Gaslight Anthem Issuing Live Vinyl Release

It has been less than two years since New Jersey's The Gaslight Anthem began releasing discs.

In that short time, they've completed an EP and two full-lengths. The second of those albums, last year's The '59 Sound, has lifted the band's name from the lips of Jersey punk fans to the pages of international magazines, where critics frequently named The '59 Sound as one of the best albums of the year.

"I always had the idea that I would be in a band and I'd have job," muses guitarist Alex Rosamilia. "I'd take two weeks off a year and tour with that band. I never thought the band would become my job. It's absolutely unreal."

The '59 Sound took the band's songwriting to that fabled "next level." It also took them away from the realm of "punk," in its most rigid definition.

Many have likened the Anthem to Bruce Springsteen, due to Brian Fallon's voice, their similar vocal melodies and lyrical imagery and shared geography. The comparison is fair, but only if you imagine a more focused, less bombastic arrangement, like The Boss as backed by the Stiff Little Fingers, perhaps.

The band will play a sold-out show with Saint Alvia at Toronto's Opera House on March 20 on the heels of a European tour and a new video for the lead-off track, "Great Expectations."

They'll also release a limited edition 10-inch single for this year's Record Store Day on April 18. Live At Park Ave. will feature a recording of a performance at Park Avenue CDs in Orlando, Fla. during a tour with Rise Against, Alkaline Trio and Thrice. No other releases are planned at the moment — mostly because audiences around the world are still discovering The '59 Sound.

"We're always writing," says Rosamilia, "but we should hold on to it for a bit this time instead of, like, releasing it as soon as we write it like we've done in the past."

The Gaslight Anthem's upcoming Canadian tour dates:

March 18 Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe
March 20 Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
March 21 London, ON @ Call The Office
April 7 Calgary, AB @ The Warehouse
April 8 Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room
April 10 Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore Ballroom

For a complete list of the band's tour dates, go here.