It’s not that Brian Fallon hates being called the next Bruce Springsteen. It’s just that the Gaslight Anthem singer is more excited to talk about his band’s rockin’ new album, “American Slang,” than his guest spot on the Boss’s latest DVD.
“He asked, ‘Do you know this song?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I do,’ and that was it,” says Fallon of joining the Jersey giant onstage for the song “No Surrender” at the Hard Rock Calling Festival last year. “It’s cool and I’ve sure talked about it a bunch. But we’ve got something out too that’s probably a little more important to me.”
The new album should be important to listeners as well. Though there are reference points to Springsteen’s early street poet lyrical tendencies, there are also hints of 1950s soul music and the punk rock brotherhood that includes bands like Dropkick Murphys and Social Distortion. Fallon also mentions Hot Water Music and Lifetime.
“Those are the bands that inspired us to be in bands and those are the bands that inspired us to take our own initiative and try to create something on our own,” he says.
