Brian talks to Chicago Tribune about Gaslight's beginnings (July 2010)

great read

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2010/07/gaslight-anthem-sails-ever-since-sinkorswim-ultimatum.html

See yay, they've definately made it <3

Quote :

The band got signed to a small record deal, but was dropped within six months

this isnt XOXO records?

oldgospelchoir wrote:

Quote :

The band got signed to a small record deal, but was dropped within six months

this isnt XOXO records?

they weren't dropped by XOXO records... right?

Bea wrote:

oldgospelchoir wrote:

Quote :

The band got signed to a small record deal, but was dropped within six months

this isnt XOXO records?

they weren't dropped by XOXO records... right?

I always thought that they left XOXO records by choice.

oldgospelchoir wrote:

Bea wrote:

oldgospelchoir wrote:

Quote :

The band got signed to a small record deal, but was dropped within six months

this isnt XOXO records?

they weren't dropped by XOXO records... right?

I always thought that they left XOXO records by choice.

me too. i always thought that they left for a bigger record deal with S1D. i mean, Sink or Swim was released by XOXO Records and Hellbent Records... this is confusing. let's wait and see if someone recalls what really happened

if i remember correctly, it was eyeball records. i'm not really sure what the lineup of the band was at that point though, it may have been pre-tga.

the wikipedia page for Eyeball Records has Gaslight Anthem under the Eyeball Alumni list

oldgospelchoir wrote:

Quote :

The band got signed to a small record deal, but was dropped within six months

this isnt XOXO records?

This was indeed Eyeball Records, as Brian and Benny explain in an interview with the German Ox-Fanzine in the December 2007 /January 2008 issue (#75).

Basically, Eyeball brought in a producer who wanted to change the band's sound, they said 'no', the producer left, they got fired by the label.


[German quote]

Brian: Wir waren hatten einen Vertrag mit Eyeball Records, einem Label aus unserer Heimatstadt New Jersey, das irgendwann auf die Idee kam, einen Produzenten ins Spiel zu bringen, der, ohne uns davon etwas zu sagen, unseren Sound komplett ändern sollte. Wie sich herausstellte, sollte ich, nach der Vorstellung des Labels, als Solo-Act mit Akustikgitarre und neuer, angemieteter Band auftreten, wovon wir aber nichts wussten. Erst als wir im Studio waren und der Produzent versuchte, durch Pianos, Glockenschläge oder sonst was unseren Songs ihre Ursprünglichkeit zu nehmen, wurde klar, was da abging. Wir sagten natürlich Nein zu dem Plan, woraufhin der Produzent das Studio verließ und das Label uns kurzfristig mitteilte, wir wären gefeuert.

Benny: Sie hatten eine ziemlich konkrete Vorstellung von dem, wie die Band und das Album klingen sollten, was für uns einfach nicht tragbar gewesen wäre, da es nicht dem entsprach, was wir machen wollten. Eine dumme Situation. Mittlerweile sind wir froh, dass es so gekommen ist, da wir unter diesen Voraussetzungen das Album niemals so aufgenommen hätten, wie wir uns das gedacht haben.

steady now steady now wrote:

oldgospelchoir wrote:

Quote :

The band got signed to a small record deal, but was dropped within six months

this isnt XOXO records?

This was indeed Eyeball Records, as Brian and Benny explain in an interview with the German Ox-Fanzine in the December 2007 /January 2008 issue (#75).

Basically, Eyeball brought in a producer who wanted to change the band's sound, they said 'no', the producer left, they got fired by the label.


[German quote]

Brian: Wir waren hatten einen Vertrag mit Eyeball Records, einem Label aus unserer Heimatstadt New Jersey, das irgendwann auf die Idee kam, einen Produzenten ins Spiel zu bringen, der, ohne uns davon etwas zu sagen, unseren Sound komplett ändern sollte. Wie sich herausstellte, sollte ich, nach der Vorstellung des Labels, als Solo-Act mit Akustikgitarre und neuer, angemieteter Band auftreten, wovon wir aber nichts wussten. Erst als wir im Studio waren und der Produzent versuchte, durch Pianos, Glockenschläge oder sonst was unseren Songs ihre Ursprünglichkeit zu nehmen, wurde klar, was da abging. Wir sagten natürlich Nein zu dem Plan, woraufhin der Produzent das Studio verließ und das Label uns kurzfristig mitteilte, wir wären gefeuert.

Benny: Sie hatten eine ziemlich konkrete Vorstellung von dem, wie die Band und das Album klingen sollten, was für uns einfach nicht tragbar gewesen wäre, da es nicht dem entsprach, was wir machen wollten. Eine dumme Situation. Mittlerweile sind wir froh, dass es so gekommen ist, da wir unter diesen Voraussetzungen das Album niemals so aufgenommen hätten, wie wir uns das gedacht haben.

this is what i meant when i said all of that about the Gaslight info and your website
and yeah, that German quote explains everything, i think it's much more clear now for all the no-german speakers out there (including me)...

EDIT: haha google did the trick xD interesting interview, and imho smart move

Shouldn't be surprised, I guess, that Greg Kot wrote one of the best pieces on the band in recent memory. Wish this had been longer!

I used to google to translate the interview.

Brian: We were a contract with Eyeball Records, a Label from our hometown which
would someday New Jersey had the idea, a producer into the game, not us
about them something to say, our Sound completely changing. As it
turned out, I should, according to the idea of the label, as a Solo Act
with an acoustic guitar and new, angemieteter volume occur, which we but
nothing did.

Benny: They had a fairly concrete idea of which, as the Band and the Album to
sound should be, which for us simply not acceptable would be, because it
is not the corresponded to what we do wanted. A stupid Situation.
Meanwhile, we are pleased that it has come under these conditions that
we never recorded Album, as we have had thought

Kinda sounds like the label wanted them to start out like the way Against me! did. Tom Gabel started the band as a solo acoustic project.

oldgospelchoir wrote:

I used to google to translate the interview.

i used Google too and this is what i got:

Brian: We should have had a contract with Eyeball Records, a label from our hometown of New Jersey, which eventually came up with the idea to bring into play a producer who, while not tell us anything about to change our sound completely. It turned out that I was to occur after the presentation of the label as a solo act with acoustic guitar and later, hired band, of which we knew nothing. Only when we were in the studio and the producer was trying to take by pianos, bells, or whatever our songs its originality, it became clear what was going on there. Of course we said no to the plan, after which the producer left the studio and the label told us in the short term, we would be fired.

Benny: They had a pretty concrete idea of how the band should sound and the album, something that we simply could not have been acceptable because it does not follow that what we wanted to do. A silly situation. Meanwhile, we are glad that this happened, we would have under these circumstances, the album never recorded, as we have thought of that.

it's weird how we came up with two different translations using the same thing...
what i don't get is that solo/acoustic thing... the band was Brian playing acoustic stuffs at the beginning? or Brian did the presentation for the label solo and then the band came into the picture with the label? damn translators, they don't know how to do things right!

As for the solo bit, translated by a human this comes out as:

"As it turned out, the label's idea was that I should appear as a solo-act with an acoustic guitar and a new, hired band, though we didn't know about this. We only wised up to the situation when we had gotten into the studio, and the producer tried to take away from the original conception of our songs by adding pianos, glockenspiel and whatever else."

(Of course, what Brian actually said in English is anyone's guess.)

I never thought of I Coulda Been a Contender as a country song. Now I wanna try doing a country version of it...