Brian Fallon on his favourite albums, Bowie + TV

Brian Fallon favourite albums artists and television bowie stones

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Brian Fallon is best known for his work with The Gaslight Anthem. As the band’s lead singer, frontman and songwriter, Fallon was the creative drive and unique talent that propelled the band to stardom.

After over ten years with The Gaslight Anthem, Fallon has now decided to step away from his band to try his hand at solo work. Whilst the band has not officially terminated, the band’s indefinite hiatus has provided Fallon with the opportunity to focus on his own material, giving him the independent direction he was searching for.

His debut solo album, Painkillers, will be released on 11 March - and we could not be more excited. To see what makes him tick, we caught up with Fallon and discussed his favourite artists who shaped his own musical style and the records we always returns to, as well as his opinions on British TV.

On The Eagles: “The Eagles taught me how to write songs. I learned how to sing harmonies from them.”

On David Bowie: “He just blew everything out of the water. He was someone who I felt was much like Bob Dylan and Queen, in that I could never attain that sort of creativity. You can’t get that again. You don’t even want to emulate it. There are some artists that encourage you to emulate them, like Bruce Springsteen or The Clash. These guys encourage you to start your own band, whereas Bowie was untouchable. He blew my mind and made me want to put down my guitar. This guy is so creative, how can I even come close to that?”

On Elle King: “I really love that Elle King record, that’s the big one for me. It’s one of the best combinations of songwriter and pop music together. Those are my two favourite things – pop music and songwriting. She’s just killing it out there. Those songs are great. It’s kind of cool because it’s got this country vibe and I’m not even into country music.”

On classic records: “I love Highway 61 by Dylan and the first three Bruce records are great. I absorb that stuff like a sponge, I just love it.”

On The Rolling Stones: “I sit around listening to the Stones all the time. That’s my thing. My favourite album is Sticky Fingers. I could listen to that record all the way through. There are so many good songs on that record. Everything that the Stones are good at, they do on Sticky Fingers. There are ballads, ‘Brown Sugar’, ‘Sway’ and ‘Wild Horses’. ‘Sister Morphine' too, representing the weird songs. There’s so much on that record.”

“Either that, or my favourite album would be Some Girls. No one says Some Girls, but I think it was a phenomenal record because it’s got ‘Beast of Burden’ and ‘Respectable’ on it, and it’s so much edgier than people give it credit for. That record rips. They do ‘Just My Imagination’ and it’s so cool. I’ve always loved the cover art of those dudes dressed as women, they look terrible, but it’s amazing."

On TV: "I love Luther a lot. I get wrapped up in that show. I watch a lot of BBC shows like Sherlock. I grew up with American TV and it’s the same thing all the time. I know what’s going to happen before I even put it on. It’s not that great."