By Robert Duguay

“Just like a rejuvenated marriage, we feel as if we can conquer anything. We’re excited, we’re excited to continue doing what we do, make music, tour, and see what comes of it.”

When a band returns after a lengthy hiatus, one of two things usually happens. Because they have to work off some rust, their creative output is somewhat subpar, at least compared to their previous material. Or, miraculously, they pick up where they left off. For New Brunswick, New Jersey, rockers The Gaslight Anthem, it is definitely the latter, evidenced by their latest full-length album, History Books, which came out in October last year. Since its unveiling, the quartet of vocalist and guitarist Brian Fallon, guitarist Alex Rosamilia, drummer and percussionist Benny Horowitz, and bassist Alex Levine have been reenergized. Last month, the band released an expanded edition of the album and they are currently on tour in support of that record. The Gaslight Anthem will be rocking the MGM Music Hall at Fenway on August 18, with Pinkshift and Joyce Manor starting things off at 7 p.m.

Levine and I had a talk ahead of the show about a few of the new tracks that were added to the expanded edition of History Books, what it was like to work with Bruce Springsteen on the title track, and what it means to be back to writing, performing, and touring.

The Arts Fuse: The expanded edition of History Books contains an array of bonus tracks, including a version of “Little Fires” that features Alicia Bognanno from Bully and Karina Rykman’s rendition of Billie Eilish’s “Ocean Eyes,” among others. How did you guys go about including these tracks into this updated release? Were they all from the same session?

Alex Levine: We’re always working, more or less, on what the next thing will be as we’re finishing up whatever we’re doing. With History Books, we were continually throwing around different ideas about what we were going to do, especially now with Spotify, iTunes, and everything digitally. There’s also listeners who want to absorb music as it comes one to two tracks at a time, so we figured that we’d do an unplugged version of a couple of these songs. We were talking back and forth about ideas for a cover and Brian actually got the idea from his daughter when he was driving her to school. He was like,“Whoa, this Billie Eilish song is killer”; he sent it to us, he asked, “What do you think, let’s do it?” and we were all like “Yeah!”

We jumped into the studio and never rehearsed it. We never really talked about what we were going to do in terms of the structure or how we were gonna go about playing it. We learned the chords, so we started playing it and that’s what ended up coming out — just a more trashy version of that song. It was a lot of fun; we’re always up for doing things like that and we’re going to be doing a lot more things like that in the future.

Gaslight Anthem Photo: Kelsey Ayres

AF: The majority of the initial recording process was done with Peter Katis at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut. But some of the work was also done across the Atlantic at Windmill Lane Recording Studios in Dublin. Why did that happen?

Levine: That was because of Bruce Springsteen. He was on tour in Ireland and he had a couple days off, and he recorded his vocals for the title track and then he sent it over to us.

AF: What was the experience like bringing him into the fold for the song? I know that he met up with Brian before the making of History Books, so was that pretty much the catalyst for this collaboration?

Levine: It’s always been kind of out there. It’s crazy to say it, but we’ve been in Bruce’s orbit for about 15 years now. On top of that, he and Brian have become super close. There’s always been talk about collaboration. For this record, Bruce said “Send me over a song that you think would make sense and we’ll go from there.” We sent it over. He responded,”I love it, what do you want me to do?,” and that was really about it. It was as simple as that, which is kind of crazy when you really think about some of the red tape that comes with a guy like Bruce Springsteen, but he’s as down to earth as it gets.

AF: Of course, you guys are also from New Jersey, where he is a legend, so it’s incredible that you were able to get him involved. History Book is The Gaslight Anthem’s first release in nine years. It followed an indefinite hiatus that was announced in 2015. Do you feel reinvigorated — you, Brian, Alex, and Benny — since making the album?

Levine: Yes, 100 percent. We’ve been in a band, creating with each other, for many, many years. Just like any relationship, there’s ups and downs. I think that the relationships that matter in life are the ones where you can persevere, work things out, and get on the same page with a few things. That’s kind of where we’ve gotten and it is a very liberating feeling. Just like a rejuvenated marriage, we feel as if we can conquer anything. We’re excited, we’re excited to continue doing what we do, make music, tour, and see what comes of it.

AF: After this run of shows, which includes a stop at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston, what are the band’s plans going into next year? You mentioned an interest in making releases similar to the expanded edition of History Books. Is that something we can expect going forward?

Levine: We’re going to finish up touring, then we’re going to start getting back to writing. We’re going to focus on a new record in ’25 along with a lot more shows. At this point, there’s not going to be any lag in between creating new music and performing for us. We’re all in again.

Rob Duguay is an arts & entertainment journalist based in Providence, who is originally from Shelton, CT. Outside of the Arts Fuse, he has also written for DigBoston, Aquarian Weekly, Providence Journal, Newport Daily News, Worcester Magazine, New Noise Magazine, Manchester Ink Link, and numerous other publications. While covering mostly music, he has also written about film, TV, comedy, theater, visual art, food, drink, sports, and cannabis.