ACL Music Fest 2014 Sunday Interviews – Second Weekend

Photo by Gary Miller

The Gaslight Anthem

The Gaslight Anthem, New Jersey's folk-punk darlings, take a heavier turn with their new disc, Get Hurt. They're still cinematic and guitaristic, but with subtle electronic seasoning and differing rhythms. We interrupted lead guitarist/keyboardist Alex Rosamilia's lunch to understand.

Austin Chronicle: This new album sounds like 1959 might sound in 2014.

Alex Rosamilia: [Laughs.] We kinda thought that, too, but not until we got into the studio and started recording it. We were rehearsing songs live, but after we had gotten [the finished mixes] back, we kinda realized we'd changed. It shares the same spirit, if you want to get weird about it.

AC: The music's recognizably the Gaslight Anthem, but you've definitely broadened the palette.

AR: Thanks. That was definitely a conscious effort. We wanted to do things we hadn't done before. We tried to extend ourselves, try new things, then take it just a little bit from there [chuckles]. If that makes any sense.

AC: One consistency about what you do is this widescreen vision. This is very much a band that's playing to the bleachers.

AR: I do, but I don't think that was ever an intentional thing. It's just that, when we're writing songs, they have that kind of feel. Songwriting is hard to talk about, because it's beyond words. That sounds like a weird hippie thing or something [laughs]. There are some things that you can do as musicians that are physical, tactical work. Then there's this other element that comes in. If you call it "divine intervention," then people will call me religious or something.