Brian talks to NME (23 July 2012)

from http://www.nme.com/news/the-gaslight-anthem/65098

July 23, 2012

The Gaslight Anthem's Brian Fallon: 'We've never had this much support' The New Jersey punks release their fourth album, 'Handwritten', today (July 23)

The Gaslight Anthem's Brian Fallon has spoken about putting out the band's new album, 'Handwritten', to NME, saying that he always gets anxious around the release of a new record.

"Oh yeah, every time," revealed Fallon, when asked about if he gets nervous over releasing an album. 'Handwritten', the heartland punk band's fourth album, is out today (July 23). Of the release, Fallon added: "There's a lot more expectation of this one. People are saying 'oh, it's gonna be a huge record' and I'm like, 'oh my gosh, I hope so!'"

He continued: "I've never had this much support – like, we've gotten BBC A list, which to me is insane. That's insane, I can't believe that… I don’t know how many copies the record is gonna sell and I don't care because I feel like I've already won. We've achieved so much in so short of a time, that it's just really, really amazing to see that."

When asked which track on the new album meant the most to him, Fallon responded: "It's hard to pick a favourite, it would be like if you had a bunch of kids, I guess, [but] I would say the one that was most rewarding to write was probably 'Keepsake'. Or 'National Anthem'. They were something that I was trying to say for a really long time."

He added that he tried to write for the new record without "hiding under characters or where I live or the mysticism of New Jersey, because that's an easy thing to write about... To be able to step away from that and write about your real life so openly was challenging, scary and rewarding."

He went on to say that when it comes to delving into his personal life for song inspiration: "it's all fair game. For me, there's no point in being an artist and putting yourself out there if you’re not going to really put yourself out there."

Mercury is doing a great job with the promotion of the album. They fucked it up a bit with the preorders and the communication prior to the release date but now I can see that they are really taking the release seriously. I can see that TGA will reach a new, bigger audience wirh this album which is cool!

Also National Anthem and Keepsake are my favourite songs of the album