Brian Fallon (THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM / THE HORRIBLE CROWES) was recently interviewed by Internet sensation JadedPunkHulk.
Okay, Okay, I confess to Hulk… I was being bad on purpose. I do love both Jawbreaker AND The Replacements. I truthfully believe I would never have been able to write the songs I’ve written without both of these bands. I said what I said for sheer shock value and to prove a point…
I feel that people sometimes judge other people upon things they like and form little groups of yes-men and women. They only want to be around people and listen to bands that think the same way they do. This is not everyone, and truthfully, it’s not even everyone on Punknews.org. I actually read that site all the time to find out what records are coming out, who’s on tour, etc. The reason I said what I said about some of the people on there, is that I see them lift people up and then drop them to the ground all the time. They take things too far sometimes, they threaten people, they talk about their family, they insult them, all because of something that’s not really important.
This scene that we all love is about diversity from those who shunned us, i.e. “society.” Punk was a place to go and a community to be apart of when I got into it. People are supposed to accept other people’s differences and move forward in spite of them.
My band is aiming high, there’s no hiding that. We signed to a big label and we want to play big shows, but we also want to give back and take out the bands we like, and give them a chance, and give money to charities we support. The more we get, the more we have to give. We may not be in the basement, but we have not forgotten where we come from, and we will always lend our hand back to our scene in whatever way we can. It might not be how some people want us to do it, but it’s what the four of us feel in our hearts. I’ll never forget that Punknews.org gave us our first stories online, and for that I’ll always support them, and I’m sorry if anyone thought I was attacking the site, I was not.
I was only aiming at the people who don’t understand diversity inside the punk community. I mean after all, I’m just a fat guy who wants to be “The Boss” and Tom Waits, I’m a total hack and you should never listen to me.
Brian Fallon live:
