How did you discover the Gaslight Anthem?

first discovered TGA years ago when a buddy of mine gave me SOS a few months before 59 came out. he is one of those dudes that constantly gives me new music to listen to and most of it is kinda blah. after hearing SOS all the way through for the first time i was instantly hooked!

My friend played me a few clips from Sink or Swim and I thought it sounded really good. So I bought it and its become one of my favorite albums. Then like a week later I bought a ticket to the 59 sound record release party in Cambridge, MA. Been hooked since! They are the only band I've seen outside of New England (well them and Tim Barry and Chamberlain).

I discovered TGA when 59 Sound came out and everyone on a forum I used to go on was saying it was the best thing ever. So naturally I didn't want anything to do with it ha! I just thought, oh well, another overhyped band that will probably amount to nothing. But I ended up giving in and downloading the album anyway. And that was that.

Mine is a simple story really. It goes something like this...

I heard Brian's voice. I fell In love. I brought every Record.

One friend of mine, Springsteen fan just like me, told me to try to listen to this band. I only heard Brian with Bruce in the Hyde Park dvd and then I searched on Youtube something to listen to. And it was love.

My sons band had them booked , or was booking them for a show right before 59 sound came out. He's the one that got me into them.

My boyfriend used to send me music videos on Youtube over Facebook before we got together, which I later found out were hints that he had a crush on me, I didn't click at the time that they were mostly love songs haha, and on the 16th August 2011 he sent me Great Expectations. When we started dating he sent me a couple more videos by them, one being 59' Sound, and the other American Slang. Then when he met my dad he said he'd make him a Gaslight mix CD cos he thought he'd like them. That's when I heard a lot more of them, I fell in love even more and went and bought American Slang and when Handwritten came out I bought myself and my boyfriend a signed copy (it came out in the UK on his birthday!)...and his main Christmas present for 2012? Gaslight Anthem tickets and a weekend in Leeds for introducing me to the greatest band I've ever heard. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me!

I saw '59 sound with Bruce and fell in love instantly. By the way that record is the only one I was able to download in my whole life (yeah I got serious problems with computer's stuff). Of course i bought it with SOS after a couple of week of non stop listening.
Beckiee you're lucky, I tried to get my gf into them several times with no results

Haha keep trying with different songs. I'm trying to get my mam and dad into them as they are going to see them support The Killers!

I saw that my friend attended their show in Asbury Park NJ that Bruce played American Slang on. Thought that was really cool so I watched some youtube videos to see Bruce. I liked the sound so I found the rest of their music. Really got into them once Handwritten came out. I have since been to 1 concert, bought all 4 studio albums on vinyl, and almost listen to them non-stop.

Was playing in a band and we were auditioning a new guitar player. He suggested we covered American Slang by TGA. Never looked back.

I can't remember what website I originally saw them mentioned on, but I was just sort of wandering around the internet looking for new bands to check out. I knew nothing about them and was expecting just another pop-punk type band, so I was totally blown away by Sink or Swim and The 59 Sound. I heard the Springsteen and early rock and roll influences right away and instantly fell in love. I really don't think any band has gone from being completely unknown by me to one of my all-time favorites as quickly as Gaslight did.

I'd heard of The Gaslight Anthem but never heard them or paid much attention, when the music video for Great Expectations would come on kerrang it switch it over (bit of a channel surfer) till one night was sat with the girlfriend and I couldn't be bothered to change channel so I let it play and I fell in love with the song after the song I turned to the girlfriend and said that song is about us, and with that i bought the 59sound and been hooked ever since! and sure enough a couple of months later she left cut me up for a while but Gaslight helped me through and they've been with me ever since

For me it was the week that iTunes had American Slang as the free single of the week. My friend and I were bored, so we got it for the hell of it. He thought it was just "meh" as he would say, but I loved it for so long I bought the whole album. Being incredibly naive about the band, I thought it was their only album. When I found out about 59 sound and SOS and the EP, I wasn't sure what to buy, so I went with 59 Sound. I hated it. It was so different. But as I kept listening, it kept growing on me. Then SOS then the EP, then the wait for Handwritten. (Elsie helped with that)

45/Handwritten was the first time I EVER waited for a song/album to come out, because my favorite band at the time was the Beatles.

I knew them because of my brother. He's a big fan of Bruce Springsteen, so he told me about them and showed me "National Anthem". I loved his voice, so I listened to some songs and I liked them.
Now it's one of my favorite bands.

zerb012345 wrote:

For me it was the week that iTunes had American Slang as the free single of the week. My friend and I were bored, so we got it for the hell of it. He thought it was just "meh" as he would say, but I loved it for so long I bought the whole album. Being incredibly naive about the band, I thought it was their only album. When I found out about 59 sound and SOS and the EP, I wasn't sure what to buy, so I went with 59 Sound. I hated it. It was so different. But as I kept listening, it kept growing on me. Then SOS then the EP, then the wait for Handwritten. (Elsie helped with that)

45/Handwritten was the first time I EVER waited for a song/album to come out, because my favorite band at the time was the Beatles.

Brian and the boys have an uncanny way of changing the way you hear songs and which ones are your favorites. It's like their body of work is a living thing, constantly showing different personality and character. I hope someone understands what I'm saying.

I remember seeing a clip of them from Reading festival back in 2008 and I heard Great Expectations and was like this is good and thought I will check them out, for some reason I never did anyway fast forward to 2012 and I was going through a rough time and needed something in my life just didn't know what at the time, I was on Amazon one night and saw Handwritten in the chart think it had literally just come out so I bought it and remember feeling really excited to hear it and as soon as I did i was like this is what I have been looking for.


Immediately went out and bought all the other albums and Elsie and was just like Wow this is the best music I have ever heard and all the lyrics just seemed to mean something to me...have not been able to stop listening since and don't think I ever will really.

Maybe one day I will get to meet Brian and I will shake his hand and say "Thanks Man your music really helped me out" but I probably wont get to so maybe he will read this out in internet land somewhere haha  

I discovered them because of the cover of the Pearl Jam song State of love and trust

I blame my best friend. Back in 2008 he was playing gaslight in the car talking about this "local band" (i live about 15 minutes from red bank, nj, for perspective), and i was just instantly hooked. i knew at that point that this band was special. i listened casually and really fell in love but it wasn't till about 2010 though that they took over my life completely...lol

I am interested in music from New Jersey in generell.

The first time I heard of them was from other fans of New Jersey-Music, esp. Bruce Springsteen and they introduced me to a video of Brian and Bruce. Some time later my friend took me to a TGA Show and I loved it. Meanwhile I have seen a couple of shows incl. one at the Jersey Shore and own all albums. Can't wait for the next tour.

I also got to know that the TGA fans are a great and nice bunch of people.

I found them at the bottom of a well

I heard '45' on XFM, an English radio station, but didn't know it was them or particularly appreciate it at the time. It was 'Here Comes My Man' that first got me into them, and I remember Brian saying he had a face for radio. Then I broke up with my girlfriend and '45' gained new meaning, and they've since been my main musical inspiration.

when i saw their collaboration with Springsteen at Glastonbury.

Did me take quite a long time till i realized the true beauty of Gaslight haha

I first heard of them back in 2010 when American Slang came out. At this time i was really into "Vulgaires Machins" - a canadian punk band - and so i was quite often at the website of "indica records", the label which they where signed by. there i had found out about some other favorites of mine like John Butler, Blue King Brown or Les Trois Accords. So i searched through the new songs by all the signed bands and some day heard "American Slang" - i liked it, listened to it now and then, than the whole Album came out and i enjoyed it - but i was really into french singing so i did not pay that much attention.

1/2 year later:
So i came to the conclusion that listening to french music kinda cuts your horizon - so i revisited all these english speaking bands. This American College/Worker/Hipster band (yeah thats what i thought about our guys) got heavy rotation with AS on my ipod and thats it.

One year later:
0:00 AM on a summer night in 2011: i was bored, zapping through the television programm and came across a recording of Rock am Ring 2011. Some friends of mine have been there so i thought maybe i'd catch their faces on the screen so i watched it. And oh wonder: after some songs i heard a familiar sound: American Slang was blasting through the tv and i remembered listening to this band back in the day. (yeah it felt like back in the day also it was nearly half a year) the next song was pretty good too(t59s) and the guys seemed pretty nice!
Than the first seconds of biloxi and i was lost.   
I got me 59's and listened to it the rest of the year nonstop

Somewhen between 2011 and 2012: I discovered DSS

you don't wanna know this:

Than the whole "Handwritten release" talking began, i joined the forum and was washed away by all the information and chitter chatter on here.

2014:

The storm is over, the waves are smaller now, i learned to live with my addiction and TGA have their reserved seat at the diner in my heart.

stay hungry
stay free
and do the best you can

My parents bought The 59 Sound and played it in the car and I was hooked . I've now bought all their albums and even a few merchandise