Gaslight Anthem guitarist Alex Rosamilia on the Cure, European tours, and Handwritten

New Jersey rockers the Gaslight Anthem frequently get tagged with comparisons to the Garden State's most notable son, Bruce Springsteen. The quartet's sound draws from any number of influences: punk, rock, and hints of folk. After a string of releases on indie SideOne Dummy, the Gaslight Anthem releases its major-label debut, Handwritten, on Mercury Records later this month. They play the Bottleneck this Thursday, July 12, with opener Dave Hause. Guitarist Alex Rosamilia spoke with the Pitch by phone from the band's bus about the new album, and where his signature guitar tone comes from.

The Pitch: You guys are playing some smaller venues this tour. Last time you came through, it was at the Midland in Kansas City. Now it's the Bottleneck in Lawrence. What's the rationale behind that — trying to connect to your core audience?

Alex Rosamila: Honestly, it's because we haven't played the States in like, two years. We haven't played the States at all, aside from a couple festivals or one-offs, y'know? They thought it would be better to play smaller places and have them totally packed and everything sell out real quick than play shows where we're like, hoping for people to come in and fill up the spot, and playing to half-empty rooms.

Why so long since the last U.S. tour?

http://www.pitch.com/wayward/archives/2012/07/09/gaslight-anthem-guitarist-alex-rosamilia-on-the-cure-european-tours-and-handwritten

To me it is interesting on one end how Brian commented that this smaller venue tour was a way to give back to fans who had been with them since the beginning and to possibly take one last step back before taking giant leaps forward but Alex's comments imply that the smaller venue tour was more of a marketing tool so that the collective they that now advise TGA could say SOLD OUT TOUR.

I preferred Brian's answer.

RandyMachoManCabbage wrote:

To me it is interesting on one end how Brian commented that this smaller venue tour was a way to give back to fans who had been with them since the beginning and to possibly take one last step back before taking giant leaps forward but Alex's comments imply that the smaller venue tour was more of a marketing tool so that the collective they that now advise TGA could say SOLD OUT TOUR.

I preferred Brian's answer.

considering the 45 rpm club debuted after this run of shows sold out alex's answer doesn't surprise me.

RandyMachoManCabbage wrote:

To me it is interesting on one end how Brian commented that this smaller venue tour was a way to give back to fans who had been with them since the beginning and to possibly take one last step back before taking giant leaps forward but Alex's comments imply that the smaller venue tour was more of a marketing tool so that the collective they that now advise TGA could say SOLD OUT TOUR.

I preferred Brian's answer.

Everything is completely calculated on Mercury's part. Here Comes my Man showing up on TGA website only to have them debut it on Letterman is not a coincidence. It's annoying but announcing the super deluxe box set after fans have pre-ordered vinyl, itunes downloads, cd's or other special editions is Mercury milking fans for every dollar that they can. How many people on here have bought multiple copies of Handwritten? It sucks but it's obviously a business and it makes more sense now for Gaslight to generate hype so in the future they can play the larger venues.

It is completely calculated. I'm sure Mercury and the band's management looked back at the last US tour and saw that most shows weren't sold out, many not even close. In some cases, Chicago for instance, they even downsized the venue (and it still didn't sell out).

The small clubs they're playing are about the size they should be playing to guarantee sell outs. If they play "larger" venues on the next tour as they've said, they still shouldn't be much larger than 1500-2000 in most cities, and likely will have some difficulty selling out.

But, I prefer Brian's answer too

Yeah the commercial side of all this sucks. I'm just going to stay out of it though, I'll buy the cd and not get sucked into deluxe copies and all this marketing crap.

While I must say I'm rather hurt by the thought that the only reason I couldn't see the boys live this year was because of a marketing scheme, I'm going to play the Devil's Advocate and ask if it's fair for them to have to play empty venues.

MattL wrote:

While I must say I'm rather hurt by the thought that the only reason I couldn't see the boys live this year was because of a marketing scheme, I'm going to play the Devil's Advocate and ask if it's fair for them to have to play empty venues.

They get paid regardless so other than a bruised ego from not being able to sell out a 3000 person venue in Kansas, they should do everything they can to make themselves accesible to their fans.

Well the venue they're playing in Kansas is ~350 people and it took 3 weeks or so to sell out. I'd say they're in the right size venue for the moment.

Kansas is going to be the extreme, but places like Toronto, DC, Boston maybe even SF where they do have a decent following should be geared towards larger venues.

I don't doubt that part of the venue selection was business, but, if they were only in it to maximize profit or only play sellout shows, they still could have played larger venues in cities like the aforementioned Toronto, DC, or Boston.

Regardless, I'm still bitter they aren't playing Pittsburgh or Cleveland

I think a mistake people make on this forum is that they think the major label don't do their research. Of course there are loads and loads of bundles about, because people on this forum were obsessing for weeks about what bundles would be released. They know the fans demand it so they see a money making opportunity.

The label have also probably seen threads relating to variants etc as they must surely know that people obsessively collect every colour of the vinyl that gets released. Even S1D capitalised on that, Gunner with his pressing of SoS too.

Bottom line is: Mercury WILL know about this forum. They WILL have people who research this kind of stuff for marketing purposes. They WILL use the information to their own advantage and we can't help it.

All they are doing is capitalising on it, and yes there are now millions of options as to what we can buy, but they know some people will buy them all. At the end of the day, its our own choice how we spend our money. We dont have to buy every variant. Some of us enjoy collecting which is great. Im sure that to them, its money well spent. My own take on it is I just want one vinyl in a colour I like and the cd too and Im happy with that even though other bundles tempt the hell outta me.

Sorry if thats a bit of a rant, I just keep hearing the same thing on many different threads about selling out or taking advantage of the fans. I guess my point is that maybe we bring a lot of it on ourselves by being obsessed with this band and demanding all these things between ourselves. What we've seen is the labelling providing what we're after. I think its great that we all love Gaslight so much, but once we become exploited I guess it does bite some of us on the arse. Just to be clear Im not naive enough to think that Mercury base all of their marketing/ business decisions baswed on what they read on this forum but Ive no doubt that this, their twitter, facebook etc will all have been used as a source of info.

Ya feel what Im saying peeps

smetz224 wrote:

I don't doubt that part of the venue selection was business, but, if they were only in it to maximize profit or only play sellout shows, they still could have played larger venues in cities like the aforementioned Toronto, DC, or Boston.

Regardless, I'm still bitter they aren't playing Pittsburgh or Cleveland

I'm speculating but I assume they don't want to give into the demand. They're a special commodity when there is a large demand for them, but as soon as everyone can get a ticket they're not as big a deal. I guess Mercury/TGA probably think there is more to gain in the long run by keeping themselves as a commodity. You can't saturate the market with your product otherwise it becomes devalued. That's the honest answer and which I think is probably the case. However you can be pretty sinister about the situation and say the ticket problem was intentional so they could create the 45 club to pocket some more money. People paying $25.00 to receive $1.00 worth of material cost in gifts and having them purchase reserved seats as a fall back option when they're still going to try to buy floor seats and retail merchandise is an easy business decision. I don't think Brian is a bad guy by any stretch, however I do think it's a bit disingenuous of him to act like he's doing us a favor when really it was a business decision that his management and mercury came up with. I see it on this board tons, the idol worship of him because he's a "good" guy is a bit ridiculous, Alex gave you the honest answer for why tons of fans are getting shut out or paying 3x face value for tickets whereas Brian gives you the PR answer.

While you're correct about limiting the number of shows and venue sizes to create demand/interest, you're being overly cynical in regards to the 45 club. They were talking about a fan club before any of the recent shows. Plus, the fan club is offering more than just presales for the $25. Will they make money after sending out a t-shirt, stickers, membership card, and the Christmas single? Sure, but it won't be a lot and it's not like they're overcharging or taking advantage of people.

It's called the music business for a reason.

rubberducky wrote:

People paying $25.00 to receive $1.00 worth of material cost in gifts

You really know nothing. El Jefe doesn't work for free for one thing. And he shouldn't. Thanks for disrespecting the entire design community.

NeverTrustAJunkie wrote:

rubberducky wrote:

People paying $25.00 to receive $1.00 worth of material cost in gifts

You really know nothing. El Jefe doesn't work for free for one thing. And he shouldn't. Thanks for disrespecting the entire design community.

Material costs... as in vinyl, shirts, and stickers.

rubberducky wrote:

NeverTrustAJunkie wrote:

rubberducky wrote:

People paying $25.00 to receive $1.00 worth of material cost in gifts

You really know nothing. El Jefe doesn't work for free for one thing. And he shouldn't. Thanks for disrespecting the entire design community.

Material costs... as in vinyl, shirts, and stickers.

a screen printed shirt, custom stickers, and a limited pressing 7" only cost $1 to produce? good to know.

rubberducky wrote:

NeverTrustAJunkie wrote:

rubberducky wrote:

People paying $25.00 to receive $1.00 worth of material cost in gifts

You really know nothing. El Jefe doesn't work for free for one thing. And he shouldn't. Thanks for disrespecting the entire design community.

Material costs... as in vinyl, shirts, and stickers.

No.

NeverTrustAJunkie wrote:

rubberducky wrote:

NeverTrustAJunkie wrote:

rubberducky wrote:

People paying $25.00 to receive $1.00 worth of material cost in gifts

You really know nothing. El Jefe doesn't work for free for one thing. And he shouldn't. Thanks for disrespecting the entire design community.

Material costs... as in vinyl, shirts, and stickers.

No.

Not sure why i'm really taking the time to argue this, $1 is an exaggerated response to point out how the relative cost of materials is cheap that in the end the money they spend on materials and design is cheaper then the actual cost to the fans to join. They used ticket scalping as a catalyst for the 45 club however the scalping is a direct result of their limited tour availability. I don't necessarily believe that it was planned, however if you believe that major record labels are money grabbing opportunities then it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

rubberducky wrote:

NeverTrustAJunkie wrote:

rubberducky wrote:

NeverTrustAJunkie wrote:

rubberducky wrote:

People paying $25.00 to receive $1.00 worth of material cost in gifts

You really know nothing. El Jefe doesn't work for free for one thing. And he shouldn't. Thanks for disrespecting the entire design community.

Material costs... as in vinyl, shirts, and stickers.

No.

Not sure why i'm really taking the time to argue this, $1 is an exaggerated response to point out how the relative cost of materials is cheap that in the end the money they spend on materials and design is cheaper then the actual cost. They used ticket scalping as a catalyst for the 45 club however the scalping is a direct result of their limited tour availability. I don't necessarily believe that it was planned, however if you believe that major record labels are money grabbing opportunities then it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

Of course it is, this is business after all. It doesn't change anything though.

Quote :

the money they spend on materials and design is cheaper then the actual cost

Seriously who cares. Buy a fan club membership or don't. Go see the band or don't. Buy a bundle or don't. WHY ARE YOU FAILING TO RECOGNIZE YOU HAVE THE OPTION NOT TO PARTICIPATE. Why do you need to crap all over the band and make up theories for everything to make them look bad? You DO know you're on a FAN board, right? We're here cus we like the band, not to tear them apart for trying to have an income. No one's a victim here, so just calm down.

i never liked alex. he just copies nils lofgren.

NeverTrustAJunkie wrote:

Quote :

the money they spend on materials and design is cheaper then the actual cost

Seriously who cares. Buy a fan club membership or don't. Go see the band or don't. Buy a bundle or don't. WHY ARE YOU FAILING TO RECOGNIZE YOU HAVE THE OPTION NOT TO PARTICIPATE. Why do you need to crap all over the band and make up theories for everything to make them look bad? You DO know you're on a FAN board, right? We're here cus we like the band, not to tear them apart for trying to have an income. No one's a victim here, so just calm down.

you're the one going caps lock crazy. maybe YOU should calm down.

I'll calm you down alright.