The Horrible Crowes
Sep 5, 2011
As leader of the New Jersey band The Gaslight Anthem, Brian Fallon knows his way around vein-bulging rock 'n' roll: Like his idol Bruce Springsteen, Fallon conflates the romance of youth with the bone-deep understanding that it can be taken away at any time, whether at the hands of a horrific accident or a slow fade into adulthood. In the process, he makes the struggle to hold onto vitality feel hard-fought, even important.
Fallon is about to embark on a career detour as half of a side project called The Horrible Crowes, with his old friend Ian Perkins, which mostly replaces The Gaslight Anthem's to-the-rafters intensity with something, more haughty and slow-burning. Earlier this summer the duo holed up with producer Ted Hutt (Dropkick Murphys, Chuck Ragan) to capture songs on tape-and the result is something that will likely surprise even the most strident Gaslight Anthem fans in the best way possible.
Elsie, the band's debut, comes out Sept. 6, but the record's first single is bound to make its way onto a few storm-themed mixtapes this weekend: "Behold the Hurricane" finds Fallon reassessing an old love while employing an unintentionally topical metaphor. The most Gaslight-esque anthem on Elsie, "Behold the Hurricane" wields many of Fallon's greatest songwriting weapons, from the air of life-and-death struggle to the chorus. "I age by years at the mention of your name," Fallon sings, in the process acknowledging the awesome and often ruinous power of the past we try to keep behind us.
The Horrible Crowes will also be playing shows to promote the album and Fallon promises that the environment will be a stark contrast to a typical Gaslight Anthem performance. "Our shows are going to be smaller and they're going to take place in very intimate venues," Fallon explains. "It's not the kind of thing where you get wasted and listen to some music. It's more, 'I'm going to take my lady out and watch a band play and it's going to be quiet and then we're going to go home and have a good evening,'" he continues.
The Horrible Crowes US Tour Dates:
- 9/8 Bowery Ballroom NYC, NY
- 9/14 The Troubadour Los Angeles, CA
