| The
new album chronicle
or 'the making of American
Slang'
"These 10 songs are the songs
we've been trying to write our whole career." The
Gaslight Anthem, 26 Feb. 2010
go straight to latest
label: SideOneDummy /
producer: Ted Hutt / studio: The Magic Shop, NYC
 
the above are mock-ups designed
by this site using i) a photo posted by The Gaslight Anthem on Twitter
on 6 March 2010 and ii) a 2009 gig poster;
the actual album cover art has not been confirmed
Once upon a time in New Jersey
...
22 August 2009
During a solo gig at the Court Tavern,
Brian is reported to have said that the next Gaslight Anthem album would
be a mixture of the Supremes, the Clash and Tom Waits.
22 September 2009
Brian tweets: "New songs, good shows!
Gearing up for the new record, writing on the tour everyday a little bit
[...]."
26 November 2009 12.08pm
Brian tweets: "Happy thanksgiving
everybody! About to start reversals [sic; what would Freud make of it?]
on the new songs on the first! Can't wait! [...]."
26 November 2009 5.48pm
Brian tweets: "New songs = Tom Waits
and early Clapton singing London Calling-era Clash with Social D as the
band, with Diana Ross on backup vocals."
11 December 2009
A new song, 'Bring It On', is performed
by the Gaslight Anthem at the Wellmont Theatre, Montclair, NJ.
30 December 2009
From Kerrang magazine:
How's the new album coming
along?
Brian Fallon (vocals): "It's pretty
much all I'm focused on right now. I just moved into my new apartment in
New York and since then I've been writing like crazy. It was like this
huge wave of inspiration came over me.'
What sparked the writing spree?
"The last tour we played was a huge
inspiration. All of a sudden we got into the blues. Benny [Horowitz] our
drummer has always been into American blues like Muddy Waters and he showed
me things like that I was, like, 'Yeah, this is cool but it sounds so raw.
How are we going to make that Sound modern?'. Then our guitar tech introduced
me to the [album] Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton. That brought me up
to speed on how they modernised the old blues sounds and we’ve taken that
and used it as an influence on this record."
Sounds intriguing - is it a big
departure?
"The songs, structurally, still have
that familiar feel so we haven't totally jumped off the deep end. I've
started playing piano too, which connects everything and brings it to a
whole new level. It's really exciting for us right now because it's a definite
progression - we didn't want to just make The '59 Sound, the sequel. You're
cheating people if you write the same record again but, at the same time,
you have your style and you can't abandon it. I was listening to Gallows'
Grey Britain and I thought that was a great shift in focus. The way Frank
[vocals] was talking about his country, I found that really interesting
and it totally sparked me on to writing about where I am from. We took
our cue from that, which made me think, 'What does America sound like?'."
Lyrically, what are these songs
about?
"A lot of this is about what has
happened to us in the last year, what it was like to grow up, how we got
here, about our friends who are still finding their ways in life. We haven't
succeeded to the point where our lives are all that different or that we
have a lot of money, despite achieving a lot. We've got out of our desperate
situations but we're still working. It's about what you do when you reach
your goals and what people do when their dreams don't come true. We've
turned more internally and tried to figure out what it is that really drives
us."
The '59 Sound really struck a
chord with people. Did that play on your mind while writing these songs?
"You can't analyse why your last
record hit home with people. Initially I thought about that a lot but you
can't write with that in mind. So you have to trust in your own abilities
and hope people receive it the same way. If I wrote more of the same and
people loved it but I hated it, what would that be worth? You have to stand
on your own feet, take in what you've learned and, if you've learned well,
then you will do well."
14 January 2010
The Express reports that
the Gaslight Anthem's third album is "slated to be released on June 15".
Brian is quoted as saying: "We're calling the record 'American Slang';
that's the best description of us. ['American Slang'] is a hyper-literal
album. These stories are coming out of my life and the reflections on the
things I've gotten as I've gotten older. It's more autobiographical, definitely
more direct. Not so shrouded in mystery. I'm not trying to confuse anyone
with a trail of images on this one. I think I have a better focus on what
to say to people."
24 January 2010
Brian tweets: "Entering the last
week of pre production! Studio here we come!"
24 January 2010
Brian tweets: "Day one of recording,
tomorrow... Here goes."
1 February 2010
The Gaslight
Anthem enter the studio (The Magic Shop, NYC - pics).
3 February 2010
Brian tweets: "Day three, Benny's
almost done the whole record in two days. Pretty awesome. I'll try to post
pictures tomorrow."
6 February 2010
Brian tweets: "And now we're on
to bass..."
8 February 2010 9.54pm
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "We're
about done with the bass guitar tracks, so that's drums and bass done.
Starting Brian's guitars Wednesday... Les Pauls crashing!!!!!"
8 February 2010 10.06pm
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "Look
at him in his nice Ben Sherman. It's a good looking recording studio!"
+ photo (see image below)
9 February 2010
The Gaslight Anthem [Brian] tweet:
"Today I probably found the best guitar sound ever heard. Tomorrow we're
gonna record it. 10 times."
10 February 2010 10.19pm
Brian tweets: "Doing my guitars
now; it's harder to play when you stop playing 'cowboy chords'. And I'm
using 2 Dr Z remedys and three Les Pauls."
10 February 2010 10.22pm
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "Brian
did guitars today, and more tomorrow. The city shut down from snow, but
not us, we work anyhow. Get some boots people, it's just snow."
11 February 2010 8.04pm
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "Rythm
and Blues people... Make you dance." + photo (see
image below)
11 February 2010 8.11pm
Brian tweets: "Recorded 98% of my
guitars today, it was awesome. [...]."
12 February 2010
A SideOneDummy press release confirms
that the new album will be called 'American Slang'.
12 February 2010 7.02pm
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "Brians
guitars done...on to Alex... With more amps than maybe have ever been recorded
at one single time. Hmm... June, people, June 15th..."
12 February 2010 9.09pm
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "Here's
the other room where we keep the cabinets and drums and secrets.... This
shot is from the load in day..." + photo (see image
below)
15 February 2010
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "Lighter
slide...." + photo (see image below)
15 February 2010
The Gaslight Anthem's MySpace blog:
"The Recording Studio...fire
up the gravy....
In a couple hours I'll jump on the
train and go back to the studio we've been working at for the last couple
weeks. It's been an experience thus far, and we're all really excited
about how everything is shaping up. Take by take I'm hearing a more
completed version and getting happier with the result.
The mood is good, and to boot, somebody
there makes coffee all the time. There is literally a fresh pot every
time I want a cup, that shit is serious.
If I keep writing, I'll divulge secrets
I don't want to. Because I talk too much. But take it from
me, if you haven't seen Ted Hutt dancing like an early 80's British ska
kid while Alex R. lights incense and harnesses his guitar power animal.
Well, then you just haven't seen everything. Even if you thought
you did.
Oh, and Brian is adding teeth, and
I'm sadly subtracting.
Cheers!
Benny"
16 February 2010
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "Tapping
and tapping.... Drums, guitars, bass, guitars, vocals... Done. Now onto
harmonies etc..." + photo (see image below)
16 February 2010
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "This
is Alex using a frantone hi ball, she's a good lady... This Is Benny explaining
something..." + photo (see image below)
16 February 2010
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "Ok,
actually that was Benny in that last one, here's Alex and the frantone..."
+ photo (see image below)
19 February 2010
From Paste magazine: [as
for the accuracy of this article, see the Gaslight Anthem's tweet of 20
February 2010.]
"The band’s forthcoming third studio
album, American Slang (out June 15 on SideOneDummy), includes songs
about someone who is not 'the greatest baseball player in the world' and
'a doctor that cured cancer.'
'American Slang is just what
we do. That's who we are,' Fallon says. 'You're presented with this American
Dream and all these American possibilities - and then there's the reality
of what actually happens with your life.'
American Slang speaks to what
Fallon calls 'surviving within your circumstances,' a lesson that the album
takes to heart. Now two weeks into recording, The Gaslight Anthem has been
experimenting gleefully on a collection of old amps to see which childhood
favorites they can emulate. 'It's really exciting, because you're finding
out the little secrets of the records you loved growing up,' Fallon says.
The end result takes cues from Tom
Waits, The Clash and The Supremes, and most of all from earlier Clapton
and Rolling Stones output - British blues and rock records inspired by
American ones. 'It’s almost like we're bouncing it back this time,' Fallon
says. 'This [record] is really the one where we said, "All right, well,
we've got our influences. They'll speak naturally, but what do we have
to say on our own? What does it feel like to put on our own shoes and clothes?
What do we sound like, and what's our story?"'"
19 February 2010
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "Pretty
excited, it's starting to sound like a record!"
20 February 2010 [This
tweet relates to the article published in Paste magazine on 19 February
2010 (see above).]
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "We're
still looking for the song about a doctor or a baseball player... hmm,
must be on a different band's record."
23 February 2010
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "Almost
done recording, we're begining to celebrate...modestly, but it's bubbling
up, we're very excited..."
24 February 2010 5.01pm
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "Begining
the final touches..." + photo (see image below)
24 February 2010 5.02pm
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "More
final touching..." + photo (see image below)
26 February 2010
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "These
10 songs are the songs we've been trying to write our whole career. Thing
are looking up ladies and gentlemen... one week to go."
1 March 2010
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "We did
some finishing vocal touches today courtesy of Pete and Bryan from the
Bouncing Souls, Dave from Vision and Tommy Gunn from Communication Redlight!
Awesome!"
2 March 2010
Brian talks at length about the
new album with ExploreMusic:
www.exploremusic.com/interview/2010-03-02/The-Gaslight-Anthems-Brian-Fallon-Tells-ExploreMusic-About-American-Slang
Here is an extract transcribed by
'simo':
Why did you guys call it 'American
Slang'?
Oh, cause that's kind of our life.
That's like the banner over our life story. Like the backhanded American
thing. [...] The American dream is kind of a weird thing cause it's like
a funny thing that you're presented with. There's all these possibilities
that you could do, but none of those really happen...not very often. It
doesn't really happen like that. You kinda live the American life and there's
the American dream, but what the reality is is kinda the American slang.
[...] I think that part of what I was talking about with the American thing.
I think that that resonates with everybody. If you're from Germany or Russia
or Hawaii, it kinda resonates with you. It's just our specific story so
that's why we called it 'American Slang' rather than anything else.
What was the recording process
like? I read something on Myspace... apparently you guys had lots and lots
of coffee.
Yeah, we're almost done. We're still
in here but we're kinda laying down the last things. It was really cool
because this time we practiced. We've had time to practice. We got off
tour, had a couple months to write and practice really a lot. And then
we went in the studio fully prepared whereas normally our records were
done in the middle of tours. Like we would take breaks on tour, and then
continue on tour.
What does that do for you as a
musician? Does it give you a bit more breathing room?
Yeah it does and it really lets you
get what you're trying to do across, so you don't look back on things and
go, 'Man, you know, if I had time I could've figured out this part.' This
guitar part that maybe I couldn't have played at the time, but given an
extra week or something, I would've had time with that. And the cool thing
is that with the guys at SideOneDummy, they're very cool. They said that
stuff without us having to ask for it. It was like, 'Listen man, we got
you all this time now. You can go sit back and record and it'll be cool.
You can take as much time as you need.' And we were like, 'wow, that's
awesome. I didn't even ask you for that.' And they were like, 'No, no,
it's totally cool man. Just do it.'
I've read things about a doctor
who discovers a cure for cancer, I've read stuff about baseball players...
What I said in that interview particularly
was... I was kinda describing the American dream. How you don't grow up
to be the world's greatest baseball player, or you don't grow up to be
the doctor who cures cancer. You grow up to be you. And whatever it is
that you do, a lot of times you fall short of these dreams that you have
when you're a kid. The songs are about the dream, not baseball players
and doctors. Maybe the phone line was funny that day. It was kinda what
I said, but there's no songs about that. But that happens. It's a phone
conversation. People get things confused sometimes. It's alright. That
lady is a nice lady. She didn't do that on purpose.
Is the album art ready for this
album?
We're working on it. Now it's starting
to become a mix between us and the guy who does our posters... a guy named
El Jefe. Not from NOFX. This is a guy from DC. He does a lot of artwork
for us and he's kinda putting it together. Right now we're shooting him
photos of things that means something to us or anything local, that's like
local to the four of us. We're snapping photos every day. And we're gonna
get some photos and make kind of a little collage. Not a collage in the
sense of where it's like all jambled up together. It's gonna be squares.
Like little tiny squares I think. That's the idea right now, and we'll
see if that pans out. It's through our eyes and I think that's the cool
thing about it is that the pictures you're gonna see on the record cover...
that's pictures we took. We didn't hire some fancy-schmansy photographer.
2 March 2010
The Gaslight Anthem take a night
off to play 'Baba O'Riley' at the Who tribute concert at Carnegie Hall,
New York.
3 March 2010
RollingStone.com reports:
"We've been influenced by
early Stones," says frontman Brian Fallon of the LP, which Gaslight are
cutting in New York. Fallon compares the title track to 'Gimme Shelter'
and says 'The Queen of Chelsea' recalls the Clash's 'Straight to Hell'
and the Pretenders' 'Brass in Pocket.' "It would be easy to write The '59
Sound again," says Fallon. "We wanted a new road map."
4 March 2010
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "I think
we're done. We're in love with this record. We hope you all will as well."
+ photo (see image below)
5 March 2010
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "Packing
up the studio... Goodnight. On to mixing, mastering, pressing, and releasing."
6 March 2010
The Gaslight Anthem tweet: "And
we're gone... Into the hands of mixing it goes..." + photo (see
image below)
watch this space as the new album
saga continues to enthrall ...
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