New Album

So!!
Recording in January/February of next year with Ted Hutt again

Going away from The 59 Sound, for a more ROCKER of a records.
Big influences with Elvis Costello and Social Distortion!

I can definitely see the band going down the avenue of the Social D records like 'Social Distortion' and 'Somewhere between heaven and hell'.

I like both bands so it should be good.

So what of their material so far do people think will be most like (not the same, obviously, as the sound will be evolving) the new album??

I can't say I've ever listened to Social Distortion or Elvis Costello consistently enough to get a decent idea...

I think it will surprise me as much as 59 Sound did.

Just hope they will change the chord progression a little bit...

i agree. that Gm Eb Bb F chord progression is all over the place. Great Expecations, '59, High Lonesome, Casanova, River's Edge, not to mention 1930. i'm pretty sure all their songs except Red At Night are written in one of four different keys. i'd have to check, but i think that's about right. maybe five

Jukebox Romeo wrote:

i agree. that Gm Eb Bb F chord progression is all over the place. Great Expecations, '59, High Lonesome, Casanova, River's Edge, not to mention 1930. i'm pretty sure all their songs except Red At Night are written in one of four different keys. i'd have to check, but i think that's about right. maybe five

This isn't a problem for me as I don't have a clue about chord progressions...

It seems to work for them.
Changing keys is interesting. Keeps the excitement alive in some cases.
Songs that are in one key can get really boring really quick for me. It makes great listening too. I love how you can listen to their songs and discover something else you didn't hear last time.

I hope they know what they're doing. 3 albums in more or less 2 years, that's a lot. I hope it's not a rush job, or putting an album out there for the sake of it.

i agree but shit even gaslights rushed music is better than most

True. The Arctic Monkey's made 3 full lengths in really quick succession and they were all terrible.
Luckily, TGA know how to write songs.

I don't know. I'll be a year and a half (roughly) since they recorded The '59 Sound. I don't know that that is too soon. Smart guys, they know what they're doing. It'll be just as amazing as everything else they do, I'm sure.

LBAZ wrote:

True. The Arctic Monkey's made 3 full lengths in really quick succession and they were all terrible.
Luckily, TGA know how to write songs.

I thought the Arctic Monkeys only had 2 albums? The first one was really good! If you're refering to the Last Shadow Puppets offering, that was rushed, and as a consequence was awful.

As for Gaslight, I don't think they're rushing it. Just look at how much they've toured. I just think they don't like sitting around resting on what they've already done like a lot of bands. They want to give the fans more, which I think is great. I rather have 3 albums in 2 years than 1 album in 3 years...

LBAZ wrote:

True. The Arctic Monkey's made 3 full lengths in really quick succession and they were all terrible.
Luckily, TGA know how to write songs.

For one I'll disagree with Baz. The first Arctic Monkeys album was outstanding. It was truly original musically, and the lyrics provided a brilliant take on life in Britain. Because their second album was simply more of the same, it coudn't reach the same heights. In between they released a 5 track EP.

All in all, there's nothing wrong with albums in quick succession. Often touring actually aids songwriting. This was certainly the case with Springsteen and his last two quick releases, the second of which was the better one overall.

The Arctic Monkeys are really good at describing life in Britain so I can relate to what they sing about but at the same time I don't want to.
They sing about the society I hate and really want to get out of. To some extent I have by distancing myself from a lot of people who follow those lines, so to say, but you really can't get out of it if you live a walking distance from a place similar to what they are talking about. My mum likes to think we live in the 'posh' part of Manchester but it is all the same, even if the houses are slightly more expensive.
You would think I would 'get it' but I don't and that is something I find strange myself.

I like music that is from a completely different place and I take that and find a way to realte to it. I guess it comes down to me being a daydreamer. I have never been to Jersey (or America), never seen the streets that Springsteen talks about or experienced the things he has yet somehow I know what he is describing.
I respect your opinion though because I for one am always gettinmg mine knocked down. Treat others as you wish to me treated and all that.
It would be so boring if we were all the same.

LBAZ wrote:

The Arctic Monkeys are really good at describing life in Britain so I can relate to what they sing about but at the same time I don't want to. They sing about the society I hate and really want to get out of. [...] I like music that is from a completely different place and I take that and find a way to relate to it. I guess it comes down to me being a daydreamer. I have never been to Jersey (or America), never seen the streets that Springsteen talks about or experienced the things he has yet somehow I know what he is describing.

I think this is a fascinating point and one I had not fully considered.

Of course, great art is great not least for being genuine rather than contrived. This is why I like the Gaslight Anthem; they too sing about what they know about. At the same time, good lyrics can carry something above and beyond what they describe and this is what allows others to relate on a deeper/higher level to what may at first appear removed. The Artic Monkeys material I cannot relate to at all, as it just isn't my world, but I can observe it from the outside and be fascinated by it. Another world that fascinates me is American small town life, which I 'experience' mainly through novels, but to which Springsteen and TGA also provide some of the soundtrack. What I fully relate to are the notions of redemption, loyalty and so forth, that run through TGA's and Springsteen's lyrics.

But I agree, a great part of the enjoyment of music (and movies) is the ability to escape.

Apologies for getting ever more off-topic.

OK, I know this isn't an Arctic Monkeys forum, but... if you've listened to them what they are describing (on the first album in particular- I have all 3 releases if you count the EP) is what is around me, and I relate to it because of that.

The Gaslight Anthem on the other hand is different. Like LBAZ I have never been to New Jersey or to the USA, but I still feel I know the former through the lyrics of the Gaslight Anthem and the Boss. Listened to Senor and the Queen this afternoon, and remember Brian saying it was about Jersey in the summertime. It provides a window into another world.

Perhaps why that the Gaslight Anthem is such a great band. They create (or relate to) a world with believeable people in like Maria, Mary, Virginia etc. So anyone not familiar with it can access it, and the values etc that go with it, through the music- to me, its escapism. I escape from my world of (all following references from the Arctic Monkeys) drunken youths brawling with pool cues, scallys/chavs/scroats wearing Reebok classics and Cigarette Smoking Fionas into to Brians world of Ferris Wheels, boardwalks, and Marias. I escape to a world I want to exist, and be part of, hence why I love the band.

OK, maybe that was a bit deep (especially for a new album debate!). But I hope it added to the discussion.

Jukebox Romeo wrote:

i agree. that Gm Eb Bb F chord progression is all over the place. Great Expecations, '59, High Lonesome, Casanova, River's Edge, not to mention 1930. i'm pretty sure all their songs except Red At Night are written in one of four different keys. i'd have to check, but i think that's about right. maybe five

Most punk bands have the same old chords all over again.
C, G, Am, G
C, F, G
G, C, D
Am, F, C, G
Em, C, G, D
E, B, Cm, A
etc. etc.


Knowing how to play guitar, kinda spoils your music experience

It's tiring me a bit on one hand, but on the other hand I really dislike weird chord progressions. Those only sound good when it's played in a fast hardcore style.

and yeah Gaslight is pretty repetitive if you look at them from that aspect. Still the songs are interesting enough that you don't really notice it.

Film Noir has a nice verse progression, although they probably took that from All Along The Watchtower by Dylan. Wherefore Elvis has the same progression

and most blues has the same chord progressions also

wow very incoherent story.

yeah, i definitely noticed that about punk bands. i call it the upside down T chord progression. examples would be C G Am F, Am F C G, C Am G F, or any other variation of those chords grouped together like that (when power chords are formed, it looks like an upside down T). i'd say 85% of punk songs are played with that progression (MxPx's "Today Is In My Way" uses 3 different progressions of the same 4 chords, in that upside down T progression)

and i went ahead and grouped Gaslight's songs into their respective keys. being 4 years removed from learning music theory in band, i don't know the names of the keys, but all these songs use the same chords, so yeah. TGA has used only 5 different keys so far:

Key #1:
Boomboxes & Dictionaries
We Came To Dance
Drive
We're Getting a Divorce, You Keep the Diner
Red At Night
Old White Lincoln

Key #2:
I Coulda Been a Contender
1930
I'da Called You Woody, Joe
Angry Johnny & the Radio
Great Expectations
The '59 Sound
High Lonesome
Casanova, Baby!
Meet Me By the River's Edge
Once Upon a Time (doesn't really count, but whatever)

Key #3:
Wooderson
Red In the Morning
Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?
Miles Davis & The Cool
The Patient Ferris Wheel
The Backseat

Key #4:
The Navesink Banks
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Here's Looking At You, Kid

Key #5:
Señor and the Queen
Say I Won't (Recognize)
Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts
Film Noir

haha if you apply this chord analysis to Teenage Bottlerocket, Screeching Weasel, The Lillingtons The Queers and another of those Ramonescore bands discography it all looks kinda meager.
Still fucking love those bands though

alot of ska/reggae bands like The Slackers use same chord progression though. A lot of Slackers songs start in the key of F or contain the chord progressions posted above.

ah well that's a whole lot better than those bands playing all this ridiculous diminished chords and progressions. I can't enjoy that stuff. I also can't play along with it, which also pisses me off

By the way, if TGA decides to make their next album with a Social D influence, that would be killer. I listened to Social D's "white light, white heat, white trash" this morning on way to work, and that's an awesome cd. Love the crunchy guitars.

Never listened to a minute of Social D until that post ^ and I'm one song into that album and in love!

all of Social D's albums are really good. check out their self-titled and Sex, Love, and Rock 'n' Roll (specifically Angel's Wings). truly essential listening. one of the greatest bands of all-time

i really hope Brian doesn't listen to The National and Chris Wollard and the Ship Thieves too much and decides to sing in that lower register like they do. i just find it kinda boring, and Brian's voice is so good in the upper register i'd hate for him to abandon it

I agree, I like Brian's voice in the upper register. Althought I must admit, there's a time and place for The National's music..it's not the most upbeat, in fact it's somber, morose, but still good for driving in the dead of winter.. On the other hand, The Afghan Whigs just rule. There's one of the best bands from the 90's.

whoa... can someone please explain to me what the difference between key/chord progression is.


and please post it in the Guitar tabs area instead of here, I don't want to take this talk way off topic