Gaslight Anthem Want You To Get Hurt

Brian Fallon laughs as he inadvertently deviates from his main topic – discussing The Gaslight Anthem’s new record Get Hurt, the second consecutive release they’ve recorded in the Tennessee capital. It’s relatable though – The Music was curious if the four-piece felt the history resting in those streets while recording. For the record, they didn’t; but here we are on a Jack White trip, with Fallon pitching more story spin-offs.

"Jack White will come and punch me in the face"

“Jack White will come and punch me in the face [when he reads this], and I’m sure he can probably fight better than me. But I don’t want to get beat up by anyone I think is cool though, that would suck. Can you imagine? I’d be so upset if Jack White beat me up. I’d be like, ‘I love your records!’ and he’s just pounding away on me; ‘Stop! You dress so nice, why are you hitting me?’ There’s no question [though] that Jack White could beat me up, so if that’s where we’re digressing to... If I was the guy from The Black Keys I’d be pretty scared.”

This interview is happening a month out from the release of The Gaslight Anthem’s fifth full-length, with Fallon and his bandmates at home in New Jersey, getting to know their new songs before taking them out on the road in September. Pianos and organs feature regularly across Get Hurt, but you’re kicked in the guts immediately with Stay Vicious, the track incorporating a chunky, washed-out sound that wouldn’t be out of place on an Alice In Chains release. Fallon admits with a smile they chose that opener to “shock people from the very beginning”, but it’s these differences that give the record such impact, the band covering fresh terrain at every turn.

Get Hurt is making a direct statement, saying that it’s important to lose yourself in your loves, your passions, and to risk pain to feel something in life. Fallon admits he sometimes knows he’s walking into a bad situation, but continues forwards because, as he shrugs, “you have to go through it”.

“And that happens all throughout your life,” the frontman stresses, “from when you’re a teenager to when you’re an adult it just keeps happening. When you’re born somebody should just slap a sticker on you – ‘Get hurt pal.’

“[But] sometimes that’s what it takes to get you to be the person that you’re supposed to be, sometimes it pushes you through. Basically what the [title track] really would have said was, ‘Well, since I came here to get hurt, you might as well make it count.’ That’s what it’s saying – you might as well really do a number on me because that’s when I’m going to learn something and that’s how I’m going to get out of this on the other side and come out a different person. That’s important.

“A lot of people try and avoid pain – I myself too,” he adds. “I’ll do anything I can to avoid a nasty situation or an argument, especially now. In my younger days I had a little more piss and vinegar and I was ready to [put my point across], but as I get older I think, ‘I just want to get through this, I just want you to get through this, I want everybody to be happy, let’s leave it alone.’ But sometimes that’s not the way.”

“A lot of people try and avoid pain"

There’s no denying Get Hurt showcases The Gaslight Anthem at their most refrained and vulnerable. Benny Horowitz has slowed down his straight tempos and incorporated a bit more groove, allowing Fallon to really lean into the microphone and let his words linger.

“As you get older you go, ‘Oh wow, people are listening to us, maybe if we slow this down for a second, say something, it might work.’ That’s the Tom Petty trick – how long can you wait until the next line is delivered. Tom Petty is so good at that!” Fallon exclaims. “‘I won’t back down’ – wait – ‘No, I won’t back down’. Next record I’m going to see how long it can be between lyrics.”

And in case fans still weren’t convinced the band are maturing, the gents have even gone to the trouble of dressing themselves up in their most recent press shots. So Get Hurt and get used to it – the new model Gaslight Anthem is polished up and ready to roll.

“I would say this is our adult record,” Fallon agrees. “Because you get in your thirties and you start to feel stupid wearing T-shirts, you’re like, ‘I don’t know if this looks cool anymore? This kinda looks like I’m going to a barbecue.’ Maybe you’re not as thin as you used to be, maybe your hair is kinda funny. So it’s time to put on a suit and jacket, fine, I guess this is what you do. But if you look at any artist’s career, when they hit their mid-thirties they start putting on blazers and dress shirts – they all do it. Tom Petty did it, Bruce did it, Tom Waits did it, all of them.

“Look at The National – those guys are all in their forties and they’re all wearing suits. They look great. [But] we’re running through those guys, we’re going to give them a run for their money, so tell Matt [Berninger] I’m looking for him, put the feelers out.”