The Gaslight Anthem, The Happiness Project and more ...

The Gaslight Anthem: Jersey boys

If Bruce Springsteen ever gets a hankering to relive his youthful glory days, he should hop in his truck, head up the Jersey shore and check out The Gaslight Anthem tearing things up in a small club.

A ton of acts have tipped the hat to Springsteen of late, some in a good way (The Hold Steady), some in a truly awful way (The Killers – remember Sam's Town?). The Gaslight Anthem pay their respects with energy and exuberance. Yeah, they respect their elders, but they don't simply head to the photocopying machine.

Like Springsteen, The Gaslight Anthem call New Jersey home (New Brunswick in their case) and like him, they sing passionate songs about the dreamers, losers, drifters and gamblers living in such small towns and their struggles, ennui, ambitions and yearnings.

Unlike the others who've gotten hip to Darkness on the Edge of Townand Born to Runin recent times, for The Gaslight Anthem throwing classic rock'n'roll shapes is just one part of the equation.

What you’re getting here is a thriller of a band who made their bones on the no-frills hardcore punk scene. They played gigs until they were fit to drop and their van was ready to be towed away to the breaker’s yard.

Along the way, thy learned the goods to get audiences hot under the collar. Their current album, The '59 Sound, the one people have been getting very excited about, is full to the brim with greasy, gritty, anthemic blue-collar punk rock. There are sharply observed lyrics, a whole bunch of great sounding guitars, last-gang-in-town harmonies and a lot of soul. (If you like what you, search out their debut album, Sink or Swim.)

Interestingly, The Gaslight Anthem first came to attention on the punk scene but, unlike so many of their peers, they have swiftly crossed over. It’s highly unlikely, for example, that any of the other acts signed to the Side One Dummy label are getting the same sort of love from the media.

“The secret of rock’n’roll is boys and girls who don’t really want to grow up,” says lead singer Brian Fallon. “We want to pretend that we’re heroes. The secret of the band is you try and write words like Tom Waits, you try and play a live band like Bruce Springsteen, but you try and sound like The Clash. That’s the ticket.”

The Gaslight Anthem play Dublin’s Academy on March 4th. The ’59 Sound is out now on Side One Dummy

The Happiness Project: stoop stories

Let's hope Charles Spearin's neighbours don't come looking for royalties when they clock themselves on The Happiness Projectalbum.

Spearin, the dude from Broken Social Scene and Do Make Say Think, has devised an album that consists largely of his neighbours in downtown Toronto yakking about happiness. “In the summertime,” says Spearin, “all the kids in the neighbourhood play outside together and everyone is out on their porch enjoying each other’s company, telling stories and sharing thoughts.

I began inviting some of them over to the house for a casual interview, vaguely centred around the subject of happiness.” When Spearin later listened to the recordings, he noticed that the voices had a singsong quality to them. He wondered if he could write music based on these accidental melodies and put a call out to some music-playing buddies. The tapes soon began to roll.

One of the first outings for The Happiness Projectcame when Broken Social Scene played Dublin's Vicar Street last May and Spearin was pressed into action as a last-minute support act. The songs and ideas behind the material sparkled in the midst of an impromptu jam session, with various BSS-ers coming and going. Spearin has put together a band for some live shows, and The Happiness Projectis now on release through Arts Crafts.

* www.happiness-project.ca

Three More To Try

The Lowly Knights: A dozen desperados from Belfast making folky rock that will have you singing along with gusto. www.myspace.com/lowlyknights

Ranger 3: Extra-terrestrial, slow-motion folktronica from Anglo-Irish duo Ronan Burke (ex-Cane 141) and Jim Perkins. www.myspace.com/ranger3uk

Lotus Plaza:Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt shows that anything band leader Bradford Cox can do, he can do just as well. Forthcoming album The Floodlight Collective is a wow. deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com