The Gaslight Anthem

The Gaslight Anthem are an American band from New Brunswick, New Jersey.

The Gaslight Anthem: Biography

The Gaslight Anthem formed in New Jersey. The lineup of the band consists of Brian Fallon on vocals and guitar, Alex Levine on bass, Alex Rosamilia on guitar and Benny Horowitz on drums.

The Gaslight Anthem: Music History

The Gaslight Anthem's debut album, Sink or Swim was released in May 2007 on XOXO Records. The album was notable for the band's inter-textual approach to songwriting. The track 'We Came to Dance' contains references to both Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home and Bruce Springsteen's 'Thundercrack'. Similarly, 'Angry Johnny and the Radio' references 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' by Dylan and 'We're Getting A Divorce, You Keep the Diner' refers to 'It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)', also by Dylan. The album was lauded by many reviewers, including punknews.org and Spin magazine.

In February 2008, The Gaslight Anthem released a four track EP entitled 'Señor and the Queen' on Sabot Productions. Continuing their track record for paying homage to their heroes, one of the tracks on the EP is entitled 'Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?' Two other tracks pay homage to Sam Cooke and Meat Loaf. The EP was released in a number of formats, including a double "7 version on clear, red and white vinyl.

August 2008 saw The Gaslight Anthem make music history when they appeared on the front cover of Kerrang, despite the magazine having never written about them before. This unprecedented move on the magazine's part subsequently garnered a lot of extra media coverage for the band.

That same month saw The Gaslight Anthem release their second full length album, entitled The '59 Sound. Released by SideOneDummy Records, the album was produced by Ted Hutt (formerly of Flogging Molly). Chris Wollard of Hot Water Music makes a guest appearance on the album, as does Dicky Barrett of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Later that year, the band also contributed a cover of 'God's Gonna Cut You Down' to the tribute album All Aboard! A Tribute to Johnny Cash.

In November 2008, The Gaslight Anthem began a tour of Europe and the UK. The tour was not without incident: in Gothenburg, the band's van was broken into and The Gaslight Anthem were forced to cancel the next day's gig in Helsinki.

The following year, The Gaslight Anthem embarked on a tour supporting Social Distortion. They also supported Bruce Springsteen and Dave Matthews at the Hyde Park Calling event in London. When they played at Glastonbury Festival 2009, Bruce Springsteen joined The Gaslight Anthem onstage for their rendition of '59 Sound'. Brian Fallon then joined Springsteen onstage during his headline set on the Pyramid stage. The Gaslight Anthem also headed out on a headline tour, with Heartless Bastards and Good Old War as their support acts.

The Gaslight Anthem were the recipients of the 2009 Kerrang Award for 'Best International Newcomer'.