During a recent phone chat with The Gaslight Anthem’s Benny Horowitz, I find out that the drummer for the New Brunswick heartland punk rockers actually has quite the history with the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection: “I wear Yankees hats and am a fan of New York sports, but where I’m from in Jersey is kind of equidistant from New York and Philadelphia. So, growing up, I had a choice of which hour I wanted to drive to go to shows [laughs].” And he admits that he often chose Philthy: “As a teen, I was in Philly like once a month, going to The Church, Stalag 13, Killtime, and The Troc… I mean, it’s a lot easier getting to Philly.”
Horowitz even tells me that it may have been an experience in our very own Chinatown that inspired him to dedicate his life to making music: “When I was like 15, in ‘95/’96, I had done a show with H2O at a firehouse in New Jersey. And then they were at The Troc opening for The Mighty Might Bosstones – I don’t know if they’re like cancelled [laughs] – and it was the first time I got to go onstage and watch a real show from the stage, and that kind of gave me the itch. I loved it and I think it contributed to me really wanting to do this.”
The Gaslight Anthem have been playing shows nearly nonstop since reuniting in 2022 (including an October 2022 stop at The Met), after announcing an indefinite hiatus in 2015. They’re currently touring behind their sixth studio album, 2023’s History Books, their first LP since 2014’s Get Hurt, which dropped in August of 2014, and they will be returning to The Fillmore Philadelphia on Friday, August 23rd, where they’ll be joined by Joyce Manor, who are providing direct support, and our buddies Pinkshift, who are opening the show.
The seeds of the reunion were apparently planted during jam sessions between Benny and frontman Brian Fallon, which quickly spawned the idea to write and record a new album. However, Benny tells me that the biggest highlight of the band getting back together has been the live shows: “Now that we’ve been playing live consistently again, it feels like we’re clicking… They’ve been going great! It’s almost like a sports team, where by the end of the season, everything’s going really well.” He also clarifies that these tours are certainly not simply a traditional rock band “reunion”: “We are definitely a full-time band again; it’s not gonna be like, ‘See you in five years.’”
While The Gaslight Anthem are thrilled to be a band again, Horowitz admits that there have been some major adjustments they’ve had to make since the last time they were putting out new music: “When we did Get Hurt, the whole old school model was still in place, although it was changing… but by the time of History Books, it was gone. It’s a whole new fuckin’ thing. You used to do press junkets, but now they tell you that you need social media content every fucking day.” He also tells me that there have been some major changes in the band’s personal lives since Get Hurt: “We have kids now, we have houses… Back when we started, I would do tours, crash at a Motel 6 for a few days, and then go back on tour, and I had all my stuff in storage. Now I have two kids, a dog…”
Last month The Gaslight Anthem released History Books (Expanded Edition), a deluxe edition of their 2023 release, a trend which seems to be becoming commonplace, which I’ve recently discussed with Laur Elle and Trousdale. “I think maybe they’re doing it to lengthen their album cycles, because before they would tell you press is over as soon as the record’s out,” Benny tells me of this new trend. History Books (Expanded Edition) features a new mix of History Books, the band’s History Books – Short Stories EP (released this March), and a handful of other goodies. Both the EP and five additional tracks were produced by the legendary Butch Walker, which Benny tells me was something that couldn’t be passed up: “This opportunity to go in with Butch Walker for some songs, as a band, you’re insane if you don’t do.”
The five new tracks on History Books (Expanded Edition) feature acoustic takes on “Positive Charge” and the title track (whose original features Bruce Springsteen, for whom The Gaslight Anthem will be providing direct support at Asbury Park’s Sea.Hear.Now Festival, their final live show scheduled for 2024), in addition to collaborations with some of PHILTHY’s phavorite artists: A rendition of “Little Fires” featuring bubblegrunge icon Bully/Alicia Bognanno, a cover of Billie Eilish’s “Ocean Eyes” with bassist extraordinaire Karina Rykman, and an updated take on fan favorite “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts” accompanied by guitar virtuoso Emily Wolfe. Although Horowitz admits that the work with Alicia was done remotely, he tells me that the collaboration with Emily was something long in the works (“Emily, we’ve toured with a lot. And even on tour, she’d get up and do the last couple songs with us, including ‘Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts.’”), and that the experience of working with Karina was a total delight: “With Karina, we hadn’t met her previously, but this woman, when she walks into a room, she just lights it up!”
Benny explains that he and his bandmates are also huge fans of the artists they take on the road (They just wrapped a run with The Dirty Nil opening, prior to Pinkshift taking over those duties.): “All these bands came from our brains… I’ve been a huge fan of Joyce Manor for like 10 years, and part of what’s great about having them on this tour is just so I can see half of those songs every night… We had no connections to The Dirty Nil or Pinkshift, but we just thought they were both rad bands.”
He also admits that he feels like it’s his duty to give fans a great experience for the entirety of the night: “Your shows cost a lot of money, and people need to get a fuckin’ babysitter, and public transit… and then the tickets and if they get merch, after that, you’ve given me a lot of money, so I feel like we need to give them a nice, stacked bill, like 45 minutes of Joyce Manor and an opening set from Pinkshift.” And in terms of what can be expected of the headliner’s set, Horowitz says that they can expect about 90-minutes of 21-27 songs of a straight-ahead rock show, with very little talking and, “no samples, no clicks, no funky stuff.”
Apparently The Gaslight Anthem plan to get to work on a lot of new music in the very near future. “We’re always looking for the next thing. I think there’re gonna be a lot of creative missions in the next few months,” Benny tells me. However, he also admits that he’s anxious for a little bit of downtime: “I am excited to go home and sleep in the same house with my kids; I miss them. And as you get older, touring gets crankier, like I could really use my own shower and bed. These beds have been giving me back problems [laughs].”
*Get your tickets here.
