I never thought I’d actually do it.īruce Springsteen: It had all the markings of a classic. I’ve always wanted to write something that mattered to other people. I don’t think we were intending for it to do what it did. When I heard it completed, I thought “This is a genuine, genuine little masterpiece.”Īlex Rosamilia (guitar): caught that thing that bands in the punk genre are kind of looking for, that sense of urgency mixed with a sense of nostalgia. Not just because they allowed me to be a part of it, but because it’s damn good. It is a moment in time.ĭicky Barrett (frontman, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones/backup vocals): That album is very special to me. I don’t know, though! It’s questions, no answers.Īlex Levine (bass): Why did our second record, that was on a midlevel independent label, that charted anywhere, tap into some intangible thing in the atmosphere? I think it had to do a lot with the timing.īill Armstrong (cofounder, SideOneDummy Records ): That record isn’t of a moment in time.
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They just say, “This is what happens, and I don’t know why.” I wonder what song they’re going to play when we go. None of my best songs, throughout all my years, give you any sort of answer. The record is as fresh as it ever was.” -Bruce Springsteenįallon: The record doesn’t give you any answers. It was fresh and rich and newly discovered. There wasn’t any weak spots on the record. Ted Hutt (producer): has that great ambiguity where it lets people in.
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We’ve got these dreams, and what do we do with those dreams, and what if we don’t get there?
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I drive around in cars, hang out at diners, that’s our lives. I love this because it’s talking about me. It’s impossible.īrian Fallon (lead singer): thought I was talking about their lives. I think you can rediscover yourself and become something different, and that’s cool. You can never get the Fuck You of your 20s back. And if they’re lucky, they make a lot of music in that time. It digs through all, pulls it out and goes, “Are you ready? ’Cause I’m about to fuck you up.” And then it does.īenny Horowitz (drums): Every band has one really special time. There’s something going on with the chords, along with Brian, the production, that gets through all the bullshit in everyone’s fuckin’ head and goes to the core of who that person is and their heart and their blood and their family and their dad and their mom and their grandfather and their sister and who they should call. Joe Sib (cofounder, SideOneDummy Records): “The ’59 Sound” affects me and affects people emotionally. So while you’re wondering which song they’re gonna play when we go, here’s the complete oral history of The ’59 Sound. The result, even 10 years later, is a record that endures. A hat tip to the history of American songwriting, anchored by the drumming of a hardcore lifer, tinged by the sounds of classic soul, The ’59 Sound is an album of disparate influences that makes sense only when you hear it.
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And if it doesn’t work, we’re fucked.’”įueled by that urgency, The ’59 Sound turned into an unlikely triumph that eventually received a blessing from the Boss himself. “There was this element the whole time like, ‘We’re doing this. “None of us were in very comfortable situations in our lives when this was going on,” says drummer Benny Horowitz. It was the life of endlessly optimistic diehards holding onto the threads of a dream. That night, they made dinner with the kid’s quesadilla maker and then crashed on his floor. “I was living out of a backpack.” The band took a show in Joplin, Missouri, on a whim after a Myspace message from a local high schooler. “I’d be excited to do anything or go anywhere,” says guitarist Alex Rosamilia. Their touring schedule was constant, both as a way to scrounge up a fan base and to avoid paying rent. When Gaslight played a packed show at the Iron Monkey in Jersey City in July 2007, the pay was $75 and a case of beer. Even as the interest around the group began to build, the rewards were modest. The album was a follow-up to their 2007 debut, Sink or Swim, which had been adored in basements around New Brunswick but rarely heard outside the insular world of punk rock. This Friday, SideOneDummy Records will release the original demo sessions for The ’59 Sound, a glimpse into the band’s first stab at a record that would take on meaning few imagined.