The Gaslight Anthem will heat up Radio City
The Gaslight Anthem, left to right: Alex Levine, Brian Fallon, Ben Horowitz, Alex Rosamilla Credit: ASHLEY MAILE
Gaslight Anthem's rapid rise from Jersey bar band to Radio City Music Hall headliner is the kind of scrappy, rags-to-riches story that they usually use to fill their songs.
Though the quartet - singer-guitarist Brian Fallon, guitarist Alex Rosamilia, drummer Ben Horowitz and bassist Alex Levine - is still strictly indie, its third album, "American Slang" (SideOneDummy), was too good to remain a secret. However, that doesn't mean that the band's members still aren't shocked by how their lives and careers have changed.
Horowitz fills us in from a tour stop in Cleveland.
Are you excited about headlining Radio City?
Oh, yeah. It means a lot. We all grew up in the area and Radio City's just one of those seminal places you've heard about since you were a kid . . . I'm sort of just baffled that my band can actually play there and that people are actually going to come see us. It's surreal. . . . But I think it's cool that it's different for us. It's a challenge. We'd like to be the kind of band that can pull off playing Radio City.
Anything special planned for that show?
I've been thinking that I might actually wear sleeves. . . . For Radio City, I might have to do something a little classier.
At a Toronto Film Festival appearance last week, Bruce Springsteen said that he found your band inspiring. How does it feel to have the respect of someone I know you guys respect?
It amazes me every time I hear it. I'm generally baffled that he would even know who my band was and the fact that he considers us with that respect. And it's been going on for a while. He has been actively telling people that he thinks we're a good band. That's cool.
The lyrics of "Bring It On" and how they deal with adversity make it one of the year's best songs. But your drumming on "Orphans" is probably the most enjoyable thing to listen to on the album.
The reason "Orphans" is exciting is that a lot of it is just straight-up, old-school hard-core beats. It's funny to me that it gets attention. And the fact that I get to play something that I learned from the Gorilla Biscuits at Radio City Music Hall? I get a kick out of that.
WHO Gaslight Anthem
WHEN | WHERE 8 p.m. Thursday, Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Sixth Ave., Manhattan
INFO $35; 212-247-4777, radiocity.com
