Interviews often need to happen from obscure places, at the behest of the artist. Sometimes the 15 minutes they can afford comes from a hotel, a festival, a tour bus or in this case, the pisser.
The Gaslight Anthem are a band who are synonymous with the New Jersey punk rock scene. A scene which has developed a rich heritage through artists like The Misfits, Bouncing Souls, and of course Patti Smith. Similarly a sound and heritage known as "Jersey Shore" exists, which encapsulates artists like Springsteen and Bon Jovi. The Gaslight Anthem have managed to channel the best of both worlds creating a pretty neat sound, and an especially neat last record.
Drummer Benny Horowitz joins us, while taking a piss, to trickle out a little bit of information on his band and shower our country with golden praises. *drum roll*
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Am I one of many interviews, so far today?
Well, you were one of four that were supposed to happen. Two actually did. But you know man, chances are if you ask me a question, you'll get an answer that nobody got.
Well each question has a 2 in 4 chance..
That's right, if this was baseball you'd be in with a pretty good shot. I hope you don't mind but I need to pee before we get into this.
No worries…
You don't have to wait…I'm good to answer while I'm peeing.
Is this the first interview you've done while pissing?
Yeah! Actually, I don't think I've ever done an interview while holding my penis. I was actually waiting to see if you were a guy. Cause if you were a girl i wasn't going to hold it.
It certainly would have been a different sort of interview..
(laughs) Yeah, I was raised by a single woman, so I know there are certain things you don't do. OK I'm cleared out now and ready to go.
How do you find the whole interview process?
You know it can be fun. I like it when it sort of just feels like a conversation and people just want to chat about the band. I also recognise the fact that if no one wanted to do interviews with us there wouldn't be as much press and my band wouldn't be doing as well.
You're from New Jersey, right?
Yep.
My friend is from Jersey and I was talking to her about you the other day.
Oh rad! Do you know which part of Jersey?
Princeton
Oh, cool.
She asked me to ask you if you have "Jersey Pride"? She said you'll know what it means...
Oh shit yeah. Strong, very strong Jersey pride.
Is there a fairly strong punk scene in New Jersey, still?
Yeah, sure. It's a big place. From top to bottom it's like a two/three hour drive, so there are a lot of different things going on - different towns, different cities - but the one thing that's unique about certain cities like Princeton or New Brunswick, where I am from, it's kind of like a mishmash of a lot of different people. It's where the universities are, so people come from towns all around New Jersey and congregate around these places, resulting in a real hotbed of creativity. It's pretty awesome.
Do you feel you carry the city around with you wherever you go?
Yeah, absolutely. I think there are a couple of things that people from Jersey always have. You have this vibe about working hard and doing things right. I think in Jersey, compared to a lot of the other costal places, it's a little more old-school. When you grow up there you're so close to New York and Philadelphia and the beach - you have so many cultures coming into one and you're exposed to so much at an early age that by default, you get savvy. And feel like you can take on anything. I think that's definitely something people carry [with them] and I think it's one of the reasons you hear a lot of success stories from Jersey. It's a cool aspect of the lifestyle.
I was listening to American Slang again earlier - it's very much an American rock 'n roll sing-a-long type album. Was it designed like this?
It wasn't designed like that, but I think when we started writing it and got into the process we realised it was going to be our most rock 'n roll record. The one that takes from the 60's and blues rock and straight ahead rock. If you're listening to a lot of Rolling Stones and stuff you're going write these hooky, rock songs. I don't think it was a conscious process to write songs like that, but I think the things we were listening to and the things we were trying to go for during the writing process were just that.
It conjures up the emotion of driving across a country in summer with the top down, type thing.
Well that makes sense man. It's what we've been doing for the last five years. We've been driving across America over and over again forever now. We write music from an honest place and I think it's just an extension of who you are and what you do.
You guys have spoken about artists like Springsteen and Waits being an influence on your sound. Was this sort of music your bread and butter, growing up as kids?
It certainly wasn't mine. I know at least two guys in the band didn't really know much about Bruce Springsteen until we met Brian (Fallon). I definitely come from more of punk rock school - I think my mum has been quoted as saying Springsteen 'isn't heavy enough' for her. When you're knee deep in Led Zeppelin and The Who, you don't necessarily have time for it. But at the same time, he's such an icon and somebody who honestly has been representing good things for people and politics. It's how I want someone who's really really rich to act. As far as that goes, I have a shit-ton of respect for the guy. From any experience we've had he's just been a sweet dude and a fucking class act all the way.
How did your relationship with Springsteen come about?
Well, it sort of just happened by default, his son was a fan of our music. So at first I think he just played him some of our stuff. Then it was just the Jersey thing and crossing paths and eventually we got asked to open for him.
He joined you on stage at Glastonbury?
Yeah man, he randomly showed up early in the afternoon on the complete opposite side of the festival. It happened about 15 minutes before we went on stage. It was one of those experiences that came and went so fast, especially when there was no build up. We were asked to play Glastonbury and then next minute Bruce Springsteen was on stage and I was like "What the fuck?
Your popularity in the UK has really snowballed over the past couple of years hasn't it?
Yeah, a lot. It was one of those places where we didn't really pay our dues in. We turned up to the UK and a load of people. It was pretty amazing.
I always seem to end these kind of interviews by asking the band about their experiences in Australia; at which point they tell me they love it and it's like a second home. So I wanted to ask you. have you had any bad experiences in this country?
We've had a few interesting food experiences that didn't go our way….oh my god and the fucking the jet lag. I thought people made jet lag out to be something it wasn't, but I got back from that trip and I was nodding off like a heroin addict for two days. It took us a while to get accustomed to. It's really weird.
You do of course have a very loyal fan base down here which I'm sure you've picked up on.
Maybe it's just because your country is awesome, but I could say the same cliche thing that everyone else says; I had a fucking blast last time I was there. I definitely look forward to coming back. Last time we were there it was your winter, which was surprisingly cold, even for us. We have some pretty harsh winters but you had this weird bitter cold.
Fortunately for you guys the Soundwave Festival is in summer, and the weather is pretty great that time of year.
I can't wait to get down there for summer. I'm expecting a bad winter back here, so it's going to be great.
Nick Holt
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THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM - AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2011
Brisbane - 26th February - Soundwave Festival
Sydney - 27th February - Soundwave Festival
Melbourne - 2nd March @ The Palace w/Social Distortion
Melbourne - 4th of March - Soundwave Festival
Adelaide - 5th March - Soundwave Festival
Perth - 7th March - Soundwave Festival