NOTE: This concert has been cancelled.

 

I recently got a link to an interesting, intimate Christmas album which features plaintive vocals, minimal instrumentation, and palpable emotions by the former Gaslight Anthem lead singer/guitarist, Brian Fallon. After listening to it multiple times I decided to bring it (and him) to your attention. Yes, I know, this is past Christmas but good music is good music no matter what genre it is, so I requested a phone interview with Fallon and soon found myself calling him at home in New Jersey to chat about “Night Divine” and his upcoming show down at the State Theatre in Portland on Jan. 11.

Q: I’ve been listening to a stream of your Christmas album, “Night Divine,” or should I call it a seasonal release, I don’t want to assume and wind up being politically incorrect.
Fallon: (Chuckle) Well, they’re Christmas songs; I mean, normally you’d say “Happy Holidays,” but we did specifically Christmas songs so I think it’s okay to say that (laughter). They are specifically talking about the holiday Christmas, not all of them but most of them.

Q: What drove you to do this album?
Fallon: Well, it’s something I’ve wanted to do probably for a couple of years now, a long time, and my mom would play these songs when I was really young and that was the first music I’d ever heard in person, and these melodies are as far back in my brain as is speech and my name, I just remembered them always. So I’ve always wondered, “Can I do this?” or “What would it sound like if I did it?” and then kind of like experiment a little with them and see what happens.

Q: Well, you’ve definitely made songs like “O Holy Night,” “Virgin Mary Had One Son,” “The First Noel,” and “Angels We Have Heard on High” your own, that’s for sure.
Fallon: Thank you.

Q: The overall sound present on this album is something I’ve heard recently on a few other records: it’s like an atmospheric sound, like wind almost, or a muted drone, I don’t know what it’s called though, but I’m intrigued by it.
Fallon: Yeah, it’s a different style of making records, it’s used to sort of create a feeling, I think. A lot of people have used it, I imagine it goes back to Pink Floyd and bands like that in the 70s. But my influence on it comes from Daniel Lanois, he’s a big influence on me production-wise, like the U2 and Bob Dylan records that he’s done, he’s great with that atmospheric thing. When I was doing this record I was listening to his records a lot to figure out how it was done because I’d never made a record before (laughter), wait a minute, I’ve made records but I’ve never done the actual recording.

Q: I figured that was what you meant because you have three earlier solo albums out. Have you performed up in Maine before?
Fallon: Yeah, I’ve been up there a couple of times, not a hundred times, but a couple of times.

Q: Well, you’re coming into the State Theatre in Portland?
Fallon: Yeah, that’s the place.

Q: I think you’ll like the venue. What can folks expect from that show on Jan. 11? Is it a solo acoustic performance?
Fallon: No, I’ve got a band with me, I’ve got bass, drums and piano, and me playing guitar and singing, so we’re going to play a lot of different songs. I do some songs that way, play some songs on the piano; a lot of the times I’ll do some of the Gaslight Anthem stuff on the piano and kind of rework it and make like a newer version to play during the show for people. That seems to be one of the highlights: taking a song that everybody knows and then stripping it back on the piano, it’s something I enjoy and the people who come to see me enjoy. I play from all the records, trying to make the sets different every single night.

Q: That keeps it interesting for you and definitely for the audience, as well, and if you’re engaged in what you’re doing instead of on autopilot, that translates well, too.
Fallon: Oh, absolutely! I couldn’t imagine that, switching into autopilot-land every night for eight weeks?! That’s ‘way too much!

Q: Now you had an album come out last year, “Local Honey,” I believe, now, correct me if I’m wrong but you probably weren’t able to tour much for that release.
Fallon: No, not at all. That came out right as this pandemic started, so the first date of that tour was in Delaware and right before the show my manager called and said, “The tour’s canceled.” So we played the show and then went home immediately afterwards, it was a very strange thing, and then the record came out two weeks after that, which is not great for a record.

Q: I would say not.
Fallon: But, I’ve got to say that it ended up working out for me because the fan base that I’ve built and the people who have supported me took to the record and they went out and bought it, and it ended up doing alright for me even though I didn’t get to tour with it; so I cannot complain about that.

Q: Well, this way you can add songs from two albums that almost everybody has not heard performed live before, right?
Fallon: Absolutely, but not from the hymn record (chuckle), I wouldn’t play anything from that live, that would be kind of strange: it would be like, “Hey, everybody, alright here’s some hymns for you!” after Christmas is done, that might be just too weird for me. It’d be like, “Okay, everybody, don’t forget to grab your beers, and here’s ‘Amazing Grace’!”

Q: (Chuckle) Yeah, I can see your point.
Fallon: The hymn record is just kind of something I’ve never done before where an album just lives as an album, but I guess that’s okay to do, so I’ll leave that one out of the set (laughter).

Q: That makes a lot of sense on many levels, but now for my closing question: Is there anything, Brian, that you’d like me to pass on to the folks reading this feature?
Fallon:Well, I’m excited to come up and play because I don’t get to play nearly enough in Maine, and I very much enjoy being there. Where I live in New Jersey it’s very busy and there’s a lot of things happening, but I enjoy my time in the quiet. I know there are cities up there but still it’s got a vibe that I enjoy being in, I’m looking forward to getting up there, I’m excited. (brianfallon.net)

Lucky Clark, a 2018 “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award winner, has spent more than 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

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