Michigan, 1975 9/16/23 Grand Rapids, MI (song premiere)" ". September 18, 2023 . Retrieved October 3, 2023– via YouTube.

The Gaslight Anthem Concert Setlist at House of Blues, Houston, TX, USA". setlist.fm . Retrieved July 21, 2023. Everybody says these words and they seem to like mean nothing but it really does feel like a new beginning,” he adds. “And not a new beginning that doesn’t want to be part of the past, either. It’s a new beginning that is like willing to take the past with it, and say, ‘Yeah, that was awesome then, and it is going to be awesome now, too.” The one thing about every band that creates a meaningful legacy is that they are fundamentally them,” he adds. “And this record is really about taking ownership of us.” In an interview with Kerrang, lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Brian Fallon described the themes behind “History Books”:a b c Stout, Brian (October 24, 2023). "The Gaslight Anthem Are in Fine Form on History Books". PopMatters . Retrieved October 28, 2023.

Benny Horowitz was working outside when his phone lit up, the name of Brian Fallon flashing on its screen. Laying down his tools, The Gaslight Anthem drummer answered the call from his long-time friend and one-time bandmate. The voice at the other end of the line was excited in a way Benny hadn’t heard for a long time. Inside his house, through the window Benny’s wife watched him gesticulating wildly at her. “It’s Brian!”he mouthed at her, pointing at the phone. “He’s calling about music! He’s calling about the band!” Coping with pressure. Learning how to navigate annoying music industry politics. Feeling more positive in his own headspace. It’s all important stuff that, since 2014’s Get Hurt, the frontman has been able to work on. And – spoiler alert – it also adds up to make The Gaslight Anthem’s long-awaited sixth album History Books, released today, a total triumph. The band premiered "Michigan, 1975" at a show in Michigan on September 16, playing the studio version over the PA system in lieu of a traditional encore break, with Fallon stating that fans were free to share any recordings of it after the fact. [24] On September, 19 the band announced two homecoming shows celebrating the release of History Books at the White Eagle Hall in New Jersey on October 27 and 28. [25] An additional two dates were added on September 20, [26] scheduled for 29 and 30, with all four shows selling out by September 22. The record’s fourth single, "Autumn" was released on October 3, accompanied by the announcement of EU/UK tour dates throughout 2024, including a headline slot at 2000 Trees Festival. [27] I don’t know if you’re gonna get both as far as a record. If there was anything I wanted to do solo, really I could just do it with the band – I don’t think they’d be against it. But as far as the shows, I still like doing the theatre thing. A lot of these places I’m playing in the States, they’re theatres where plays are, and that’s a whole different vibe. I just like it when people are seated and I can tell them stupid stories all the time ( laughs). And I can play whatever I want. So that’s just for me, it’s just for fun which is good. So there may be more solo shows, but I couldn’t do double records – that would be crazy!” In the tradition of their seminal sophomore album The ’59 Sound, The Gaslight Anthem’s sixth full-length ultimately achieves the tremendous feat of hitting every raw nerve while endlessly inspiring wildly triumphant singing-along. “A lot of this record is questioning all the bad stuff we see in the world and the difficult things we go through in life, and asking how to deal with it,” says vocalist / guitarist Brian Fallon, whose bandmates include drummer Benny Horowitz, bassist Alex Levine, and lead guitarist Alex Rosamilia. “I think the answer is that we’re all in this together and that somehow makes it okay, even when it’s anything but easy. The main message of the album is empathy.The Gaslight Anthem's 2023 LP History Books serves as their first since 2014, and the band brings such ferocity to their return, it sounds as if they're trying to wipe away a near-decade's worth of cobwebs in a single riff, cymbal crash, and lyric. Somber but not sad, History Books recalls the urgency and triumph of the band's sophomore effort and The ones in Autumn are some of my most proud moments. And Spider Bites, too. Just the simplicity of, ‘ And so we struggle for each other,’ I would have never said that before – I would have made it into much more of a complex statement, and I wouldn’t have had the confidence to just say the simplest thing. And I think a lot of the lyrics to Positive Charge are some of my favourites, too; they capture what I was saying so well. And Michigan, 1975 – that’s like my little baby. I wanted that song so bad, and I really just love it.” Fallon's experiences with therapy and medication influenced the album's direction and themes. He highlighted "Positive Charge", the first song he wrote for the record, as "a message of joy to ourselves and to our audience" about "looking at the things you've come through and feeling like you want to go ahead with an open heart toward the future, believing that the best years are not behind any of us and the good we have is worth something." [14] One thing that did change during The Gaslight Anthem’s long absence was that the group’s members – Fallon, Rosamilia, bassist Alex Levine and drummer Benny Horowitz – all passed 40. It suits them. If the early Gaslight Anthem albums were roughly equally freighted with a fear of getting older and a fear of not living that long, History Books is where they grapple with the prospect that middle age is at once more and less terrifying than their twenty and thirty-something selves imagined.