When The Gaslight Anthem last rolled through Los Angeles during their tour with Rise Against, singer Brian Fallon and drummer Benny Horowitz stopped by our sister station for a chat and acoustic performance of their single “45.”

In addition to discussing Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and his recent “meltdown,” the two also touched on what their recording process is like. “We’re one of those bands that actually writes songs together,” explained Fallon. “There’s always songs being written.”

Horowitz added, “I think the bands who think that their window is always going to stay open are kinda stupid. Sometimes you only get a limited time to get your songs out there to the world. Who knows when the hell that’s gonna stop.”

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Then to lighten the mood, the two were asked about the most ridiculous request they’ve ever put on their tour rider. A rider is basically a list of demands from the venue or show producer. The answer wasn’t what you’d expect.

“One time we put a gorilla suit on the rider, but it was for our friend that was out with us. We were opening for the Foo Fighters in Spain and there was about 16,000 people. It was just like, ‘What would be the funniest thing we could possibly do to take the lightheartedness and put it into this situation?,’ which is daunting, ya know, to open up for the Foo Fighters first of all and then in front of 16,000 Spanish people who don’t know your band,” said Fallon. “So we made our friend come out to ‘Fight For Your Right To Party’ by the Beastie Boys, dressed in a gorilla suit, hammered drunk.”

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Horowitz chimed in, “There’s nothing better to break the ice than putting a short Italian guy in a gorilla suit.”

- Cody Black, KROQ-FM Los Angeles