How did you discover the Gaslight Anthem?

From a wrestling podcast 'Wrestling Soup', one of the hosts was doing a solo show and mentioned about the band...I was hooked there after!

At my high school, we had this break room that was exclusively for juniors/seniors, with graffitis on the wall, lots of cozy sofas and a hi-fi system. On sunny days, we would carry the sofas and the hifi-system outside during lunch break and relax in the sun. On one of these days, someone put on "Old White Lincoln"... the rest is history.

I was 15 in late 2007. There was a homeless man that lived downtown near my bus stop that used to play music on some speakers. We'd talk about his music and trade new songs here and there. My dad had just died and I was just wrecked and going through the motions. One night the guy was playing Red At Night and it just fit my mood and situation perfectly. I was a fan from then on, but it wasn't until I heard the 59 Sound that they changed my life (isn't that everyone's story?). I felt like it was written just for me and my dad.

Sweet fucking story, man.

My friend told me I had to try this band out and gave me copies of SoS and 59 Sound - I was hooked instantly. Luckily American Slang came out soon after so I didn't have to wait long at all for new material and to see them live at Leeds festival that summer.

I remember standing at Rock City in Nottingham later that year when everyone shouted "two step" in We Came to Dance and thinking just how important a band this must be to so many people, it was just brilliant. Pretty sure that was also the night Brian told the story of Chuck Ragan and the grill he brought to a vegetarian Barbecue (maybe someone can confirm that?!). Moments like that brought the whole thing to life though

Ashburtongeorge wrote:

Pretty sure that was also the night Brian told the story of Chuck Ragan and the grill he brought to a vegetarian Barbecue (maybe someone can confirm that?!).

I'm pretty sure it was, I was there.  It was also special for me, because I'd stood outside by myself in the freezing cold for hours ("you know you're a Gaslight fan ...") to speak to Brian, and at one point Chuck came out with a cup of tea for me. Anyway, I did speak to Brian and they let me in for part of the soundcheck.

steady now steady now wrote:

Ashburtongeorge wrote:

Pretty sure that was also the night Brian told the story of Chuck Ragan and the grill he brought to a vegetarian Barbecue (maybe someone can confirm that?!).

I'm pretty sure it was, I was there.  It was also special for me, because I'd stood outside by myself in the freezing cold for hours ("you know you're a Gaslight fan ...") to speak to Brian, and at one point Chuck came out with a cup of tea for me. Anyway, I did speak to Brian and they let me in for part of the soundcheck.

haha yep been there! That sounds amazing though - I only ever hear nice things about Chuck as well, him helping out fans etc, I love it!

cover of kerrang magazine in 2008. i didn't start listening to them until around the end of the american slang album cycle.

I was driving to school one morning (high school), and I caught the middle of "The '59 Sound" playing on some rock station in South Jersey that doesn't exist anymore. I believe it was 106.5 G Rock, if anyone remembers. From there I was hooked. I grabbed every album I could, which was only 2 at that point, and then American Slang came out not too long afterwards. I was so excited about this new band I had just discovered, that I found them on MySpace and messaged them. I got a response back from Brian which was very cool of them. Probably should have screen shot all that. But their music really had a huge affect on me and still does.

I discovered TGA at the end of 2013 when I was driving my brothers car. There was nothing interesting on the radio as usual, so I looked through glovebox and found some unmarked CD. On the CD there were two albums - Sink or Swim and The 59 Sound and I fell in love with it. I´m not very talkative person and I usually find it hard to express myself but when I heard those lyrics, it was like Brian was reading my mind and said everything instead of me
I remember playing this CD over and over again everytime I drove that car, although my passengers usually didn´t share my passion

Just curious, is there a thread on here where people display their posters? About to start framing my collection so I can finally get around to hanging them and was curious what other people's collections look like.