WEBVTT 00:00:00.556 --> 00:00:03.941 Hi, hier ist Simon und du bist mal wieder beim Staff im Rock Talk, 00:00:04.161 --> 00:00:05.914 wo wir alle die großen Rockstars interviewen. 00:00:06.524 --> 00:00:09.337 Und meistens kommen die ja bei uns im Studio vorbei, aber hin und wieder, 00:00:09.337 --> 00:00:12.073 da geht's nicht anders und wir müssen es dann per Videocall machen. 00:00:12.683 --> 00:00:15.417 Und genau so einen hatte ich vor ein paar Tagen mit Brian Fallon, 00:00:15.783 --> 00:00:17.292 dem Sänger von The Gaslight Anthem. 00:00:18.261 --> 00:00:21.577 Der saß zu dem Zeitpunkt nämlich gerade im verregneten Edinburgh und probte 00:00:21.577 --> 00:00:22.964 für seine anstehende Europatournee. 00:00:23.602 --> 00:00:26.987 Zwar nicht mit The Gaslight Anthem, aber dafür mit seinem nicht weniger genialen 00:00:26.987 --> 00:00:28.722 Solo-Projekt unter seinem eigenen Namen. 00:00:29.361 --> 00:00:32.664 Mit auf die Tour nimmt er übrigens sein neues Album Not Bad for New Jersey, 00:00:32.919 --> 00:00:35.497 über das wir im Talk natürlich auch ausgiebig gequatscht haben. 00:00:36.077 --> 00:00:39.345 Wie der Titel schon verrät, arbeitet da der Musiker auf seinem neuesten Opus 00:00:39.664 --> 00:00:43.420 seine Liebe zu seinem Heimatstaat auf und was den Staat so besonders macht, 00:00:43.641 --> 00:00:45.998 aber auch warum sich trotzdem alle über ihn lustig machen. 00:00:46.787 --> 00:00:51.227 Außerdem ging es um kultige Bands aus den 80ern, teure Schmöker aus gruseligen 00:00:51.227 --> 00:00:55.129 Bibliotheken und, ganz schön überraschend, um Mariah Carey. 00:00:55.971 --> 00:00:59.458 Denn Brian hat mir doch glatt verraten, dass sie auf Platz 1 seiner Wunschkandidaten 00:00:59.771 --> 00:01:01.054 für eine Kollaboration steht. 00:01:01.664 --> 00:01:06.470 Aber ich will ja nicht zu viel vorwegnehmen. Daher viel Spaß beim Rocktalk mit Brian Fallon. 00:01:07.965 --> 00:01:09.788 Star FM Rocktalk. 00:01:12.082 --> 00:01:17.107 Hey Brian, how are you doing? I'm good, how are you? Good, are you already in Europe? 00:01:18.071 --> 00:01:21.791 I am in Scotland, yeah, I'm in the UK. Ah, awesome, okay. 00:01:22.351 --> 00:01:26.168 So you're doing a little rehearsing before embarking on the big tour? 00:01:26.609 --> 00:01:32.661 Yeah, I'm working on that and I'm also working on some demos here for next year 00:01:32.661 --> 00:01:34.835 for Gaslight Anthem. Okay. 00:01:35.363 --> 00:01:40.367 Yeah, so I'm doing that at the same time as getting ready for the solo tour. 00:01:40.623 --> 00:01:45.331 I do everything at once, I don't know why Wow, okay Talk about projects, 00:01:45.691 --> 00:01:49.411 let's go through all the different projects that you have going on right now, 00:01:50.433 --> 00:01:54.811 The one which is coming up next week is your big European tour, 00:01:56.702 --> 00:01:59.101 You already told me a little bit what you're doing there in Scotland, 00:01:59.101 --> 00:02:04.461 but you could take me through Do you have any special rituals or anything that 00:02:04.461 --> 00:02:07.151 you do before you head out on the road? 00:02:10.182 --> 00:02:16.262 Usually I go through like a series of panic packs. Like I pack my suitcase many times. 00:02:17.203 --> 00:02:21.992 And I do this thing which will only make sense to musicians where the last minute 00:02:21.992 --> 00:02:27.060 of tour, I rip apart all my pedals and my effects pedals for my guitars. 00:02:27.298 --> 00:02:30.772 And I start putting new ones on and changing them and somehow thinking that 00:02:30.772 --> 00:02:33.289 this will make my mind stop working. 00:02:33.579 --> 00:02:35.742 And it doesn't. It doesn't help. 00:02:36.402 --> 00:02:40.522 It's not good. It doesn't. But it is something that I have been doing for a 00:02:40.522 --> 00:02:43.012 very long time. And it's almost that I can't control it. 00:02:45.062 --> 00:02:47.442 I mean, it probably makes it even worse when you're like, you know, 00:02:48.302 --> 00:02:52.742 taking apart all your technical devices and stuff you need every night. 00:02:52.742 --> 00:02:54.802 And then you realize, yeah, what have I done? 00:02:55.481 --> 00:02:58.547 Our sound girl hates it. She hates that I do that. 00:03:00.207 --> 00:03:02.572 Do you also like do this kind of stuff while you're on the road? 00:03:02.572 --> 00:03:05.692 I mean, you're basically packing every night, really, aren't you? 00:03:06.290 --> 00:03:09.332 Ja, aber nicht in einem Weg. 00:03:09.332 --> 00:03:13.892 Als ich auf den Weg bin, dann habe ich nur diese Stücke und das ist all ich habe. 00:03:13.892 --> 00:03:17.082 So ich kind of nicht, ich mache es nicht. 00:03:17.082 --> 00:03:22.882 Ich habe immer noch Angst, bis ich zu den Airport bin. Und dann als ich zu den 00:03:22.882 --> 00:03:26.292 Airport bin, ich kind of gehe in Tour mode. Ich weiß nicht warum, 00:03:26.292 --> 00:03:29.276 aber ich bin wirklich nervös. Before das. 00:03:29.891 --> 00:03:31.551 Ja. 00:03:33.306 --> 00:03:36.701 Especially on this tour, you're bringing new music with you. 00:03:37.154 --> 00:03:43.337 Does this make you maybe even a little bit more nervous because you're road-testing the new material? 00:03:43.993 --> 00:03:49.426 Yeah, and also, I like to do this thing where I have one drummer for the US 00:03:49.426 --> 00:03:53.205 tour, and then I get a whole new drummer for the Europe tour, 00:03:54.246 --> 00:03:57.966 and so we're going to just see what happens. 00:03:59.286 --> 00:04:05.709 What's your Is your American drama allowed in Europe? Is there any criminal background there? 00:04:06.666 --> 00:04:13.056 No, they're both American, but one of them is a producer in the studio, 00:04:13.056 --> 00:04:15.373 so he's got a band, but the other one. 00:04:17.766 --> 00:04:22.635 She's also in a band of her own, Emily Wolf, so it's scheduling. 00:04:22.751 --> 00:04:25.410 It's all about trying to fit them when they can do it. 00:04:25.636 --> 00:04:29.247 So Emily's doing this tour, and then Kurt did the U.S. tour. 00:04:29.479 --> 00:04:34.866 Oh, gosh. Ja, aber changing drummers ist sehr schwierig. Ist es? 00:04:34.866 --> 00:04:38.286 Ist es mehr schwierig als changing basses oder guitars? 00:04:38.946 --> 00:04:42.784 Absolutely. Der drummer ist der heartbeat der Band. 00:04:44.770 --> 00:04:49.117 Everyone thinks der lead singer ist der Band, aber es ist nicht der Drummer. 00:04:51.045 --> 00:04:56.096 Der lead singer ist einfach auf dem und alles ist depending auf der Drummer. 00:04:56.096 --> 00:05:00.135 So, wenn du If you have a band out there, make sure your drummer is great. 00:05:02.491 --> 00:05:05.225 Usually people don't hold up the flags so high for drummers. 00:05:05.585 --> 00:05:09.205 That's interesting. Usually people are like, yeah, the most unnerrated person 00:05:09.205 --> 00:05:12.675 is the bassist or something like that, but usually the drummer doesn't really 00:05:12.675 --> 00:05:15.093 come up in those talks. So that's something. 00:05:16.085 --> 00:05:19.215 Well, I mean, it's all, you know, Travis Barker's changing everything now. 00:05:19.215 --> 00:05:22.517 He's got a documentary. He's like, all eyes on the drummer. 00:05:23.005 --> 00:05:27.335 Well, people are more focusing on the character, I suppose, than on the actual 00:05:27.335 --> 00:05:29.445 drumming behind it. You know, it's interesting. 00:05:30.125 --> 00:05:33.485 The legend behind the drummer, or Tommy Lee or some people like that. 00:05:34.505 --> 00:05:38.565 It gets mythical, but people will realize, don't forget about it. 00:05:39.925 --> 00:05:42.585 Music got it as well. Of course, of course. 00:05:44.065 --> 00:05:49.011 Sometimes if you can build a myth, it's almost more important than anything else. 00:05:49.348 --> 00:05:53.785 Well, I mean, when you turn into a myth, you really made it as a musician. 00:05:53.785 --> 00:05:56.385 Yeah, that's true. That's when I made it. 00:05:57.364 --> 00:06:01.055 Well, where do you see yourself? Do you think with, like, not bad for New Jersey, 00:06:01.055 --> 00:06:04.319 you going into the territory of creating your own myth? 00:06:05.561 --> 00:06:08.465 Well, I mean, maybe my own New Jersey myth, sure. 00:06:08.465 --> 00:06:13.265 Yeah, I'm really, really trying to get that, you know, if Bruce is the boss, 00:06:13.265 --> 00:06:16.955 if Bruce Springsteen is the boss, I'm really going for that assistant manager 00:06:16.955 --> 00:06:19.505 position, you know, right underneath. 00:06:19.505 --> 00:06:23.785 I'm trying. So, yeah, so I got to double down on my home state because I love 00:06:23.785 --> 00:06:25.263 it, you know, I love New Jersey. 00:06:25.797 --> 00:06:29.065 Yeah, let's talk a little bit about that because, you know, New Jersey, 00:06:29.065 --> 00:06:30.905 people tend to make jokes about it. 00:06:31.155 --> 00:06:33.665 It is also like a little bit in your title as well. You know, 00:06:33.665 --> 00:06:35.753 it's tongue-in-cheek, not bad for New Jersey. 00:06:36.043 --> 00:06:39.915 But you could elaborate a little bit more about, you know, white people love 00:06:39.915 --> 00:06:43.961 to pick about it, but also, like, you know, seem to love it so much. 00:06:44.716 --> 00:06:48.775 Well, it's a funny thing because it's always going to be right underneath New 00:06:48.775 --> 00:06:53.545 York City. So New York City gets all the glory, and on the East Coast anyway. 00:06:54.145 --> 00:06:58.065 Sometimes, you know, L.A. too, but New York on the East Coast. 00:06:58.065 --> 00:07:03.331 And the way that the United States is shaped, it's like an arm and an armpit. 00:07:03.784 --> 00:07:06.225 And right in the armpit is New Jersey. 00:07:06.705 --> 00:07:11.385 So they call it the armpit of America. So we part the rear. Yeah, 00:07:11.385 --> 00:07:16.755 right. And it is when you land in Newark Airport, it smells so bad outside because 00:07:16.755 --> 00:07:17.936 all the factories are there. 00:07:18.273 --> 00:07:22.735 But the other thing is, once you get outside of there, there's farms and there's 00:07:22.735 --> 00:07:27.025 there's mountains you go skiing on. And there's all these really cool different 00:07:27.025 --> 00:07:29.958 sceneries in one state that's pretty small. 00:07:31.195 --> 00:07:36.365 But for some reason, all of these famous people and artists have come from there And, 00:07:37.575 --> 00:07:41.395 everything, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen, Scarlett Johansson, 00:07:41.395 --> 00:07:46.340 everybody It's crazy Bruce Willis, Jon Bon Jovi. 00:07:47.947 --> 00:07:54.736 Skid Row No way, they're from New Jersey as well Amphrex I'm more like a metal person myself I love it, 00:07:56.076 --> 00:08:01.082 Those guys are my friends, I love them And I heard they just got a new singer 00:08:01.441 --> 00:08:03.340 I gotta check that out Amphrex? 00:08:04.483 --> 00:08:06.976 No, no, no, Skid Row I was like, what? 00:08:09.856 --> 00:08:15.566 Those guys are like going for singers It's crazy But hopefully They found their 00:08:15.566 --> 00:08:19.696 guy und dann können sie einfach weitergehen. Weil die Leute lieben hören, diese Songs. Ja, genau. 00:08:20.116 --> 00:08:24.116 Ich meine, in mein Opinion, und dann wieder zurück zu der New Jersey Part, 00:08:24.116 --> 00:08:26.286 aber ich muss mich auf meine Schmerzen. 00:08:26.286 --> 00:08:32.646 Aber in mein Opinion, ich würde einfach, mit big olden Sebastian wiedersehen. 00:08:32.646 --> 00:08:39.106 Und die Band wieder zusammen. Ich habe ihn zwei Jahre Jahre singen all die olden Songs in Wacken. 00:08:39.106 --> 00:08:44.856 Und es war schön, man. Er ist so cool, aber die Leute hate ihre Guts. 00:08:44.856 --> 00:08:48.296 It's so sad. I know. I don't know. Maybe they could go like a Metallica, 00:08:48.296 --> 00:08:50.996 like a therapy, you know? Oh, yeah. 00:08:51.656 --> 00:08:54.116 Yeah. I mean, we can see how that worked out with like St. Anger. 00:08:54.116 --> 00:08:58.996 Yeah. Maybe they should not do that. Well, at least don't get the same snare sound. 00:09:01.176 --> 00:09:06.736 Yeah. Don't hit those barrels. Yeah. So let's get back to topping after that. 00:09:08.552 --> 00:09:12.736 Yeah. So why do you think the state has like such creative outlet? 00:09:12.736 --> 00:09:17.416 Is it just like the landscape or is it like some deeper cultural meaning to 00:09:17.416 --> 00:09:19.709 New Jersey that gives people inspiration? 00:09:21.451 --> 00:09:26.601 I think it's when you live in a place where you could get stuck easily. 00:09:26.651 --> 00:09:29.701 And I think living in the shadow of New York City, you know, 00:09:29.701 --> 00:09:34.481 kind of creates this sort of feeling of like the underdog, you know, 00:09:34.481 --> 00:09:37.113 and everybody wants the underdog to win. 00:09:37.322 --> 00:09:41.981 And I think when you're the underdog, sometimes it's like you try harder to 00:09:41.981 --> 00:09:45.896 get out because you have to try harder to be seen, you know, or heard. 00:09:46.198 --> 00:09:51.581 So I think that there's something in New Jersey that just makes it kind of the 00:09:51.581 --> 00:09:55.823 national underdog. And that kind of makes you want to root for him, you know? 00:09:58.050 --> 00:10:06.397 You know, you already mentioned Bruce and yourself, and you both are very good storytellers. 00:10:06.745 --> 00:10:12.317 Yeah. And is this something that you picked up from living in New Jersey as well? 00:10:13.077 --> 00:10:17.567 Is this also like a cultural thing, in a sense, to tell stories, 00:10:17.567 --> 00:10:22.564 to take people on their hand and take them on a lyrical journey? 00:10:23.348 --> 00:10:27.877 Well, I think a lot of it is the music that I listen to and the books I read, 00:10:27.877 --> 00:10:34.667 but also I'm Irish, and that really is the storytelling gene. 00:10:35.707 --> 00:10:40.677 If you've got it, you've got it, and you can weave a tale, and I don't know, 00:10:41.377 --> 00:10:44.431 it's like sort of the last magic power that's left. 00:10:44.704 --> 00:10:49.487 But I think it's probably from a lot of the music that my mom played me growing up. 00:10:49.487 --> 00:10:55.517 She always would play me like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell and all the storytellers, 00:10:55.517 --> 00:10:56.737 like the great storytellers. 00:10:56.737 --> 00:11:01.587 So it's from a long time when I was a kid I've always had it in my head and 00:11:01.587 --> 00:11:05.775 then I was I read a lot and especially as a kid I would read a lot. 00:11:06.152 --> 00:11:09.281 So that kind of narrative got in my head. 00:11:09.943 --> 00:11:11.714 What kind of stuff did you read as a kid? 00:11:13.137 --> 00:11:18.517 Mostly like you know like classic books in school like we would read Charles 00:11:18.517 --> 00:11:24.897 Dickens and that kind of stuff and we would always read like There was a book that was called, 00:11:25.577 --> 00:11:29.887 oh, We Read White Fang and things like Jack London and like those kind of books, 00:11:29.887 --> 00:11:33.977 you know, that they make you read in school where you have no choice but to get into it. 00:11:33.977 --> 00:11:39.747 There's no, you can't get away. So you have to sort of embrace the story because 00:11:39.747 --> 00:11:41.830 your teacher is going to ask you questions about it. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:46.847 You enjoyed reading those? Because I would say a good 80% of people who get 00:11:46.847 --> 00:11:50.797 forced to read books, they don't like them really because they're forced to 00:11:50.797 --> 00:11:53.614 read them or they're very old and people don't feel, 00:11:54.705 --> 00:11:58.953 um attached to them as much as as yeah people maybe like a century ago but, 00:11:59.940 --> 00:12:05.229 well i do because in in when i was young i would we would drive a lot in america 00:12:05.229 --> 00:12:10.309 there was there's it's a very driving country where there nothing is close together so 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:14.399 if you want to go somewhere it's an hour away and so i would be reading books 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:18.259 all the time in the car and it was it gave my mind somewhere to like escape 00:12:18.259 --> 00:12:22.519 to so that was kind of a cool thing for me and i always kind of liked So now 00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:24.629 I kind of keep I keep up with that, 00:12:26.189 --> 00:12:28.109 And I like to collect old books. 00:12:29.721 --> 00:12:35.139 I have a really old First edition of Alice in Wonderland And it's awesome And 00:12:35.139 --> 00:12:39.768 someone drew the paintings And it's like It's really cool. 00:12:43.409 --> 00:12:48.249 Is this like Where you go into one of those Places you would see in a movie 00:12:48.249 --> 00:12:52.609 Where they have all of those shelves Really high up Ja, das, 00:12:55.609 --> 00:12:59.069 ist ja, und mostly hier. 00:13:00.224 --> 00:13:05.791 Especially in den UK, du kannst du wirklich olden books finden. 00:13:06.023 --> 00:13:09.789 Aber die Stores sind ziemlich klein. So, du hast du, manchmal hast du auf den 00:13:09.789 --> 00:13:14.499 Ladder und gehst auf und find die Books. Aber du kannst du nicht wissen. 00:13:14.499 --> 00:13:16.611 Du kannst du wirklich cool, olden Sachen finden. 00:13:17.684 --> 00:13:22.051 Aber ist es etwas, was du einfach nur etwas, was du einfach nur etwas, 00:13:22.051 --> 00:13:25.191 was du hast als ein Item? Du hast es als ein Item, was du zu sehen? 00:13:26.351 --> 00:13:32.281 No, ich read es. Ich würde immer noch nicht mehr, weil die Pages sind so alt. 00:13:32.281 --> 00:13:37.671 So, du hast du sehr careful mit es. Und du hast du es in diese kleinen, 00:13:38.091 --> 00:13:40.469 wie in Plastik, so die Luft nicht zu kommen. Ich sehe. 00:13:41.071 --> 00:13:44.991 Aber es ist auch nice zu erzählen. Du kannst mir sagen, hey, 00:13:44.991 --> 00:13:46.311 ich habe das. Es ist wirklich gut. 00:13:47.632 --> 00:13:51.051 So when you compare yourself to writers like C.S. Lewis or something. 00:13:53.732 --> 00:13:57.991 Do you think you've got similarities in approaching songwriting as those people, 00:13:57.991 --> 00:14:03.177 those classic writers from that era would approach writing novels and stories? 00:14:03.751 --> 00:14:08.881 Maybe, but sometimes when I read, especially a person like C.S. 00:14:08.881 --> 00:14:17.445 Lewis or T.S. Eliot or something like that, it's so good that it's really beyond me. 00:14:17.637 --> 00:14:21.321 And I don't know how the way that they that's talent, you know, 00:14:21.321 --> 00:14:25.311 that's that's a talent that they have. But it is inspiring to me. 00:14:25.683 --> 00:14:29.491 But I always look at them as the masters and I'm always the student, 00:14:29.491 --> 00:14:34.211 you know, so I've never even thought to compare myself, you know, like 59 sounds. 00:14:43.051 --> 00:14:47.311 Like, you know what I mean? Ja, weil er ist, ich meine, die Great Divorce oder 00:14:47.311 --> 00:14:53.551 diese wirklich intense books und dann bin ich, hey, turn the record over. Lock them all. 00:14:57.131 --> 00:15:01.684 Ich liebe die Songs, too. Don't get me wrong, aber es ist nicht die same. 00:15:03.257 --> 00:15:09.109 You know, not Bethany, Jersey, maybe you could tell me Was, in your opinion, defines it as an album? 00:15:10.044 --> 00:15:18.489 Well, I think that, you know, coming from a child of the 80s is really the key of that as an album. 00:15:19.141 --> 00:15:24.829 It's a very New Jersey thing to do, you know, like the leather jackets and that kind of thing. 00:15:25.169 --> 00:15:31.069 It's just, it's sort of like an homage to the music that I grew up on that was 00:15:31.069 --> 00:15:35.759 on the radio when I was first learning about music. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:39.069 And when it first started to appeal to me, which was like 1986, 00:15:39.069 --> 00:15:43.539 87, 88, you know, and those were the kind of songwriters, Brian Adams and like, 00:15:43.777 --> 00:15:47.279 you know, Boys of Summer by Don Henley was on the radio, that kind of stuff. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:52.389 So it was really like that kind of thing that made me kind of want to make this album. 00:15:52.389 --> 00:15:57.869 And then it just ties in with New Jersey so well, because it's really that that's the kind of thing. 00:15:57.869 --> 00:16:03.029 Did you get that in mind before you went into like the writing sessions or was 00:16:03.029 --> 00:16:05.629 it something like structuring the songs? Did you see like, oh, 00:16:05.629 --> 00:16:07.425 okay, I think this has this kind of vibe to it? 00:16:07.733 --> 00:16:10.629 No, I wanted to do it right from the beginning. I was like, oh, 00:16:10.629 --> 00:16:13.039 yeah, like, let's do something like that. 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:17.599 Like, you know, and so every time I was writing a song, I would kind of approach 00:16:17.599 --> 00:16:20.639 it like that, like those songs. And I would say, you know, like, 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:24.161 oh, man, I would really like to try and do something like this. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:30.359 If you would have to compare to Local Honey, where would you see like similarities 00:16:30.359 --> 00:16:33.321 or like differences between those two albums? 00:16:33.931 --> 00:16:38.769 I think those are totally different albums. The one was written so quietly, 00:16:40.089 --> 00:16:46.038 almost right before the pandemic, and it was written very acoustically. 00:16:46.849 --> 00:16:49.559 This one is the opposite. There's almost no acoustic guitar. 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:51.611 There's a few acoustic guitars, but not many. 00:16:51.947 --> 00:16:58.809 And it's pretty loud. So this is probably the result of maybe wanting to burst 00:16:58.809 --> 00:17:01.200 out and get louder again. 00:17:01.537 --> 00:17:03.668 But yeah, they're pretty far apart. 00:17:04.907 --> 00:17:09.377 Would you consider this more like a traditional rock and roll record in the 00:17:09.377 --> 00:17:11.754 sense of like 1980s hit music as well? 00:17:12.096 --> 00:17:15.867 Yeah, I would say it's like this is definitely a rock and roll record. 00:17:16.587 --> 00:17:19.057 And I feel like that describes it pretty well. 00:17:21.027 --> 00:17:24.188 Maybe you could tell me a little bit more about some of the songs that are on it. 00:17:24.902 --> 00:17:31.497 Yeah, well, I mean, the one that was really fun to do was Love at the End of 00:17:31.497 --> 00:17:34.527 the World was the song that I did with Brandon Flowers from The Killers. 00:17:35.027 --> 00:17:38.492 And he is also a big lover of the 80s. 00:17:38.811 --> 00:17:43.717 We connected on Depeche Mode. That was the thing that we first met on. 00:17:43.717 --> 00:17:47.087 And C.S. Lewis. Depeche Mode and C.S. Lewis. Very opposite thing. 00:17:47.087 --> 00:17:48.858 Wow, yeah. This is so cool. 00:17:51.389 --> 00:17:55.357 Yeah, we have the same favorite book. His favorite book is The Screwtape Letters. 00:17:55.357 --> 00:17:56.631 And that's my favorite book. 00:17:56.997 --> 00:18:02.847 But my first concert ever was Depeche Mode. und he loves Depeche Mode so we 00:18:02.847 --> 00:18:06.865 got together and wrote a song that sounds kind of like Tom Petty so that makes sense, right? 00:18:07.063 --> 00:18:13.557 Not at all but I was friends with him and we were kind of becoming friends and 00:18:13.557 --> 00:18:18.922 then I just texted him one day and said hey, would you want to write a song together? 00:18:19.212 --> 00:18:24.387 And he was like, yeah sure, let's go. So I flew out to see him out there in 00:18:24.387 --> 00:18:31.954 the Las Vegas area and we just kind of hung out für zwei oder drei Tage und wir geschrieben haben. 00:18:32.390 --> 00:18:35.517 Und ich kann nicht glauben, dass ich Branden Flowers singen, 00:18:35.547 --> 00:18:37.666 auf mein Song, das ist toll. 00:18:38.983 --> 00:18:44.351 Well, I mean, talking about 80s music and legends and stuff like that, 00:18:44.351 --> 00:18:49.111 there's also a lot of collaboration on it, which is maybe surprising a lot of 00:18:49.111 --> 00:18:50.424 your fans and listeners. 00:18:50.836 --> 00:18:57.721 Yeah, well, we got Phil Collins from Def Leppard. But in the time that I was 00:18:57.721 --> 00:19:01.611 talking about, where I just started to learn about hearing songs for the first 00:19:01.611 --> 00:19:05.691 time, that album Hysteria was huge to me. 00:19:05.691 --> 00:19:11.791 And I think, you know, I heard songs like Photograph and Love Bites and Hysteria, 00:19:11.791 --> 00:19:14.471 and it was like, I was locked in. 00:19:14.811 --> 00:19:19.768 I loved it. And I don't know what it was about those bands, but it just, it was for me. 00:19:19.959 --> 00:19:23.959 So, and then to have Phil play on the song was just incredible. 00:19:24.656 --> 00:19:29.091 You know, it's interesting because, you know, by the straight look, 00:19:29.247 --> 00:19:35.581 it couldn't be more different in a way, sonically, was you were doing and what 00:19:35.581 --> 00:19:38.411 Def Leppard did in the 1980s with this, 00:19:39.051 --> 00:19:45.761 huge stadium sound, a lot of effects layers upon layers on guitars and bass 00:19:45.761 --> 00:19:48.571 and drums and whatever it's huge and, 00:19:49.517 --> 00:19:54.289 you're creating your musical world more stripped down in a way. 00:19:55.885 --> 00:20:01.801 Absolutely how did those influences come into what you're doing with your music, 00:20:02.712 --> 00:20:06.804 Well, I think that the main thing about all of those bands, and Def Leppard 00:20:07.083 --> 00:20:10.038 specifically, is the songwriting is flawless. 00:20:10.293 --> 00:20:16.853 So if you take any of the Def Leppard songs and you kind of strip away the production, 00:20:17.541 --> 00:20:23.267 and you just play it on the piano, any of those songs would be incredible, 00:20:23.407 --> 00:20:26.201 even without all of the extra stuff. 00:20:26.201 --> 00:20:30.401 So I think at the core of all of these things, even the Brian Adams stuff and 00:20:30.401 --> 00:20:33.951 the Don Henley Boys of Summer and that kind of thing, they're all, 00:20:33.951 --> 00:20:36.561 when you strip them down, they're just magnificent songs. 00:20:36.561 --> 00:20:41.685 And the songwriting and the storytelling is great in them. So that's kind of how the connection is. 00:20:42.764 --> 00:20:48.285 What other collaborations would you love to do that maybe would surprise people? 00:20:49.202 --> 00:20:54.951 Oh, well, I mean, there's a lot. There's, I mean, I would love to do one with 00:20:54.951 --> 00:20:57.539 Tom Waits, but I don't think that's so surprising to people. 00:20:59.088 --> 00:21:03.331 I really do love Mariah Carey, And I wish that she would sing on one of my songs 00:21:03.331 --> 00:21:05.434 But I don't know if I could get to her, 00:21:06.881 --> 00:21:11.671 Good luck with that I'm a big fan And she's warming up It's Christmas time She's 00:21:11.671 --> 00:21:16.181 almost coming Yeah, by the way, what happened I just read, like, 00:21:16.181 --> 00:21:18.271 you know When I did a little bit of research Did you were, like, 00:21:18.271 --> 00:21:20.321 supposed to put out, like, a Christmas record? 00:21:21.264 --> 00:21:27.323 Did that ever come out? Yeah, it came out, like, two, three years No, 00:21:27.625 --> 00:21:32.341 like, almost four years ago now Yeah, I put it out I did it in my house when 00:21:32.341 --> 00:21:35.788 I was in quarantine when it was like the COVID I did it, 00:21:36.784 --> 00:21:41.846 Vielleicht wäre das eine gute Zeit, wenn wir wieder zu Mariah Carey machen. 00:21:42.432 --> 00:21:44.928 Ich muss Mariah Carey machen, dann werde ich Part 2 machen. 00:21:47.786 --> 00:21:52.366 Das wäre die reale Collab, die Leute warten für. Das wäre sehr surprising, für sicher. 00:21:54.634 --> 00:21:59.626 Ich würde gerne gerne. Wenn du die Songs von Not Bad von New Jersey ausprobierst, 00:22:00.590 --> 00:22:06.331 werdet ihr auf den Weg machen? Which songs are you the most excited about to perform on stage? 00:22:07.127 --> 00:22:11.396 Well, we usually play a couple every night. 00:22:11.396 --> 00:22:15.576 We usually try to play a few of them, but we change them every night. 00:22:15.576 --> 00:22:22.429 So most of the ones that get, like, I think The Big Sleep and Better Before 00:22:22.794 --> 00:22:28.606 and Pearls, they get really good reactions from the crowd. So we like playing those a lot. 00:22:28.986 --> 00:22:31.972 But again, we add new ones in all the time. 00:22:32.606 --> 00:22:38.116 It seems like we're learning new ones every couple of days So it's good So you 00:22:38.116 --> 00:22:42.946 don't have a proper set list Before every show you sit together with your band 00:22:42.946 --> 00:22:45.003 And think of, okay, what are we playing tonight? 00:22:45.462 --> 00:22:50.706 Yeah, well actually we have this really cool thing Where we all sit down right 00:22:50.706 --> 00:22:55.777 after soundcheck Or right before soundcheck And each person picks one song. 00:22:58.226 --> 00:23:03.136 And every day we change who starts So like one day I'll start and then like 00:23:03.136 --> 00:23:06.209 Nathaniel will do one and then Emily and then Nick and then 00:23:06.557 --> 00:23:10.436 then we so everybody is so the set lists are constantly different every night 00:23:10.436 --> 00:23:14.496 and it's like kind of a surprise to all of us could you never know what song 00:23:14.496 --> 00:23:15.688 the next person is going to pick. 00:23:15.949 --> 00:23:20.476 And so it really is like the only thing that we really do is we try to end the 00:23:20.476 --> 00:23:24.854 set the same with the two last two songs are usually the same. 00:23:25.522 --> 00:23:30.014 Even that is up for grabs. We do a different set every night by each person 00:23:30.014 --> 00:23:31.751 choosing a song. It's pretty cool. 00:23:32.221 --> 00:23:36.334 It's good for people who see more than one show because you never see the same 00:23:36.334 --> 00:23:37.688 thing twice then. Never. 00:23:39.084 --> 00:23:42.692 That's the fun part because I know that a lot of people come to many shows. 00:23:43.964 --> 00:23:47.624 I'm always conscious of that and I don't want to ever do the same show twice 00:23:47.624 --> 00:23:51.388 for people. I want them to feel like they're getting their own experience. 00:23:51.844 --> 00:23:56.414 Each city gets your own thing And it's like, you know, one night might be a 00:23:56.414 --> 00:23:59.024 totally, totally different set. 00:23:59.024 --> 00:24:02.994 Or we might bring a cover song out for one night that we never do again. 00:24:02.994 --> 00:24:06.944 Like we've done that before a lot where there's like we only do it for one night 00:24:06.944 --> 00:24:08.784 because maybe it's like special to the city. 00:24:08.784 --> 00:24:13.774 You know, like if you're playing in Manchester, you might do like a Smith song. 00:24:13.774 --> 00:24:17.734 Or if you play in Berlin, you might do like an Iggy Pop song or a David Bowie 00:24:17.734 --> 00:24:18.996 song or something like this, you know. 00:24:19.234 --> 00:24:22.800 And I think that it's so cool when you see a band do that on tour. 00:24:22.961 --> 00:24:28.474 I hate it when I see the same set every night Do you like do you note it like 00:24:28.474 --> 00:24:32.424 that it's like something special before you pull up like a cover or do you just 00:24:32.424 --> 00:24:33.699 like go through it and like, 00:24:34.460 --> 00:24:38.598 people might think this is something you do in every city, 00:24:39.365 --> 00:24:44.282 Well, sometimes I do. Sometimes I'll say, hey, we're only doing this here. 00:24:45.870 --> 00:24:50.580 But not really. Because I'm never sure. Because what if I decide that it was 00:24:50.580 --> 00:24:52.290 really good and I want to do it the next night? 00:24:54.310 --> 00:25:00.070 So I keep something for myself. What else can people expect from the tour that 00:25:00.070 --> 00:25:01.824 you're embarking on next week? 00:25:02.132 --> 00:25:06.640 Well, I'll tell you. We've got the magnificent Chris Farren opening up for us. 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:08.410 And that's a whole other thing. 00:25:09.090 --> 00:25:13.060 You never know what that guy is going to do. And he's got his beautiful drummer, 00:25:13.060 --> 00:25:17.324 Frankie, playing the drums coming out. He's bringing a live drummer. 00:25:17.753 --> 00:25:22.250 And it's going to be wild. But I think from us, you know, you're going to get 00:25:22.690 --> 00:25:29.483 a really excited band because we cannot wait to play. We just got done with the U.S. tour. 00:25:29.941 --> 00:25:36.269 And honestly, I had so much fun playing with this band That people were literally 00:25:36.588 --> 00:25:40.990 cheering Because they could see that we were having so much fun on the stage 00:25:40.990 --> 00:25:43.026 And now I get to do it Honestly, 00:25:43.970 --> 00:25:48.950 playing in Europe is my favorite audience in the whole world Because they're 00:25:48.950 --> 00:25:57.573 music lovers They love music And I just feel that vibe so hard over here That I cannot wait to do this, 00:25:58.252 --> 00:26:00.750 Wow, that was such a lie, you just sang this, 00:26:01.510 --> 00:26:06.350 to a piece to us in front of the tour Oh, you ask in all of my interviews, 00:26:06.350 --> 00:26:09.200 I always say that my best crowds are in Europe. 00:26:12.250 --> 00:26:16.410 So are you going to play like a special songs when you're in Germany? 00:26:17.170 --> 00:26:21.223 Let me put it that way, what are you looking forward to the most when you're coming to Berlin? 00:26:22.228 --> 00:26:25.900 Well, I mean, in Berlin, I have, like, that's one of my favorite cities in the 00:26:25.900 --> 00:26:31.979 world. But we have a special tattoo appointment in Berlin, me and Emily. 00:26:32.263 --> 00:26:37.360 So we're going to go explore the city a little. We have a day off after the show. 00:26:37.697 --> 00:26:41.710 But, you know, Astro is one of those venues that I, like, I've been playing 00:26:41.710 --> 00:26:45.500 for a long time. And every time I wake up on the bus and I look out the window 00:26:45.500 --> 00:26:49.133 and there's Astro, I go, you know what? This is going to be okay. 00:26:49.632 --> 00:26:55.710 And I just like, we got our start in, Gaslight Anthem got our start in Germany. 00:26:55.710 --> 00:27:00.516 Like the first tour that we ever did in the UK or Europe at all, 00:27:01.110 --> 00:27:05.600 in Europe, the first time we were ever over here was in Germany. 00:27:05.600 --> 00:27:11.390 And we did like 26 days in Germany. We played every city you could possibly play. 26? 00:27:11.410 --> 00:27:15.914 I didn't even know we had that many cities where there's weddings you could 00:27:15.914 --> 00:27:20.346 play. Yeah. We were in like Bremen. We were in all the cities. We went to everywhere. 00:27:21.090 --> 00:27:25.627 We went to some places that I'm not so sure that any band has gone to. 00:27:27.130 --> 00:27:34.277 But it was a cool thing for us because we as Americans had never set foot in another country. 00:27:34.625 --> 00:27:40.750 When we did it and we had all these youth houses and punk hostels and stuff, 00:27:40.750 --> 00:27:45.202 these kids took care of us. They made us food and they let us sleep there. 00:27:45.452 --> 00:27:47.669 They brought kids to watch us play. 00:27:48.104 --> 00:27:54.630 And the embrace that we've had from Germany, really, is like, it's incredible. 00:27:54.630 --> 00:27:58.510 And like, I'll never forget the start that we got there, because without that, 00:27:58.510 --> 00:28:02.100 we wouldn't have been able to, there wouldn't be, you know, the excitement that 00:28:02.100 --> 00:28:05.490 was over in the UK and the Bruce Springsteen with the Glastonbury and that. 00:28:05.804 --> 00:28:09.240 So it's like, it's always going to be like a special place for us. 00:28:10.731 --> 00:28:16.924 So, um, you also teased a little bit that you're doing some Get Lit Anthem stuff 00:28:16.924 --> 00:28:20.768 while you are in Scotland. Maybe you could tell me a little bit more about that. 00:28:20.913 --> 00:28:25.914 Yeah, well, I'm so whenever I'm writing for whenever I'm on tour with either 00:28:25.914 --> 00:28:30.434 the solo man, I'm usually writing for the Gaslight Anthem. And then all last 00:28:30.434 --> 00:28:33.625 year when I was on tour with the Gaslight Anthem, I was writing for this record. 00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:38.669 So now I'm like, I'm like about 10 songs in. 00:28:39.174 --> 00:28:45.984 So, but I usually try to write 20 or 25, but I've got, I've got like 10. 00:28:46.831 --> 00:28:50.794 I've definitely got, there's about eight songs that I'm like, 00:28:50.794 --> 00:28:52.700 these are good. These are really good. 00:28:52.979 --> 00:28:55.243 So we've got some things cooking. 00:28:57.134 --> 00:29:04.171 Any chance you could tell us when we can expect to hear something from that? Well, I can say this. 00:29:05.245 --> 00:29:13.164 It won't be in the winter of next year And it won't be in the summer It might 00:29:13.164 --> 00:29:16.934 be in the spring It might be Okay, 00:29:17.974 --> 00:29:23.664 that's enough We can work with that Something like this, yeah This is my best 00:29:23.664 --> 00:29:29.354 guess It's a very good guess though We can work with it I know a guy that's 00:29:29.354 --> 00:29:32.370 in the band Oh really, who is it? What's his name? 00:29:33.494 --> 00:29:35.254 Alex Something ist ein sehr guter Freund. 00:29:37.554 --> 00:29:40.894 Anyway, es war ein Pfeil zu sprechen, zu Ihnen zu sprechen. Ich wünsche Ihnen 00:29:40.894 --> 00:29:45.872 all die Best nächste Woche in Astra, which is a beautiful venue, actually. Thank you.