Jersey boys, The Gaslight Anthem, are currently at the business end of their Get Hurt world tour. They’ve spent the better part of 2014 on the road, playing to packed clubs, concert halls and arenas across Europe, the UK and North America before they finish up Down Under in the New Year. On a rare day off in New Orleans, bass player Alex Levine called in for a chat.
“This tour has been going extremely well,” Alex says with a smile. “We’re just hanging out today but usually we’re really busy. Right now I’m walking through the city – it’s amazing,” Alex continued, revealing that while they do get homesick, he and his fellow band mates try to make the most of their time away and soak in whatever the place has to offer.
“We’ve been having so much fun, especially hanging out with the guys from Bayside. They’re our support band on this tour. They’re good friends of ours – one of the best live bands out today. I’m not sure if they’ll come with us to Australia though,” Alex confessed, “we haven’t figured that out yet.
“We will soon, hopefully, because we can’t wait! By the time we touch down in January it’ll be nearly two years since we’ve played for you guys – and we love it there. Australia is really fucking cool.”
Get Hurt is The Gaslight Anthem’s fifth album and hailed as a return to form, after the 2012 release of Handwritten failed to live up to some critics’ expectations. Refreshingly, Alex is not shy in his response to the haters. “Fuck them! I don’t give a fuck – I’m still going to write and play music. If you like it, cool, and if you don’t, fuck you! Whatever, don’t buy it and don’t listen to it . . .
“I don’t really have time for people that wanna go out of their way just to dump on something. To the people who do like what we do, thank you very much and we really appreciate it. Get Hurt itself seems to go over really well.
“Especially ‘Vicious’, ‘A Thousand Years’, and ‘Dark Places’ – these songs always get a great response, but it’s hard for me to gauge that stuff. I’m always jumping around playing my bass, not paying attention to whether people like it or not!” Alex laughed.
The Gaslight Anthem have always maintained that they’re heavily influenced by the New Jersey punk scene, while front man Brian Fallon has made no secret of his admiration for Long Branch born Bruce Springsteen. However, Alex insists he wouldn’t have picked up the bass in the first place if it weren’t for The Cure.
“Simon Gallup from The Cure is the best bass player, and I’m a huge Clash fan! Paul Simonon is a legend. I really like a lot of the English bass players and English new wave and punk-rock. That was my thing when I was a kid. Oh, who am I kidding, it’s still my thing!”
When&Where: The Forum, Melbourne – February 3
By Natalie Rogers