The Gaslight Anthem

New-Noise is keen to set a record straight here. The Gaslight Anthem see, have been receiving crazy amounts of press and attention recently. One side of the music press is convinced these four boys from New Jersey are here to revive punk, and to walk it right into the mainstream again, and the other half are sure they’ve discovered the best new band in the whole entire world ever. But it’s just not going to happen. None of it is true. Now don’t get us wrong- the dudes have done good for sure- but let’s introduce them as they are just now, not world-beaters but new noise, full of grit and great riffs and promise.

The band would probably be just as happy to tell you the same thing themselves. Right now, before the hype has really got to their heads, guitar-playing frontman Brian Fallon, bassist Alex Levine, drummer Benny Horowitz and six-stringer Alex Rosamilia are all reassuringly regular and unassuming chaps. Convening back in 2005 the band hit the road hard before releasing punk rock rattler debut ‘Sink Or Swim’ last year. And while it’s fair to say they didn’t exactly set the world alight back then, things have picked up pretty quick since.

They’ve been tickling the fancy of all the right tastemakers- from indie outlets to glossy magazines and national newspapers- managing to skip straight to a cover feature with Kerrang before the magazine had written a single other word about them even. And they’ve recorded again too- releasing EP ‘Señor And The Queen’ in February before starting work on sophomore long-player ‘The ’59 Sound’. And while the punk stuff is still there  (a guest list with Hot Water Music's Chris Wollard and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' Dicky Barrett on it is proof of that) this is a record that sounds as if its been influenced as much by Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and The Killers as it has by The Bouncing Souls.

Album opener ‘Great Expectations’ combines folk rock storytelling and pop sensibilities with seamless skill, the title track sounds like something sung on a chain gang a century ago, and while some tracks are a little hokey and some just duds, ‘The Patient Ferris Wheel’ is great from its see-sawing starting riff to its hollered-out finish. As solid as the band sound on CD though, it’s up on stage where The Gaslight Anthem show their best side. Brian Fallon’s voice gets gruffer, the band sound meaner, and the songs hit harder. Hell, if the Anthem boys weren’t trap-tight live there’s just no way they would have survived touring alongside The Loved Ones, The Draft, and Against Me! in the last 12 months.

To conclude then, ladies and jellyspoons- The Gaslight Anthem have not got the classic songs, not got the hippest style, and not got the true charisma, they’re not going to save punk, or revive rock, or take over the world- not yet at least. But they do have obvious talent and acres of time to become what some people are already calling them- a great band indeed. Don't believe the hype then, but keep a light out.