The Gaslight Anthem Band • Page 114

Brian has gotta be a pretty big fan of Stray Paper, it was one of the first Gaslight songs he incorporated into solo sets

 

"Stray Paper" has some of the coolest lyrics on Get Hurt, and also Sharon Jones.

 

Which marathon are you training for?

 

Philly. It's in November but I've kinda already started my training because I'm also doing the Broad Street Run in May haha

 

That’s awesome! Is this your first marathon? How’s the training going?

 

Yup, first one! It's going well so far. I did the Philly Love Run half-marathon 2 years ago which was a lot of fun. I was training last year for a marathon in Gettysburg but I got hurt during training (stress fractures) so I had to stop.
I'm trying to approach training a little differently this time to avoid get(ting) hurt.

 

Half of Get Hurt is among the band's best while the other half feels like they phoned it in. Overall their most uneven album.

Listened to Handwritten yesterday and that record still rips all the way through. I finally even dig Too Much Blood after all these years.

 

That’s cool you are doing your first one. And nice job starting your training early. Although, for a November marathon you probably just need to be doing base building. I generally do 18 week programs. The first marathon is a big learning experience. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or want to bounce ideas off someone. I’m happy to help out.

 

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate that!

 

For those going to the Chicago show, anyone have a hotel rec? Trying to stay relatively close to the venue so I wouldn't have to drive and park at it, and plan on exploring the surrounding area before the show

 

No problem. There are a lot of thoughts and opinions out there, so it can be easy to get overwhelmed on what to actually do. And there are a lot of little things on race day and leading up that can help things go smoothly. But you’ll ultimately learn a lot about yourself and the race from doing one.

 

What's your price range? There are some good options on the low-end and high-end in the area. Also, the venue is a block from the Lawrence Red Line station so downtown hotels are also a viable option if you don't mind staying a bit further away.

 

Eh, I'm only staying the one night so probably just a mid-tier price point I'd be looking at.

 

Short of you staying at a boutique hotel, I'd avoid most of the hotels in the immediate area around the venue as they're SRO type places. A quick scan of Google reviews doesn't look promising. I'd recommend doing AirBNB, finding a hostel that's nice if you want to go the cheaper route (~100 a night - Chicago Getaway Hostel in Lincoln Park and Freehand in River North look promising) or staying downtown ($150 - $250 - lotta good hotels in that price range).

 

It's funny you mention that because my girlfriend asked me last week why I want to do it and put myself through all that training to which I just shrugged and said "I dunno, I guess just to challenge myself and see if I'm capable of doing it".

 

I have no idea why people don't like Stray Paper, it's so freakin cool

 

It's an awesome challenge in several ways. There is the physical activity, the mental hurdles, and time management hurdles. Honestly, most people can do a marathon if they walk or jog slow. The challenge lies in how good you want to perform. That dictates the training approach. The feeling of accomplishment post marathon is pretty real too. I've seen a lot people get emotional after they do one. It's a very rewarding/inspiring event in that regard.

 

correct on both counts.

 

The title track is amazing, but imo "Stray Paper" is one of the "phoned-in" songs on Get Hurt. Even so, the band's worst songs are still better than most other songs so I'll give credit where it's due

 

Get Hurt has a lot of great songs, but it feels uneven to me and has never worked for me as an album. I am still tinkering with the tracklist to this day for my version of the album. I had one that worked for me for a long time, but it didn't include Mama's Boys and I feel that song needs to be on there. I remember reading someone describe the album as a modern heavy blues album, and I've always loved that description, and when you factor that with the fact that it is a 'divorce album' I just feel like Mama's Boys needs to be on there. The problem is I haven't found a place for it on the album where it flows. I played around with a new tracklist on the way to work today but I'm not sure it works. The tracklist I was trying out lost 1,000 Years and gained Mama's Boys.

I enjoy the heavier and harder songs a lot, and I appreciate the energy, but for me the album is really magical in the parts where they dial it back: the title track, Underneath The Ground, Have Mercy. Those songs, and Mae from Handwritten really make me lament the hiatus as I don't think they every really got to explore that type of sound fully.

 

Have Mercy into Rollin' and Tumblin' is how that album should've started.

 

Checking in with my annual “Get Hurt is Gaslight’s best album and its flaws are no worse than any of the other records’” take

 

I do agree with this though, Have Mercy is the obvious opening track, though I think Stay Vicious would also work as a track 1 after Have Mercy thematically

 

It’s not better than American slang but it is absolutely no weaker than handwritten

 

I definitely think Get Hurt was unfairly maligned in the press and under appreciated in it's day, but I can't agree that it's flaws are no worse than their other album's flaws only because they have a couple of albums that I consider flawless. I can't say Get Hurt works for me as a whole album, front-to-back masterpiece the same way The '59 Sound or American Slang do.

It was really interesting to hear Brian refer to it as incomplete because it has always seemed to me to be just short of reaching the heights of some of their other works.

And I know this is kind of sacreligious around here but I've always had Have Mercy as my closer to the album. Dark Places is a great song but I don't think I have quite the same love for it that some people do, and for me it plays as the climax and crescendo as the penultimate track and then Have Mercy takes us off into the night.