How did you discover the Gaslight Anthem?

My story isn't as sweet as some of the others, but I'll tell you anyway. I first heard about Gaslight through Tegan Quin from Tegan and Sara constantly raving about them in interviews and on twitter. Tegan and Sara is one of my favorite bands so I figured I'd give a listen, but I never really got around to it. They were just a name on my "check this out" list. Then I heard about them again some how through Against Me!, and I got a free download of The '59 Sound single off some site, and listened to it literally every single night before I went to bed. Then I got a podcast of them performing on The Interface, and loved every song they played, and constantly drained my iPod battery by watching it over and over again. Then I realized that if loved every song I'd heard so far, I would probably love the whole album. So I got The '59 Sound, Sink Or Swim, and The Senor and The Queen EP, and they became my favorite band. And I completely fell in love with them again after American Slang came out. And the fact that all the guys in the band seem like such sweet hearts only makes me respect them that much more. I can't wait to see them live someday!!

I have to agree with some others who've said they originally heard Sink or Swim being praised on the Streetlight forum. I'm new to the forum here but from what I've read, I'm glad to be among like-minded people... most of my friends don't understand that one listen to Blue Jeans and White T-Shirts can be enough to turn the worst day into a good one.

In Dec 07 a friend gave me a copy of SoS and just said to listen to it. Didnt take the cd out of my car for months. Then saw them open for The Loved Ones in Feb 08 which was amazing. Now, Ive seen them almost every time theyve been in Philly since and as many Jersey shows as I could get to. Just moved to MA so I cant wait to see them in Boston now. A new venue for me to see them at! Nothing will ever compare to the Stone Pony shows tho.

I discovered Gaslight when I was crawling around on SideOneDummy's MySpace back in 2008. I'm a really big fan of some of the groups on their label (Flogging Molly, Fake Problems, Audra Mae, etc.), and then I came across these guys maybe a month or two after they released The '59 Sound. For one thing, the design of the album and even just the name of the title attracted me instantly. I just have this infatuation for the 1940's and '50's style and music, so it just seemed exciting looking at the album. On top of that, Ted Hutt produced the friggin thing, and I love almost every album that he's produced, so that just made it even better. After listening to a few of the songs, I went out and bought the album, and it's been probably my favorite album since then.

Pretty short and sweet story for me. Was wondering around Reading Festival in 2008 with nothing decent on (think it was Editors on main stage, ugh). Gaslight were playing in a tiny tent but had attracted a pretty good crowd. They were the most exciting band I'd seen in ages, even not knowing any of their songs, so I made sure to get '59 Sound when I got home, and it's now up there as one of my all time faves.

Delving into their back catalogue and American Slang just reinforced the lurrrve.

My friend got me aware of them, by wearing their shirt all the time "The 59 sound shirt", and I finally asked him what it was, he said it was this underground band, and I should check them out. For awhile like others, I put them on the backburner, but when I heard that They played at Hard rock with Bruce Springsteen, I said to myself "I have to check this out". needless to say, The 59 sound was the first song I ever heard from them, then Old White Lincoln, followed by, We Came to Dance. So I guess I thank Springsteen for performing with them for my discovery of TGA. I have been trying to get most of my friends into them, no such luck.

Well my story is pretty lame. I was driving in my truck and old white lincoln was on the XM. I went in downloaded 59 sound, fell in love then downloaded sink or swim and was hooked since then.

GraveRobbers wrote:

Well my story is pretty lame. I was driving in my truck and old white lincoln was on the XM. I went in downloaded 59 sound, fell in love then downloaded sink or swim and was hooked since then.

And then you obviously bought everything, right?

If not, he could have downloaded them on iTunes

loazis wrote:

GraveRobbers wrote:

Well my story is pretty lame. I was driving in my truck and old white lincoln was on the XM. I went in downloaded 59 sound, fell in love then downloaded sink or swim and was hooked since then.

And then you obviously bought everything, right?

Everything I could find. Havent got any vinyls yet, but I'm looking to change that

In early September 2008 I met a girl that is now my current girlfriend. We started to see each other quite often. One day when I was driving to her house, the radio announced of a young New Jersey band that was making waves with their latest album. The radio then played "The '59 Sound", I immediately fell in love with the song and went and purchased the album. My girlfriend and I spent the last bit of warmth of that summer driving in my car with the windows down listening to " Old White Lincoln" and "Miles Davis and the Cool"... that album means a lot to me. It has also been my soundtrack to the transition from living at home to living in the city. Very happy i found this band.

JerseyDevil introduced me to TGA. I hoped on that trolley.

As some of you probably can tell from my username, I'm a big Springsteen-fan, and that's how I first discovered the Gaslight Anthem, trough the Greasylake community. Thanks to whoever it was, who first made me aware of the GA. I remember getting the '59 Sound, and it soon became the most played album in my car for the next six months or so.

SSome dude on this forum by the name of e7c (im nearly 90% positive it was him!) who i was talking to on the against me! forums

I introduced him to the frames too so all was good

needless to say i thought they were brilliant from the get go and have been a fan ever since

My husband and I got married on November 22, 2008. We only have a few friends so we wanted them all at the reception and since everyone's broke, we asked for no gifts from them. One of our friends gave us a mix CD and with that, he essentially gave us Gaslight. He put Here's Lookin'... on there and we had that song on repeat for the next few weeks, literally. We were moving from Ohio to Chicago a few days after the wedding and it was what we listened to.

I consider it to be the best gift I have ever been given, aside from life itself. The band has kind of become my life so it sort of makes sense. Gaslight kind of seems like fate, as I was raised on Springsteen with my mom, from before I was born with headphones over her pregnant belly and up until the time she died, when I was 10. I was into more of the pop punk realm as I got a bit older and met the man I was going to marry, and we spent 6 years together basically just falling in love with each other over bands. I couldn't have met a better person to spend the rest of my life with. Our Springsteen roots were nearly identical, as were our teenage tastes. Hearing Gaslight on our wedding day was, like I said, pretty much fate. We have several bands who we grew to love together, but Gaslight was the first that became ours after we were married.

that is such a great story! its awesome how music can do amazing things! i like your username too, a thursday reference?

azlisa wrote:

that is such a great story! its awesome how music can do amazing things! i like your username too, a thursday reference?

It sure is! In my opinion it's one of the most flawless albums ever recorded. I love Thursday but they're not totally my favorite... I just think it's a glorious album. I don't even like that kind of music, and yet, it makes me melt every time. Oh, high school memories.

fullcollapse wrote:

azlisa wrote:

that is such a great story! its awesome how music can do amazing things! i like your username too, a thursday reference?

It sure is! In my opinion it's one of the most flawless albums ever recorded. I love Thursday but they're not totally my favorite... I just think it's a glorious album. I don't even like that kind of music, and yet, it makes me melt every time. Oh, high school memories.

hahaha high school memories for sure! not go TOO off topic, but you know thursday is doing a full collapse in its entirety tour with underoath next year? the tour is coming to where i live and luckily i work at the venue AND i love UO and thursday

azlisa wrote:

fullcollapse wrote:

azlisa wrote:

that is such a great story! its awesome how music can do amazing things! i like your username too, a thursday reference?

It sure is! In my opinion it's one of the most flawless albums ever recorded. I love Thursday but they're not totally my favorite... I just think it's a glorious album. I don't even like that kind of music, and yet, it makes me melt every time. Oh, high school memories.

hahaha high school memories for sure! not go TOO off topic, but you know thursday is doing a full collapse in its entirety tour with underoath next year? the tour is coming to where i live and luckily i work at the venue AND i love UO and thursday

I absolutely died when I heard about that tour. Got tickets with the presale! Although, I am very uneasy about the fact that the album is going to be TEN years old. I can't believe music that got me through high school has been around for that long. Too scary.

I was in Iraq on my first tour and a friend bought Sink or Swim off iTunes, and played it for me. That album helped me get through that damn deployment 4 real!! Thank you, Gaslight!!!

My sister's boyfriend introduced me to Gaslight right after '59 sound came out but he had me listen to all of Sink or Swim first and i can say it changed my life. not a day goes by where i dont listen to something by GA or Fallon

heard them in the video game skate 2 and then by chance saw them at a free show in boston held by wfnx. once i heard woody joe in skate i was right away attracted to the sound and then when i saw them live it just sealed the deal

I bought a Rock Sound magazine in December 08 because Corey Taylor from Slipknot was on the cover, and after I read his article, I saw the Gaslight Anthem on the next page. I didn't think much of them, continued browsing through. I then saw some pictures of Springsteen albums, and since I'm a huge fan, I had to read about it. I read the whole article about Gaslight, and thought to myself 'hmm, Springsteen and punk rock?' So I checked them out, and immediately fell in love. I bought the '59 Sound, and it has been the soundtrack of my life since. They are, in my opinion, the greatest band in the world.

It was around 4 am January 1st 2010. I was sitting on the floor in front of the fire half watching the 'Best of Glastonbury 2009' when I heard 4 guys rocking out to a song I liked the sound of. Then I heard the crowd start "booing" but my Bruce trained ears knew better - out ambles Bruce, guitar in hand.

I will never forget the thought that went through my head..."oooh shit"...which in my "complicated" vocabulary genrally means "you're hooked, line & sinker, you're gonna be busy for the next while". My next thought was 'If Bruce likes these guys (and clearly these guys like Bruce based on that lead singers adorable reaction...is he even breathing?)...then they must be good'.

And that as they say, is that.

It's only been a year, but wow, what a year it's been. The best New Yrs eve night EVER! I dread to think if I had gone out that night...would I have ever happened upon them?

As with all good music finds, the timing couldn't have been better. I'd hit a wall with my music collection, was struggling to find something to inspire me and was sick of hitting skip on my mp3 player. Since discovering TGA, my love for music has been re-invigorated and I hit 43 gigs this year last saturday night.

But the beat never leaves and the tempo's a relief

It's not a very cool story but cabin fever's setting in with the snowmageddon so I thought I'd share!

Hey, that IS a cool story! Especially the part about reigniting things for you it will be 54 or 55 shows for me this year, and that's because this band reminded me of why I was put here to begin with.