Agent are a great punk rock band from Long Island. The band has quickly made a name for themselves in the flourishing LI scene. I reviewed the band’s debut EP, I Wouldn’t Trade That For Anything here. Thanks to vocalist Keith Pilson for fielding some questions.

How would you describe your sound to someone yet to hear the band? What are some of the band’s main influences?

I hate describing my band to people who haven’t heard us yet, hah. I can never do it. We’re just who we are. Some people think we sound like Can’t Slow Down era Saves the Day, but we say we don’t. I’d say we take influence from Braid, Lifetime, Silent Majority and Dillinger Four the most. We’re sort of leaning towards the Silent Majority, Braid, Promise Ring, Texas Is The Reason area as of late. We all listen to some different bands, but our Venn diagram of musical interests have a large shared area. We rule.

Talk about how amazing and perhaps intimidating it is to be coming from the infamous Long Island scene. Is there a certain standard the band feels they have to live up to? What bands should we all be watching out for that we maybe have not heard yet?

Talk about infamous, we all witnessed a show a while back that exemplifies it’s infamy. After the original show got canceled, Kill Your Idols had their last show in the back of our (and Capital’s, In Time Of War’s, Take My Chances’) practice space in a parking lot. It was supposed to be a secret show, but about 200 people showed up. The feeling that night was unexplainable, but if you were there, you could sense you were a part of something special. We all thought for sure somebody would be going to jail for it, but nobody cared. The cops eventually broke it up, and were surprisingly cool about it, but KYI had already played a near perfect set. You might have a slight understanding of what we mean if you’ve seen the videos from it. It looks like New Years. Try youtube if you aren’t in the know.

While that show has simply joined a list of shows past with similar magnitudes of legendary-ness, we don’t really feel intimidation, we just feel proud to be a part of something so awesome. Our favorite bands that we grew up listening to are from here, and that feels great. Also, “fuck their expectations.” ; )

Currently, there are a lot of good things happening here. Check out Thieves and Assassins, Capital, Crime In Stereo, Small Arms Dealer, Take My Chances, In Times Of War, Deathcycle, Call It Fire, and Divider. The bands listed cover every area of hardcore/punk but are all equally neato.

How does the songwriting process go for the band? What factors influence the band’s songwriting?

Our guitarists usually jam with each other and come up with stuff, and then we all give our ideas and come up with parts together. I don’t think we really factor anything in. If anything I think about what would make this song powerful, or ask how the music could speak for itself I guess. Like how can the music show desperation or sound pissed off on it’s own? Honestly, Rites Of Spring are the only reason I ever think to say that.

How important is the DIY/punk community and spirit to Agent?

I identify really well with the feeling of anger and rebellion present in punk music. I also believe in standing for something positive, and separate from a vapid society full of businessmen who’d all love to make money off of the things we do and say. Aside from punk ethics, we’re all a goofy, awkward bunch of friends who wouldn’t fit anywhere else even if we tried.

Iron Pier who released your EP seems like a really up and coming label. What’s the relationship like and will Agent be staying on with Iron Pier or moving elsewhere?

Dave works hard and really puts a lot of time into Iron Pier. He’s done so much for us, that Dave. What a guy.

We’re not sure what we’re doing in the future yet, unfortunately. I think we’re moving somewhere else, but that’s it.

What’s the band’s opinion on file-sharing?

We’re ok with it. Having friends who’ve owned record stores and such, we understand why someone would be against it, but how the dump are some kids going to hear a band otherwise? There’s so much more exposure for smaller bands with file-sharing in existence. I discovered a huge amount of music in the days of Kazaa and Napster, some of which are still my favorite bands right now.

I’d rather check out a band for free online than buy a CD, and instead use the money to support them directly. If I only had enough money for one thing, I’d rather pay to see them at a show and buy merch from them when they come around on tour or something than buy a CD from like Interpunk or FYE or whatever. That’s not to say that local record stores shouldn’t be supported. They should be. It’s just I feel there are other important things to consider.

What’s been playing on the band’s collective stereo lately?

Elliott Smith, Built To Spill, Mineral, Red House Painters, Face To Face, The Falcon, Screeching Weasel, The Broadways, etc.

What’s on the horizon (releases, touring) for the band in the near future?

We’re working on writing a full length. We’re also going to tour as much as is possible for us in the future.

Any last words?

Pumplet. Rugby.

Bridge And Tunnel hail from Huntington Station, NY. While the band has only released their four song demo courtesty of No Idea Records, they have made quite an impression. Check out my review here of the demo 7-inch. The members play or have played in bands such as Latterman, Fellow Project, Con Amore, Slingshot Dakota, The Solidarity Pact, and Regarding I. For fans of pop-punk with a little post-hardcore action, Bridge And Tunnel is a must hear. Thanks to Jeff from B&T for answering some of my questions.

So, tell me how Bridge and Tunnel originally came together?

We were all friends before we started the band. Some of us had played together in bands before and for some of us it was the first time playing with one another. Pat and I had discussed doing a band together again and just kind of naturally asked Tia and Rachel to do it with us. I was really excited that everybody was into the idea. They are all really good at what they do and it makes things very easy for me.

Bridge and Tunnel seem to bring a more diverse sound to the table than your past bands. Was that a conscious decision for the band or something that just came naturally?

When I try and look at it from an outside perspective, the way we sound kind of makes sense to me, given the types of projects we have all been working on and our separate influences. We never really discussed much about what we wanted to sound like. We never tried to separate ourselves from the sounds of past bands or anything like that. It kind of just all came together this way.

There was always a sense of DIY/punk community/spirit in the members former bands. How important is it for that to continue on with Bridge and Tunnel?

I feel like DIY has become a very loaded term and people have very rigid definitions of what that means. There are certain parts of DIY that are fundamental parts of the way we operate, but I’m not sure that we would identify ourselves as a DIY band in the sense that many would use the term. The sense of community is something that is important to us as individuals, so subsequently it is important to our band I guess. Feeling like you belong to something is an invaluable feeling. When going to shows in people’s basements and being invited into people’s homes becomes commonplace in your life, it gets more difficult to recognize how truly incredible it is. People tend to take that shit for granted as it becomes their everyday frame of reference, but in the grand scheme of things, it is not common at all. It is something really unique that at least personally, I have not really encountered in doing anything else.

I know from being a Latterman fan that gentrification was a problem that they spoke about in a lot of their songs. And right off the bat with Bridge and Tunnel, “Location, Location, Location” keeps the theme going. I assume that it is a major issue in your neighborhoods.

It’s an issue in neighborhoods across the country. Gentrification is often rather difficult to discuss when you realize your own contribution to the problem and that’s one of the reasons we wrote the song. It is certainly not a problem that will be solved by a bunch of punk kids singing about it in a basement, but at least it is being discussed. I was struggling with different feelings on the topic and kind of feeling a little helpless. When you know that you are the kind renter that landlords want, it puts you in a weird position. When you know that you are at least in-part responsible for the potential displacement of other people, who you call your neighbors, it’s tough to come to terms with. I have yet to find a way to come to terms with it.

I imagine that a lot of us can identify with the lyrics to “Circles To Shreds.” Talk about the context of those lyrics and the genesis of that song.

That’s nice of you to say. I hope that people can identify with them. It seems that often times we all desire changes in our life that we aren’t really moving towards. We think about what it will take to make our lives better and consider the ways to make it happen, but instead of taking action, we just continue living our lives in the cycles that we have in the past. Sometimes you can only repeat the same mistakes so many times. We have the ability to inspire ourselves or to be inspired by the things going on around us, but even still, it can be difficult to pull yourself out of situations and use that inspiration positively.

The band’s sound seems to fit right in on No Idea. How did you hook up with the label?

We had recorded a demo before we had even played a show. In the fall of 2006 I think. We had actually only been a band for a short time. We sent one to Var from No Idea and he asked if we wanted to release the demo on 7-inch. We are really excited to work with No Idea. Dealing with No Idea is not like dealing with some shitty record label dudes who are asking you about “target markets” or some other equally stupid thing. They put out great bands and they run their label in a way that makes people feel comfortable. Considering the current climate that exists in independent music, it is really refreshing to see that.

What’s on the horizon (releases, touring) for the band in the near future?

We are leaving for a tour with our friends from the band Yo Man Go in a few days and we will also be doing our first full-length pretty soon.

Any last words?

Thanks a lot for the interview. We hope to see everyone soon.

Happy 4th of July!

The Gaslight Anthem are one of the more exciting bands I have come across this year. The band’s recently released debut album, Sink Or Swim, is damn good. I will have a tough time keeping it out of the SAL Top Ten of 2007 at the end of the year. Check out my review of Sink Or Swim here. Vocalist/guitarist Brian Fallon was kind enough to field some questions from SAL recently. The band is about to hit the road and never look back. You can check out their tour dates and some tunes at their Myspace page here.

Talk about how The Gaslight Anthem originally came together and the road you guys have traveled to get to your first release, Sink Or Swim.

We all came together out of the breakup of my last band, we all felt something had been missing in all our situations and we all wanted to get something together that everyone was stoked on and we wanted to take it as far as we could by touring and just having a good time. We had a rough time at first, we were on this label and they dropped us, and we basically started from zero, and we all decided hey man, last chance, sink or swim, and that’s where the title came from, Benny and I were talking one night and he just coined the phrase and it summed up our situation perfectly. So we wrote a bunch of songs they way we felt they should be according to that state of mind we were in, no producers, no outside ears, and we gave it to Jason from XOXO Records, who was the only one who believed in us when we were down and out, so we said, hey dude, let’s do this together. Put this thing out, we’ll tour our faces off, and if it sinks, well, we did our best and we’re satisfied, if it doesn’t well, rad.

I hear such a wide range of influences on the album and I can see the band appealing to a wide range of listeners as well. Yet, it all seems so natural when listening to Sink Or Swim. Talk about the band’s diversity.

The diversity is the heart of the sound of for us. I come from blues, soul, rock, and folk stuff, Benny is into a lot of hardcore, post punk, etc, Alex Rosamilia’s favorite band is the Cure, and Alex Levine loves the gritty post punk and metal. But we all delve into each others interests too, and we all are super into classic rock, all the big 70’s bands, Led Zeppelin, The Who, stuff like that. So it’s real easy, each guy just puts his own spin on it and we give it a kiss and send it into the live set. ha. Nobody gets stifled musically here.

While I definitely would not describe you guys as a folk/punk band the folk influence on your songwriting and storytelling lyrical style is certainly there. Talk about that.

I come from a lot of folk music, my mother was in a folk group when she was in college, and she taught me a lot about that kind of music, and the main thing is the story, you gotta tell it right and true. People don’t like to be talked at, I try to tell them something about my life each time, like the songs start and that’s an invitation to the table, like hey, put your feet up, grab some coffee, lend me your ear for a minute. I’m gonna tell you something and maybe you felt the same way and maybe we can figure out some secrets together.

There seems to be a constant theme in the band’s songs of being downtrodden but still hopeful. Where do you think that comes from?

I think we’re a pretty positive band, we try to look on the bright side. We have a great group of friends, and we pick each other up, it’s the way we know. Spare your fellow man a dime, you know? Plus, nobody likes a downer, the party just goes straight down that way and then nobody invites you back. Who wants that?

I saw Tim Barry of Avail perform solo earlier this year and he said something that I think will always stick with me. He stated the feeling his music puts out was what counted…not necessarily how it sounded. I get that same kind of ideal from The Gaslight Anthem. Thoughts?

You know it’s funny, I got so shook for so long about if everything sounded like us or if we had a “sound”, until I realized it has very little to do with chords and melody. You can’t fake it, everybody knows it when you do. You just gotta accept your influences and put your own spin on it and play what feels right. That’s it. You have to feel right in your own skin, musically.

“Red at Night” borrows the musical arrangement from Billy Bragg’s “Way Over Yonder” and you exchange your lyrics in place of his. What brought about that idea?

“Red At Night” is a tribute to the work Billy Bragg and Wilco did for Woody Guthrie, I’m a big Woody fan, and I remember Bob Dylan used to do all these traditional songs with his own spin on it, so I figured, I’m gonna pay homage to these dudes and put my own story over it. So I rewrote the lyrics, added some chords, took out some chords, but tried to keep it as close as possible without stealing the whole thing and covering the song, but still making it obvious as to where it came from. I wanted to take a stab at the old tradition of folk singers hearing each others songs and doing them their own way and molding them according to their own story. I want people to know where we’re coming from sometimes, maybe turn somebody on to something they didn’t know existed. But really it’s pure tribute to what I feel are my musical forefathers.

The Gaslight Anthem just got tapped to open for Against Me!…how did that happen? I imagine it will be a big step for the band.

Against Me, yea man, wow. We played a show back in February that Vice held in New York, it was a secret show, and we got to play with Against Me, and Tom told me after the show that he liked us and we should do more shows or a tour together, and I was like, “yea man sounds good.” I think I almost fainted, but I tried to keep it together. It might have been cause I loaned him a guitar chord that night, that might have been the deciding factor, I mean that’s a pretty nice thing to do, loan a brother a patch cable. A few weeks ago our booking agent called me while I was in a supermarket with my wife buying some ice cream and told us Against Me wanted to take us on tour. I ate ALL the ice cream that night, it was a celebration! Also, I’m going to allow myself 15 minutes to run around a scream like a girl one day on the tour. I think they should permit me that. It’s only right. I mean it’s crazy we’ve been listening to them forever and to have them ask us on tour is really a dream come true, plus Two Gallants are gonna be there, and that band rules with a mighty fist of rock and roll.

You guys seem to be getting a lot of hype and growing in popularity pretty fast. Does that worry you or does it have any effect on how the band goes about it’s business?

Well, now we take vitamins and call home more often. Other than that we try not to pay attention and have a good time. We’re all just really grateful and very excited with each step.

Any last words?

“Nobody Touches Chris Farren.”