“Super group” might be a cliché, but The Falcon is a punk-rock heavy hitter, with members of The Lawrence Arms, Alkaline Trio and The Loved Ones. Brendan Kelly talked to us about the project’s new record, Gather Up the Chaps, and its first tour, which stops at the Smiling Moose Tuesday.
Is release day as exciting as it was earlier in your career?
With this record, it didn’t leak because we were careful with it. We’re not Kanye. There aren’t secret agents trying to get to The Falcon record [laughs]. … But this [release], for that reason, is a little more exciting. … This is a record that people have been waiting for for a really long time.
With this tour, did you choose to play smaller spaces?
Number one: This is our first tour and I don’t know who the fuck we think we are [laughs]. … Your band’s first tour, you should go out and you should play small-band rooms. … Number two: We don’t know for a fact that anybody is coming to these shows [laughs]. … It’s better to err on the side of caution, which leads me to number three. … This is … a sweaty rock ’n’ roll band and that intimate setting really conveys the vibe that we want to do with the project.
You turn 40 this year. What have you learned?
Be cool to everyone. … Be nice to that shitty second guitar player in the first band of four, because that guy’s gonna start Gaslight Anthem someday [laughs].
