How did you discover the Gaslight Anthem?

They were playing a show with a few other bands I went to see in early 2007

I'm a huge Springsteen fan and saw the performance of Springsteen and Fallon a couple of years ago at Hyde Park. Went from there!

My dad had a spare ticket to go see them in Glasgow a few years ago. I went having never listened to them before. I've never looked back.

Discovered them when Bruce Springsteen joined them on stage for '59 Sound at Glastonbury a few years back. Was watching the TV coverage and I was totally blown away by them.

I watched Brian perform "No Surrender" with Springsteen at Hyde Park and thought, "This Brian Fallon guy seems pretty good." I downloaded "The '59 Sound", loved it, got the rest of the album, and was hooked.

Rise Against is my favorite band and Gaslight came up as a similar artist on iTunes, which is weird because they sound nothing alike. The song was Old White Lincoln, and although I liked it enough to download it, it wasn't really what I was looking for so I ignored it for a few months. Eventually, I went back and listened to OWL a few times and got addicted so I downloaded American Slang, and pretty much fell in love with them from there and downloaded the other albums.

Bought tickets for Hard Rock Calling and decided to check them out as they were on the same day as Bruce. Bought 59 sound, listened to it once and got hooked. One of the best things I've ever done

A friend of mine had two tickets for an amazing concert he told me... We went to Eindhoven (NL) to the Effenaar. Thanks to my friend i have discovered TGA.

I was sitting in the car listening to the radio and 'Old White Lincoln' came on. Been a huge fan since then.

A friend who I have I have similar taste in music with put me onto 59 sound. The rest is history.

OldManShoes3 wrote:

Rise Against is my favorite band and Gaslight came up as a similar artist on iTunes, which is weird because they sound nothing alike. The song was Old White Lincoln, and although I liked it enough to download it, it wasn't really what I was looking for so I ignored it for a few months. Eventually, I went back and listened to OWL a few times and got addicted so I downloaded American Slang, and pretty much fell in love with them from there and downloaded the other albums.

Might be because they toured with Rise Against in 2008! That's how I first ran into TGA.

saltandburn1967 wrote:

I was looking around Spotify randomly one day this past December while going through a hard time because of this girl who totally broke my heart. Luckily I came across I Coul'da Been A Contender and was instantly hooked. I listened to every album on Spotify that night and bought every album the next day. They helped me get over that girl and they will always be a very important part of my life.

Interesting you mention that. My wife and I were going through a rough patch when I ran into that song...and around the time we went to see them in 2010...and that song helped me as well. Good stuff.

It was mid-2009, Glastonbury time. I wasn't there, but i watched a lot of the coverage on the BBC either on TV or via iPlayer. On a different forum that i've used for years, we had a thread where we were discussing Glasto as it happened. On the Saturday evening, i must've been watching the highlights of their set, and i posted the following:

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Quite enjoying the Gaslight Anthem. The singer clearly fancies himself as Bruce, but putting that aside, they sound quite good.

Incidentally, someone replied to me, saying:

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I quite enjoyed that too (much to my surprise) and good to see Bruce with them.

...and i then responded:

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Yeah, they've just shown that on t'website. I may have to check their album out.

And then i did nothing for very nearly 6 months. Until Christmas Day, to be exact. The family was asleep and i was searching through the HMV sales for something to spend some of my gift money on. I saw The '59 Sound for £4.99 and thought it was worth a punt, remembering what i'd thought when i saw them at Glasto.

That was one of the best decisions i've ever made.

It took me until mid-January to listen to it properly (i know the dates so well because i found the posts i made on the forum i mentioned earlier, rather than having an awesome memory, BTW). My first reaction:

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I picked up 'The '59 Sound' in HMV's sale for £4.99 on Christmas Day and i've finally got around to listening to it properly. Brilliant. I can see the Springsteen comparisons, but that's no bad thing. They're clearly capable of writing a great tune too.

On that thread, i was advised to pick up Sink or Swim and Senor..., which i duly did, and liked them too, although they took a bit more getting into than T59S (other than Drive and Blue Jeans..., both of which i remember loving almost immediately).

So, it was the end of January 2010, i'd got their back catalogue and was getting into it faster than i have with any other band before, and (unbeknown to me), i had American Slang less than 6 months away. I lent my CDs to friends, and so far nobody has given them back to me and said they didn't like them. One of my best mates and his wife are massive fans now and a load of us went to see them play in Leeds that Autumn.

I am a massive fan of Bon Jovi and frequently visit a fan forum (Jovitalk on drycounty) Noticed a thread about TGA, was intrigued by the bands name, so had a wee read through the thread.

At the time I had started getting into Bruce Springsteen and there was lots of mention of him in the thread, so decided to download their albums and see what the fuss was all about.

Started listening to them at work one day, wasn't that fussed at first to be honest..... Then '59 sound (song) came on and I was hooked on it. My love for their music stems from hearing this song. Then I started to appreciate the songs I wasn't fussed about more and more. '59 Sound (album) is actually one of my favourite albums now.

Think this must have been late 2009 or early 2010, was certainly a good few months before American Slang was released.

For a good month (maybe longer) on Kerrang Radio, Kate Lawler would play it every single day. I thought it was ok and I eventually gave in and downloaded it. A month or two passed as it grew on me and I really got into it properly (its still one of my favourite Gaslight songs).

Wanting to hear more, I then got hold of both the '59 Sound and American Slang. It wasn't long before I got hold of Sink or Swim as well and over the following months I listened to them more and more. I finally got Senor and the Queen the other week and now I'm awaiting Handwritten with anticipation!

Also, I heard that this new band had a track (Boomboxes and Dictionaries) that sounded like Sink, Florida, Sink.

Friend of mine who has a similar taste in music told me I had to listen to The '59 Sound. Watched the video and was impressed and the next day took a road trip to Long Island and listened to the whole CD. Been hooked since.

I was youtubing on Springsteen (huge fan of The Boss!) and i start playing the vid. from No Surrender (AWESOME SONG) and Fallon seemed pretty good, and if you may play with The Boss you must be good! Then i went trough to the vid of The '59 sound where bruce was playin' with them and then i was sure they where good! Next day i ordered all the 3 albums + their S&Q EP.

And now not one day goes by without listening to them...

They we're featured in Kerrang magazine over here in summer of 2008, as a massive Springsteen fan I decided to check them out. Saw them in August 2008 at Leeds Festival with about 100 other people, really small crowd but easily one of the best live performances i've ever seen. Been a die-hard fan ever since.

Was only the 2nd time they'd ever played in the UK.

Paul Shirley, who is an ex-NBA player and now writer, had The '59 Sound in his top ten albums of 2008. I listened to a couple of songs and really liked them. A while later I gave all the albums a listen and have been hooked since.

I heard about em via the pearl jam board, checked em out on iTunes, now I'm hooked. Bought all the vinyl (except SOS demos and park ave), and they have quickly become one of my top 3 bands. I don't know how I hadn't found them earlier, but better late than never. Through TGA, I've also discovered hot water music, whose new record is one of my fave lps of the past couple years.

At a friends' place, we ran into The 59' Sound on David Letterman Show. I took a mental note of the name of the band and from then I became a big big fan

Bryan Danielson, professional wrestler extraordinaire, had a "song of the day" recommendation for a while on his Twitter. He recommended "Here's Looking at You, Kid" one day, I listened to it, fell head over heels in love and immediately started downloading more. Couple years later, here I am about to go to Webster Hall tomorrow for my 3rd Gaslight show and they're my favorite currently active band.

Funny as I'm in NJ and at this point The '59 Sound had been out for a while, so really I should've known about them already, lol...oh well.

I was watching Glastonbury highlights in 2009, and Gaslight and Springsteen came on playing '59 Sound. Monumental moment in my life.