Life Moves Pretty Fast: Brian Fallon On Going Solo With 'Painkillers' And His Next Step

Brian Fallon fronted the Gaslight Anthem for 10 years; long enough for his name to become synonymous with a brand of from-the-heart punk songs cut from classic American rock cloth. Last summer, though, he went it alone.

The Gaslight Anthem announced they would be taking an indefinite hiatus, setting tongues wagging about the possibility of the New Jersey native reuniting with the Horrible Crowes, with whom he released ‘Elsie’ in 2011. Instead he dived headfirst into a debut solo album, ‘Painkillers’, which arrived in March.

It saw Fallon take a significant step outside of Gaslight territory, dabbling with influences from folk and Americana alongside more candid lyrics. Though his solo shows still see him flanked by the Horrible Crowes’ Ian Perkins and Gaslight’s Alex Rosamilia, he is very much making an impact under his own steam and, unlike the breakneck early days of his old band, he’s also taking more time to smell the roses this time around.

Prior to his UK and Ireland tour we caught up with Fallon to talk about following up ‘Painkillers’, how his writing style has evolved since leaving Gaslight and how his experiences with the band have helped shape his solo career.

Have you started working on the follow up to ‘Painkillers'?

Yeah, I have. I’ve kinda been working on a couple of different ones, actually. I have a bunch of songs sitting around. I work pretty fast and I think the hardest thing for me is really finding out what it’s gonna sound like. I’ve done the straight up band thing quite a few times and now the big question is how do you progress what you do without changing it in a way that’s not fun? You want a hamburger to taste like a hamburger, you know what I’m saying? But at the same time, it’s not so bad when there’s mustard, or ketchup, or whatever you like on it. I’m sitting around writing the songs and I’ll dress them up in different ways and see what I can come up with. There’s a lot of stuff out there and I feel that if you just do the same thing over and over again it gets a little stale.

Who are you looking at to produce the new record? Will you go back to Butch Walker?

I’m not sure. I like to work with different people to get different feels. The reason you would go and try somebody else is just to see what else comes up. Again, I feel if you do the same thing too much you can get in a little bit of a rut.

You took only two weeks to record ‘Painkillers’. Are you going to take a little longer the next time round?

It was super quick. We did a song a day almost. It doesn’t really take that long. I mean, how many times can you play the guitar? If you know how to do it, then you just go in there and do it. But I’ve never looked at it like it was taking months and months to write something. Everything is written before I go in the studio, so even if I change a part, like on the fly, I’ve been playing guitar long enough where I can just do it. I really don’t understand what people do for so many months in the studio. I’m not exactly sure what they’re doing in there. But then again, I’ve never been in there when they’re doing it. I don’t know, it could be something genius that I’m missing.

What are the benefits of having a good producer?

I think an extra set of ears is always good to have. Somebody that has a vision for what it should sound like in the end. Being a musician I’m not really a recording guy, so I don’t know much about it. I like to just go in there and play and see what it sounds like afterwards. It’s always helpful to have an extra set of ears to bounce things off of and help you shape the songs. I think that works on every record I’ve done. The producer always has something to say and helps shape the song.

Some find it difficult to deal with constructive criticism from a producer and are quite protective of their songs. Has that ever been a problem for you?

Not for me. When you hire a producer, you hire them for a reason. A lot of bands will get in there and they’ll argue with the producer, but then I don’t see the point of hiring a producer if you wanna argue with him all the time. You have to try things to see if they work or not. They’re not the cops, they’re not there to bust you. They’re there to help you make it better. You have to go in there and expect to be challenged and pushed and I think that’s good. I don’t like it if someone just says ‘yeah, yeah, that’s great, let’s just record it’. I don’t trust that.

In Gaslight you used to write 30 plus songs and whittle them down to 12 for the record. With ‘Painkillers’ you went in with four and worked from there. Which way are you working towards the new album?

When you’re looking for something you have to write a bunch. The only way to really get through it is to just keep writing. I think you get in trouble if you decide what it is before you’ve created it. You have to just write. It’s not that there are extra songs, it’s usually that you’ve written a bunch that you don’t feel are the right direction so that’s why you end up with so many. It’s almost like you’re writing chapters of a book, and if one doesn’t really feel right then you have to take it out. But it’s harder than that, it’s different. Songs, they are what they are sometimes. You can’t really control it.

Do you prefer to write with others or alone?

I usually don’t write with anybody. I usually just write by myself. My whole life I’ve written the basic song down myself.

Moving forward will you continue with the less guarded, more open songwriting we saw on ‘Painkillers’?

For me, it was better. I felt like it was good to just be me, that’s it. Let it be out there. I think that’s OK to do. I did it in a way that I felt comfortable with. I wasn’t throwing anybody under the bus, so it felt like it was a good way to do it. I enjoy it. You know the truth of what you’re saying, so you feel good about that.

In the summer you said you were taking guitar lessons to learn finger picking. How’s that going? Will it make its way onto the new record?

It’s going good. I mean, I can do it now. I’m sure it will find its way in there. But it’s one of those things that you do after the fact. It’s just good to have as a skill. When you’re playing, especially if you end up playing by yourself, it’s really good because it sounds like you’re accompanying yourself. You can play a bass line and a guitar line on top of each other, but it’s just you.

Speaking of guitars, do you have any favourites that you prefer to record or play with?

I don’t have a favourite. I just kinda take whatever’s there. I’ve always wanted to have a favourite, but I don’t. I look at all these guitar players who have their one guitar and that's what they’ve played their whole life. I just can’t be bothered with that. I like to try different sounds and I never really felt any kind of thing with one specific guitar, like ‘this is the only one I’ll ever play’. I don’t think that works for me.

Does playing solo give you more creative freedom?

Yeah, you can do whatever you want. You don’t even have to play. You don’t have to play certain songs if you don’t want to. You can do literally anything you want. You can change up the songs on the day, or play a song that nobody knows and just decide you’re gonna do it yourself. Nobody will really say anything, or they will just learn a song on the day. In a band you have your songs you have to play and people’s personalities and whether they wanna do it or not. So there’s just more levels to go through before you make a decision. When you’re by yourself, you’re just making the decisions on the fly.

You previously said Gaslight’s career moved so quickly you weren’t able to appreciate it. How does life compare since ‘Painkillers’ came out?

You learn the first time around what’s happening, so the second time around you can appreciate the little things that happen. The simple things...the fact that there are people coming to the shows. You’re not always worried about the next day, or the next show, or the next interview, or the next anything, which happened the first time because it was a lot and we didn’t have any reference point to say ‘this is what’s gonna happen’. It was just happening, and it was happening so fast that nobody really knew what to do with it.

I’m starting at a different level than Gaslight was, so now I have the experience to say ‘at this level this is what you can expect’. It really helps me get through the day and appreciate what’s happening for what it is, rather than what’s coming next all the time. At the speed that we were moving at with Gaslight it was very much on to the next thing, on to the next thing, as fast you could. With this I can take the time to enjoy it and look around. Sometimes you walk around the city and see what’s going on, you meet kids outside and you can talk to them. You can focus more on what’s happening.

You initially said that you wouldn’t be playing any Gaslight songs on tour. Is this still the case? Does it get frustrating that people continue to ask?

Most of the time, most of the time. You never know, sometimes I’ll pull one out because I feel like doing it. I don’t look at it as something that’s a bad thing, not at all. Sometimes I’ll just be feeling it. You get to show people things they might not have seen. If I play a Gaslight song by myself, I can play it in the way that I wrote it in my bedroom when I was 25.

I think it’s kinda cool, so it’s not off the table. I wouldn’t play a Gaslight song with the whole new band, that would be weird. That’s like going to your ex girlfriend’s favourite restaurant with your new girlfriend. That’s bizarre. It’s not annoying to me when people ask questions. I don’t think it’s annoying at all. It’s part of the whole deal. It’s part of why I’m even here.

Brian Fallon Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:

Tue November 15 2016 - BRIGHTON Concorde 2
Wed November 16 2016 - LONDON O2 Forum
Thu November 17 2016 - NORWICH UEA
Fri November 18 2016 - CARDIFF University Great Hall
Sat November 19 2016 - LEEDS O2 Academy Leeds
Sun November 20 2016 - LIVERPOOL O2 Academy Liverpool
Tue November 22 2016 - GLASGOW O2 Academy Glasgow
Wed November 23 2016 - DUBLIN Olympia
Thu November 24 2016 - OXFORD O2 Academy Oxford
Fri November 25 2016 - NEWCASTLE O2 Academy Newcastle
Sat November 26 2016 - WOLVERHAMPTON Wulfrun Hall
Sun November 27 2016 - PORTSMOUTH Pyramids Centre

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