Photo by Danny Clinch

This feature originally appeared in the August issue of AUX Magazine. Download and subscribe for iPhone and iPad.

Handwritten, the latest album from New Brunswick, New Jersey, punk-rock-dudes-turned-dad-approved-rock-band the Gaslight Anthem, is great. It mixes the energy of their early basement material with the wide-open choruses of a proper arena rock spectacle. It’s also their first major label release, and the follow-up to an uneven album deemed by the band themselves as somewhat underwhelming. Which is to say—this record counts.

We holed up with the band in a Toronto art gallery before a small show in advance of the album’s late July release. We talked about heading to Nashville, about the pitfalls of the band’s success, and how tricky it can be to learn all the names you need to know at Mercury Records.

After a string of independent releases, Handwritten marks the Gaslight Anthem’s major label debut. Drummer Benny Horowitz and bassist Alex Levine discuss the changes they’ve already begun to notice as they embark on a new album release cycle.

Our time with vocalist and guitarist Brian Fallon and guitarist Alex Rosamilia has a markedly different tone; where Levine and Horowitz seem carefree, Fallon and Rosamilia struggle with the band’s unexpected rock ‘n’ roll ascension. Here, Fallon details his frustrations with the minutia of playing music for a job. “I was a roofer, and not a day goes by where I don’t go, ‘you know what? Hitting nails into a roof was way better than being scrutinized and filleted about every sentence you’ve ever said,'” Fallon says. “I’m fed up with the game of it.”

The band split for Nashville to record Handwritten; Horowitz and Levine detail the advantages to taking a break from home to work on the album.

When asked what balances out the negative impact of the band’s newfound fame, even as Fallon is clearly coming to grips with the realities of the Gaslight Anthem’s new place in the weird popular music sphere, he is emphatic about the value of connecting with their fans.