing the record label, the other guys in the band, the fans, his perception of what the fans wanted out of them, or some crazy mix of all of the above and maybe other things I am overlooking when he talks about being pushed into making a certain type of music / album.

To me it has always sounded like him and some combination of other guys in the band - possibly all 3 - wanted to pursue different musical paths.

 

Brian and Ian were able to do The Horrible Crowes (with some participation from Alex R) that never publicly created any issues I know of. I think family and relationships were probably a huge factor. You get in a certain headspace an associate it with the band.

Glad it wasn’t a major public fall out and it kind of sounds like it was a collective decision to pause the bands activities. Gaslight Anthem made a lot of great music in a short period of time and every record is a hit with me.

 

Not sure if anyone listened to the episode of Walking the Floor he was on, but he talks at length about breaking up the band and about how it was totally a unanimous decision. Worth a listen if anyone is curious.

 

I’m not sure if I heard that one, but he has talked in a few places how as a band they asked each other something like “does anyone have any ideas?”, and the answer was basically no.

 

My wife was listening to Taylor Swift’s Folklore this week and every time I hear Betty I think it would be the perfect Brian Fallon cover.

Just putting this one out in the universe, since back in the day all I wanted was a Brian Fallon cover of No Surrender and we all know how that went.

 

I want a Brian Fallon cover of Lover!

 

This exchange with Brian from last month one Twitter is one of my favorite Twitter-related things:

 

I have a feeling that Laura Stevenson and Florence Welch would be two ladies he’d love to sing with. He also seems to be a fan of Lana Del Ray I believe.

 

You guys are remarkably good at extrapolating someone you don’t know’s state of mind.

 

Brian covered The Lawrence Arms' "Chicago is Burning" for their War on Xmas special last month and I never could've imagined it as anything other than a scrappy little punk song. But Fallon took it to another level.

 

Brian writes lyrics, and if you’ve ever made an assumption about those lyrics meanings you’ve assumed his state of mind.

I do think a lot of hard core fans have listened to and read a lot of interviews, posts podcasts, and so on from Brian over number of years. Also, he’s not some crazy guy making insane decisions with his life. He’s a father, husband, son and musician (which is still a job). Part of Brian and his various projects has been the relatability of how he feels and his music. He’s always been very honest with fans so I think understanding his state of mind based on what we know from a distance isn’t too off base.

 

Get Hurt isn’t my favorite, but it’s not a bad album one bit. I have a special relationship with that album as it accompanied me on a day trip through the desert to Palm Springs in the day and night. It was always remind me of that peaceful road trip all by myself.

 

I took to resequencing get hurt after hearing about it from sone others and it made a difference. It’s still not near my favorite but I like it a lot.

 

I like Get Hurt a lot, but I agree the sequencing and some of the song intros don’t flow together as well as previous albums.

It’s obviously got a heavier, and darker tone to the album, and I think a lot of fans were just taken back by that. Gaslight really went all out trying new things for this record.

 

Sure, if that makes you feel better about doing it!

I’d consider myself a pretty big fan of this band (and generally of a lot of artists), and as a general rule I think it’s weird to assume that just because I’ve heard someone talk about themselves or pored over their music that I can put myself in their state of mind.

 

Thousands of jobs are based specifically on people trying to interpret peoples state of mind. Even commenting on my state of mind to speak to speaking on someone’s state of mind proves we do it all the time.

Brian has openly engaged in explaining many of the things we’re all discussing, or dropped hints. There is also reason or logic that people can use to help fill the gaps.

I literally just finished watching a football game where broadcasters continually speak to the state of mind of players and coaches all game, and when there’s a close call, they bring a guest ref specialist to determine a ref’s state of mind when making a call. All the while, I am forming my own opinion on my perceived state of mind of al those involved.

We are not trying to solve so great mystery here. Just talking about a band we like and some of the guys in it. It wasn’t some crazy unique scenario that caused Gaslight to call it a day. The relatability of the band and its members is part of their appeal.

There is also a lot of source material too. And if we all have it all wrong, no one is pushing some kind of harmful agenda or disparaging the band. Feels pretty innocent to me since it’s a dialogue amongst fans.

 

Lol alright enjoy it. If you can’t see the difference between second guessing a football referee’s call and guessing on the personal relationships of folks you don’t know, I can’t help.

 

I didn’t ask for you help so you not being able to help me is quite ok.

I can explain my state of mind since you won’t be able to extrapolate it, but I think all of us would rather talk about Gaslight related things because it’s probably far more interesting. Hopefully we can both agree on that.

 

I genuinely don't think big fans of a band/artist speculating on the reasons behind a band being inactive, based largely on a substantial amount of evidence that's available publicly, is nearly as big of a deal as you're making it out to be. If people in here were throwing around wild accusations/theories about members of the band that were potentially harmful to their reputations, of course that would be something to discourage. As it is though, nobody in here is doing anything like that. As @.K. mentioned, even if everything he said is wrong, it's ultimately just harmless speculation from a longtime fan of their careers. Good for you for not engaging in that type of behavior personally I suppose, just don't see what the point is in trying to shame others for something totally innocuous.

 

You guys are writing quite a lot for folks who I don’t know and who don’t care about my opinion. I didn’t call any of you out by name, do what you want!