The Gaslight Anthem Finish New Album, Plan World Tour

Shortly after the Gaslight Anthem released its most recent LP, ‘American Slang,’ in the summer of 2010, lead singer and guitarist Brian Fallon said he was already working on songs for the next record. It looks like he meant it: the band’s next album, reportedly titled ‘Handwritten,’ is finished, and they’re getting ready to mount a lengthy world tour to promote it. But first, they’ll preview the new material for a handful of lucky fans with an intimate Brooklyn show.

The show, scheduled for May 16 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, will double as a donation drive for Food Bank NYC, and will be one of only two scheduled U.S. performance until late June, when they’ll appear at the Orion Music & More Festival in Atlantic City, N.J. Tickets went on sale today (April 13) at noon. The other is a May 20 headlining set at the Bamboozle Festival in Asbury Park, N.J.

In between, they’ll hit the road for roughly a dozen European dates, beginning late May in Paris and ending June 17 in Finland. Later this summer, they’ll cross the Atlantic again for shows in Germany and the U.K., including appearances at the Leeds and Reading Festivals.

It’s an appropriately hectic schedule, given that the new album is the Anthem’s first release for a major label after a trio of well-reviewed indie LPs (2007′s ‘Sink or Swim,’ 2008′s ‘The ’59 Sound,’ and 2010′s ‘American Slang’). The band worked with in-demand rock producer Brendan O’Brien during the sessions, which took place earlier this year. Confirmed song titles for the album, for which no official release date has been announced, include ‘Here Comes My Man,’ ‘Too Much Blood,’ and ‘Biloxi Parish.’