And picking up one significant fan along the way. The Gaslight Anthem actually did exactly that with The ’59 Sound: they captured that moment, turned it into 12 startlingly good songs and lit up the imaginations of a generation going through that metamorphosis. “The last eight measures of that song, if you could bottle that up and sell it…”
The gaslight anthem plus#
A song in G Major that builds and builds throughout its four minutes plus until suddenly it floats away on the breeze – gone before you can grasp it, just like our youth in the moment adulthood arrives… “It is my favourite song we ever wrote as a band,” says bassist Alex Levine.
That meant closing with The Backseat, a song the band is justifiably proud of. It wasn’t just, ‘Here are our 12 songs from best to worst’.” “We had what would end Side A,” Rosamilia told The Ringer, “what would start Side B. They rehearsed it in order before going in to record, the idea being that the album told a story, so all the song’s on the running order had to make the album, and they had to make it in order. He’s not telling Pip’s story though, he’s telling his own.įallon had always intended the song to open the record, in fact when they met producer Ted Hutt they did so with the album’s song order already mapped out. The ’59 Sound kicks off with the sound of a needle dropping onto a record (Rosamilia’s idea, and something else that ramps up the feeling of warmth the album exudes) and a repeated guitar part played on a Dobro by Rosamilia before Great Expectations kicks in, exploding out of the speakers at 124bpm and referencing Estella from the Charles Dickens book of the same name in the first of many lyrical reference points that map Fallon and the band’s creative and artistic journey to this point. Image: Jason Squires / WireImage Expecting to fly “I can’t picture somebody playing it, even though I’ve seen people play it before!” “I’ve been trying to emulate the way the guitars sound on Disintegration by The Cure as part of my sound ever since I’ve been playing the guitar,” he once told. That’s what that distortion sound is, just plugging the guitar into that and being blasted through a two-inch speaker.”Įlsewhere on the album Rosamilia wields his Gibson SG to complementary and contrasting effect with Fallon’s clean rhythm lines, offering a wider sonic scope and bringing an indie feel to proceedings. “We played it through a ’50s dictaphone recorder with a reel, and a weird plug for the microphone. It sustains longer because the metal vibrates. The record is not without distortion, however, Rosamilia recalling: “We had a Zemaitis in the studio, which is basically a guitar that’s made entirely out of metal. What’s the matter with you? Have you never listened to The Clash, or Bruce Springsteen, or literally any band?’ This is a thing. “People weren’t sure about that,” remembered Fallon, “and I was like, ‘Yeah, tape echo. That nostalgia and sense or warmth is enhanced by the decision to add a slapback effect to Fallon’s vocals, evoking 1950s rock ’n’ roll and 1960s soul – the latter a particular source of great inspiration for the songwriter. “I don’t know, I think I was waiting for it.” “I just reached out and grabbed it,” said Fallon. I was a firm believer in the magic of things, and I obviously couldn’t afford a real one, so I would build it.” “I discovered that was the sound they were using on all those Sam Cooke and Elvis Presley records,” Fallon this said. And he was chasing it to the extent that he was in the process of gutting a reissue and rebuilding it with vintage parts. The album’s title refers to the fact frontman Brian Fallon was chasing a certain tone for the album: that of a 1959 Fender Bassman. Which did lead to a couple of ideas I don’t think we would’ve had otherwise.” For last record we had about five weeks and quite the arsenal of gear to tear through. Guitarist Alex Rosamilia said at the time: “For Sink Or Swim, we had a week or so and what we brought to the studio. Over five weeks at Sage & Sound and Mad Dog Studios the band pulled together a masterpiece that added breadth and beef to the band’s already distinctive sound, with just enough pop sensibility to smash down the doors to mainstream radio.
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