Ice Cream Gracies: Road Snacks with Alex Levine from Gaslight Anthem

If you don’t already get the Gracie’s Ice Cream newsletter you’re missing out on more than ice cream. We have partnered up to feature Gracie’s interviews with touring musicians. as they pass through Boston Road Snacks is a snapshot in time (right now) and of place (Boston and environs). It is a semi-regular interview series between an ice cream shop and a touring artist discussing the underreported world of eating while traveling around playing music. 

You can get the interviews and ice cream updates in your inbox here and you can get your ticket to see The Gaslight Anthem here.

The Gaslight Anthem song I (Leah) have on repeat lately is Little Fires . Gracie’s song od the week is History Books.

Road Snacks is a semi-regular interview series between an ice cream shop and a touring artist discussing the underreported world of eating while traveling around playing music. This week, I spoke with Alex Levine, the bass player for Gaslight Anthem, a punk band from New Jersey. Their new Album History Books was released earlier this year and they’re playing at MGM Fenway on Sunday the 18th. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Read Road Snacks #1 with Cary Anne Hearst/Shovels n Ropeand #2 with Jack Van Cleaf. Pic by @benn.kobra

Gracie’s Ice Cream: Y’all are out on the road now, right?

Alex Levine: Yeah, we have the day off in Virginia right now. Heading to Jersey, back home tomorrow for the night.

Gracie’s: Are you originally from Jersey?

Alex: Yeah, we’re from New Jersey.

Gracie’s: So, you’re on a bus now, does that make it difficult to stop for snacks when the mood strikes? 

Alex: It’s nice getting to the point where we have busses now and every rock and roll show, there’s a rider. So there’s a lot of things that we put on there to mimic being home, like a rotisserie chicken, hot sauces, hot honey, and different seasonings. We get creative with it. I was a cook at a pizzeria for many years when I was a kid, so I’ve always loved cooking. It’s been a passion of mine. I try to keep it interesting.

Gracie’s: It takes skill to make anything you eat all the time taste different, new, or exciting. Maybe that’s where the hot honey comes in. What’s on the rider that’s like, ‘this is just Alex’s thing.’

Alex: Let’s see, we’ve got the hot honey, rotisserie chicken, caesar salad kits. I’m really into cheeses. We’ve got a smoked gouda, pepperoni, and olives. We make a little charcuterie board.

Gracie’s: That’s a good way to live. What do you miss from home? I’m sure there’s something that you can’t get on the bus?

Alex: Breakfast is tough for sure. Just having fresh eggs. Over the years we’ve attempted to have hot plates, but it becomes such a pain in the ass, carrying them around, cleaning and all that. Everything’s so small on a bus. But yeah, I would say I miss classic eggs, good morning foods.

Gracie’s: That makes sense. I was a tour manager a long time ago, and we brought blenders around so we could make smoothies in the morning, but we went through a billion blender cups because they kept smashing.

Alex: I drink a lot of protein shakes too. I just moved back to the shaker because the blender is such a pain.

Gracie’s: For your egg sandwich, how are you preparing that?

Alex: OK, egg sandwich. You go classic Jersey. Pork roll, egg, American cheese, New Jersey Kaiser roll, salt, pepper, ketchup, and hot sauce as well. 

Gracie’s: Yeah, that’s good. You can maybe approximate that in some places if you’re near a diner right?

Alex: Well, you can only really get pork roll in New Jersey. That’s what I’m excited about tomorrow morning.

Gracie’s: We’ve been talking about good eating on the road, but do you remember the worst meal you ever had?

Alex: Oh yeah, I’ve got a great story about that, actually. Well, side note, just pizza. Pizza is the worst, because you’re gonna get, you know, all sorts of different variations of it.

Gracie’s: And you’ve made it professionally, so…

Alex: Exactly. But the story is my first European tour was a DIY squat tour. We’re playing squat houses all throughout Europe, basically abandoned buildings a bunch of punk rockers took over, and they put on shows and also lived there. Part of that, obviously, is we get paid in food and brews. There’s usually a communal meal, which that day was a vegan goulash cabbage soup or something. Point being is they put a lot of curry in it, and I took a bite of it and it was all right, like, ‘Okay, this is fine.’ And I took another two or three bites, and I bit down on something, I thought it was cabbage, and a giant clump of curry powder exploded in my mouth. I just immediately started throwing up. Since then, it’s a bummer I can’t eat anything like that, Indian food anything predominantly curry. I just can’t do it anymore. It sucks for me.

Gracie’s: I have kind of an opposite story about a communal meal where it was pasta prima vera from someone’s garden and I didn’t like prima vera when I was younger, but it was a perfect meal I still remember. The only vegetables I ate that tour. 

Alex: That’s a tough thing too, right? You find yourself in a lot of gas stations and fast food joints. It gets pretty unhealthy, pretty quickly.

Gracie’s: Especially when you’re not 22 anymore, but if you are at the gas station, it’s a five hour ride to the next city. What’s the snacky treat you’re going for?

Alex: Oh, man, I would say Pop Tarts. I love pop tarts. Straight junk food Pop Tarts, or like Ben and Jerry’s. And I always get beef jerky.

Gracie’s: For the protein, right.

Alex: Yep.

Gracie’s: That’s solid. A beef jerky and Pop Tart sandwich. You must have been through Boston several times by now. Do you have any memorable meals from Boston?

Alex: Yeah, for sure, man, Boston is like a second home for me. I own a bunch of barber shops, a company called Idle Hand Collective. We do pop up barber shops backstage at music festivals, with a couple brick and mortar shops in Jersey and San Diego. My business partner is from Boston. He owns Bostonian Barber Shops as well. He’s got one by Fenway Park so I’m always up there and we’re always hitting different places. But yeah, around Fenway, what’s that burger spot?

Gracie’s: Tasty burger.

Alex: That’s it! I love that place. When we’re going to Boston, that’s always what I think about.

Gracie’s: They’re great. From 2010 to like 2014, if you had asked me the best food item on a Boston menu, I would have said the Tasty Burger chicken nuggets, but it was always a crisis because I’d go and want the Tasty Burger, but the chicken nuggets are right there, and then I’d end up with both of them.

Alex: So that’s my key to staying in shape is, if you go that route, stay away from the fries, even though chicken nuggets are fried too. But that’s a good protein. Always do burger and chicken nuggets over burger and fries. 

Gracie’s: That’s a good tip. You know you’re talking to an ice cream shop right now. Do you ever get ice cream on the road? What’s your favorite flavor? 

Alex: Dude, I’m the biggest ice cream fan. My go to ice cream is classic cookie dough, okay, but I’ll mess with anything really. My death row ice cream is hot fudge on cookie dough with crushed toffee on top.

Gracie’s: Do you have a spot for that back home in Jersey? 

Alex: There’s not the greatest ice cream spots around me, to be honest with you. Probably Ben & Jerry’s. Big Ben Jerry’s guy. 

Gracie’s: Makes sense they’re a classic. It’s hard to mess up ice cream because it’s sugar, milk and cream.

Alex: People do it, though.

Gracie’s: Last question. Is there any place around the country that you look forward to stopping. Any cities or venues where the food is especially good? 

Alex: I would say my favorite would be Chicago. Chicago just has a wide variety of incredible spots to choose from. We usually hit The Billy Goat and get the classic Cheeseburger Cheeseburger thing from Saturday Night Live. It’s probably one of the best burgers around. And then, yeah, and then a deep dish. There’s a bunch of different spots there, Giodano’s and Pequod. But yeah Chicago would probably be my top city to hit.

Gracie’s: Well, that’s all I’ve got. I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me. 

Alex: Alright, thank you, brother.

On tour in Boston tips from Leah

I know you are all stopping in Jersey first, so the craving may be gone. Boston did have a few spots serving up pork roll over the years, but it seems that only one remains.

There is the Jersey Shore from Better Bagels in Boston’s Seaport, which is described on the menu as: Pork Roll, Egg, and Cheese, Exotic Breakfast Meat from NJ (served on your choice of bagel.

NJ transplants if you have found other spots for Taylor Ham or pork roll (I know they’re different but can’t figure out which one reigns supreme in the mouths of hungry nostalgic New Jerseyans.) Let us know.