Brian says band plan to Experiment on Next Record --'Might Be the Weird'

I'll just point to Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The label (Reprise) thought it was crap and refused to release it. The band somehow convinced the label to let them go and take the album with them. The band put it out for free, then took it to Nonesuch, which realized its genius, and it became a huge hit.

There's no accounting for the wisdom of record executives. Suffice it to say Mercury has sunk a lot of money into TGA this year and the record didn't sell that well. Would they be willing to put up with another slow-seller, especially if it isn't mainstream-friendly? Who knows.

Whether TGA can insist/demand to do a record on their own terms all depends on the language of the contract and the goodwill of the top folks at Mercury.

I guess we will have to wait and find out. Though, I kind am hoping for something 'completely' different. But as some people have already said, Brian never really keeps to his word when it comes to new albums. Although, I think he actually wants to attempt something new but always backs down from it. I see change happening with each album so I think down the line he really is going to do something experimental. Brian, along with the rest of the band, are a creative group of guys. I am sure they could come up with something "whacky" and entertaining. They haven't disappointed me yet so I wouldn't be surprised if the new album was just as awesome as the other 4.

Also, I didn't realize that the album sold poorly. Then again, any small improvement in numbers is a win to me. I do think Handwritten helped them get a bigger fan base. I think for now we will just see small improvements in their numbers.

I feel like it's not unusual to do a weird album after a more radio friendly album but usually the bands that do that, do so if the radio friendly one was a big success. I think Handwritten got them more fans for sure, but to me it seemed like with all their other albums. Steady growth. You see a noticeable change but not like a basements to stadiums kinda change.

I imagine they could have a lot of success within their fanbase if they do something a bit out of the ordinary, but I wonder how much it'll do in the way of growing their popularity. Maybe they're looking to slow that process down a bit? Or maybe they intend still to have a radio friendly single or two but just go a different direction? Like THC was different but Behold the Hurricane still works as a single. Of course, this is saying that they stick to this idea.

I can see that and let me use a Bruce example here. "Nebraska" was not a good radio album, but then "BITUSA" came out, which was followed by "Tunnel of Love" Which was a huge experiment for Bruce...so it does happen, and ocassionally the Album can be great, sometimes it just takes a while for it to be great.

JimmyB wrote:

I can see that and let me use a Bruce example here. "Nebraska" was not a good radio album, but then "BITUSA" came out, which was followed by "Tunnel of Love" Which was a huge experiment for Bruce...so it does happen, and ocassionally the Album can be great, sometimes it just takes a while for it to be great.

Well thing is though, Bruce had Born to Run before Nebraska. And while Born to Run wasn't the success that BITUSA was, it was still considered his breakthrough album.

Although I'm looking now (note: wikipedia is my source) and funny enough, Born to Run debuted at #3 on the charts and the first two singles got radio play but it wasn't an overwhelming amount...sound familiar? Who knows, it could turn out like: Handwritten= Born to Run, Next album = Nebraska, Following album = BITUSA.

Who knows.

Perhaps Handwritten is BTR in a sense, then the next one is Darkness, then one after that is Nebraska in a sense, then Gaslight's Born in the USA album?

JimmyB wrote:

Perhaps Handwritten is BTR in a sense, then the next one is Darkness, then one after that is Nebraska in a sense, then Gaslight's Born in the USA album?

That's a lot of albums before you get one that's a huge hit. I skipped Darkness in the chronology because it's not really that different from BTR. Less epic maybe. And I don't mean that as less amazing, I mean the songs are shorter and don't feel like epics.

I just really respect that they're not like "well Handwritten did well but I guess we have to go even more toward a popular sound cuz that didn't quite make us blow up". They sound like they're just doing what they want to next. Keeping it about the music and not the fame/business. If they keep doing that they can't go wrong.

Shhh listen... if you really concentrate and be quiet you can hear brian being mad about the bruce comparisons again LOL

'49mercury wrote:

Shhh listen... if you really concentrate and be quiet you can hear brian being mad about the bruce comparisons again LOL

Haha well these comparisons have nothing to do with how the music sounds

I only meant the comparison there as how their popularity is growing, and how a majority of people don't want to listen to something other than the top 40. Those people's loss

Let's back up to the part in the interview where he talked about channelling his "no code" of PJ fame---

THAT would be great. No code is a great, great PJ CD. It has had much more lasting value than their other cds. But again, like everyone else is saying, Brian will likely change before that.

I think Handwritten was an album where Brian had really big hopes and ambitions - was there a single interview leading up to the release that wasn't centered on Brian talking about the band's potential to be huge and grow and play arenas and such? - and now he's kinda calmed down on that a little. I'm not saying he compromised the band's sound to gain popularity, but with Handwritten they were clearly going for something big. Unfortunately the music industry isn't really in a state where a no-gimmicks American rock band can blow up and play arenas so this is probably as big as they'll get.

I think that when he says "weird" and mentions how he wants to do something new with songwriting instead of the traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus, Halloween might be a good example of what he's talking about realistically. Nothing that crazy or different, but it has a more free flow and structure.

I personally think American Slang will prove to be the high for the band - I know it's not everyone's favourite album but I think it says the most to my ears.

Steve70s wrote:

I personally think American Slang will prove to be the high for the band - I know it's not everyone's favourite album but I think it says the most to my ears.

Lyrically it is Brian's finest work, but the production comes off flat in spots. Could really have benefited from the thicker Handwritten-esque production.

AS is perfect. Much prefer the production to Handwritten although I do like the acoustic tracks on the last EP.

I find it hard to choose between albums. I will get stuck in phases where I will think an album is the best. This usually lasts for a couple weeks and then I'll think another one of their albums is better. It is a never ending cycle. I might just give in and say all their albums are equal. But I do like the idea about "Halloween" though that someone else said. It seems like that song is sort of branching out. Blue Dahlia also gave me that vibe. I find "Halloween" and "Blue Dahlia" similar. Wouldn't mind if they took that approach on the next album.

33RPMHero wrote:

I find it hard to choose between albums. I will get stuck in phases where I will think an album is the best. This usually lasts for a couple weeks and then I'll think another one of their albums is better. It is a never ending cycle. I might just give in and say all their albums are equal. But I do like the idea about "Halloween" though that someone else said. It seems like that song is sort of branching out. Blue Dahlia also gave me that vibe. I find "Halloween" and "Blue Dahlia" similar. Wouldn't mind if they took that approach on the next album.

I would love that kind of approach on the next album. These two songs (Blue Dahlia and Halloween) are probably the most relatable of all TGA's songs to me personally. I don't think I could take a whole album of songs like them though! It would kill me lol!

Haha, that is how I feel with all their albums. Every single song of theirs kills me a little bit. I think we could handle an album full of Blue Dahlia and Halloween type songs on it. I mean can Brian make songs anymore emotional?.......probably

Steve70s wrote:

I personally think American Slang will prove to be the high for the band - I know it's not everyone's favourite album but I think it says the most to my ears.

I have trouble ranking them but lyrically I'd agree AS is at least their current high point as a full album. It's that perfect mix between directness and ambiguity. But songs like Mae, Blue Dahlia, Misery, and Halloween make me think Brian can top even the best of his own writing. If he's able to tap into whatever helped him write those songs and move up to that next level...I don't even know if I could handle how great that would be.

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

Steve70s wrote:

I personally think American Slang will prove to be the high for the band - I know it's not everyone's favourite album but I think it says the most to my ears.

I have trouble ranking them but lyrically I'd agree AS is at least their current high point as a full album. It's that perfect mix between directness and ambiguity. But songs like Mae, Blue Dahlia, Misery, and Halloween make me think Brian can top even the best of his own writing. If he's able to tap into whatever helped him write those songs and move up to that next level...I don't even know if I could handle how great that would be.

One thing I'm noticing is that Brian has recently written songs that include lines about alcohol or drugs ("if the pills in my system came to call you up again" / "a little sip of something to take off the edge") which he used to completely shy away from. I think this is smart, as he can write really dark stuff but doesn't actually include any "adult" language. I'm not saying he should start dropping F bombs, but writing about human vices such as drugs and alcohol in a metaphorical way could bring something to his songwriting that might prove interesting. Also, I noticed that this year in live performances and while on stage he has no problem swearing (I even watched a version of Howl where he said "Fuck your doubts" instead of "bless) where he used to refrain from it completely. So maybe we'll hear some four-letter words in Gaslight songs after all.

eagles1139 wrote:

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

Steve70s wrote:

I personally think American Slang will prove to be the high for the band - I know it's not everyone's favourite album but I think it says the most to my ears.

I have trouble ranking them but lyrically I'd agree AS is at least their current high point as a full album. It's that perfect mix between directness and ambiguity. But songs like Mae, Blue Dahlia, Misery, and Halloween make me think Brian can top even the best of his own writing. If he's able to tap into whatever helped him write those songs and move up to that next level...I don't even know if I could handle how great that would be.

One thing I'm noticing is that Brian has recently written songs that include lines about alcohol or drugs ("if the pills in my system came to call you up again" / "a little sip of something to take off the edge") which he used to completely shy away from. I think this is smart, as he can write really dark stuff but doesn't actually include any "adult" language. I'm not saying he should start dropping F bombs, but writing about human vices such as drugs and alcohol in a metaphorical way could bring something to his songwriting that might prove interesting. Also, I noticed that this year in live performances and while on stage he has no problem swearing (I even watched a version of Howl where he said "Fuck your doubts" instead of "bless) where he used to refrain from it completely. So maybe we'll hear some four-letter words in Gaslight songs after all.

Good observation. It is an interesting change. I've always loved how they stayed away from those things because, let's be honest, talking about drinking is such an over-used subject. But I like this change because, for them, it's not even close to over-used. It's something different. I think it's cool when Brian throws in a change live, swears or not. But unless it's a situation where it really calls for it (and adds something), I hope we don't start hearing those words as part of the regular lyrics. Swearing is sometimes very fitting, but 9 times out of 10 is a lyrical cop-out.

eagles1139 wrote:

I think Handwritten was an album where Brian had really big hopes and ambitions - was there a single interview leading up to the release that wasn't centered on Brian talking about the band's potential to be huge and grow and play arenas and such? - and now he's kinda calmed down on that a little. I'm not saying he compromised the band's sound to gain popularity, but with Handwritten they were clearly going for something big. Unfortunately the music industry isn't really in a state where a no-gimmicks American rock band can blow up and play arenas so this is probably as big as they'll get.

I think that when he says "weird" and mentions how he wants to do something new with songwriting instead of the traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus, Halloween might be a good example of what he's talking about realistically. Nothing that crazy or different, but it has a more free flow and structure.

I think this is probably pretty accurate. You can almost watch his perspective slowly change from pre-Handwritten release to now.

I really have no idea what to expect from the next record. To me, Handwritten drew from more modern influences, but ironically sounded more dated and anachronistic than anything else they've made. He seems disillusioned with the whole classic rock revivalist vibe the band carried around through American Slang, so I can't see the band going back to that, but I don't think they've found anything else that has any real spark to it. Hopefully this is their chance to explore their sound because they seem a bit lost at the moment.

I kinda wanna see Brian flex his storytelling muscles a little bit. He often says "I can't write about other people, I have to write about things I've gone through" but I think he should take emotions he's felt, rather than specific memories, and apply those feelings to stories about people that may be unlike him. Like he cites guys like Tom Waits, Bruce and Eddie Vedder as huge influences, but those are three songwriters that weren't afraid to write about abstract ideas or characters ( especially Waits). I'm not saying he has to go all Jungleland because that's not what he's currently into as a writer, but I definitely wanna see the lyrics branch out into new territories.

sandyangryjohnnyormary? wrote:

Hopefully this is their chance to explore their sound because they seem a bit lost at the moment.

I like that they seem to never be satisfied, you know? Like they are proud of what they do, then they're over it and it's "how can we do better? What else can we try?" The fact that they're producing amazing stuff and still trying to change it up is awesome to me. I hope they never completely "find their sound" 'cause as soon as they do, they'll stop changing it up and they'll get boring. And then hopefully at the end of the line, they'll look back and say "we've had it all along".

eagles1139 wrote:

I kinda wanna see Brian flex his storytelling muscles a little bit...I definitely wanna see the lyrics branch out into new territories.

I kinda wonder if he's tried doing that and it just hasn't worked? Given his influences I'm sure he has. And to be fair, he does write from other perspectives (ex. Bring it On), they're just all at least people he knows, or situations he knows. It's risky to go into that type of writing without either drawing more Bruce comparisons than he does now, or just coming off cheesy. I'd be interested to see where it would take him if he tried though. And I agree, it could be cool to see him branch out a bit. So far he's found a way to use many of the same topics and even words over and over and still make it sound new, but he can only do that for so long.