THE LOVED ONES
Dave Hause is the lead singer and guitarist for the melodic punk band THE LOVED ONES. Formed after Hause’s departure from hardcore powerhouse PAINT IT BLACK, THE LOVED ONES kept the guitars loud and angry, while trading in the brutal yelling that dominated his previous band for catchy melodies. But despite the Fat Wreck Chord band’s adoration of energetic, hard-edged pop-punk, Hause’s problems don’t sound like woes out of a SEX PISTOLS’ biography. Hause doesn’t seem to be worried about dying of a heroin overdose or bringing down a corrupt system of government, anxieties we in the general public imagine all punk rockers must obsess over. His stresses are less nihilistic and more blue collar, like making his mortgage payments and completing paperwork for his carpentry company while on tour. But when listening to THE LOVED ONES, the fact that Hause is a very regular dude does not detract from their music. If anything it, it enhances it. With a traditional country melody slabbed over distorted guitars, the song “Louisiana,” off the band’s last record Build & Burn, sounds just as influenced by working class hero BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN as it does by NOFX and JAWBREAKER. Hause is down-to-earth and has worked hard to acquire the success THE LOVED ONES have achieved, including recording and releasing two full-lengths and two EP’s over just a five year period. This interview happened on March 19th, and considering the respect I have for THE LOVED ONES music and work ethic, conducting it was a pleasant and interesting experience for me.
Pastepunk: Why don’t you start by telling me about your new EP Distractions…
Dave Hause: We put that out last month. It is sort of like an odds and sods release. There are some tracks that we had from the first two records that didn’t end up on those albums. We had a couple covers from those sessions too and we wanted to get a release out to tide people over for the next full-length. Once we listened to the tracks, we felt like they were pretty compelling and so we put them onto another release to get them out there.
Pastepunk: Is that hence the title Distractions, like tiding people over till the next full-length?
Dave: Yeah, that’s kind of the idea. It’s not really meant to be a full body of work per se. Just little odds and ends that were floating around that we wanted to get out. The intention isn’t the same as a full-length album.
Pastepunk: What do you hope with an EP like that, especially when you’re selling records and stuff. Are you expected to get new fans through this or just hoping to tide over the old ones?
Dave: It was more the latter I would say. Ultimately, I think it is not really a release that is going to get the same amount of attention from a record label, or even in terms of touring. We’re not going to tour on it. We’re writing the next full-length now, so… Probably more for collectors and just a cool thing to get out there.
Pastepunk: This is the band, I would say, where you first gained mainstream popularity. Do people ever mistake that, not knowing your history, for flash in the pan success?
Dave: I guess I don’t quite understand. Are you asking if people mistake our success for a flash in the pan?
Pastepunk: If people don’t know your history or your band-mates history. That you’ve worked hard to get to where you are, and they see THE LOVED ONES really popular, and wonder, ‘Did they just get really popular without putting work in?’
Dave: I think that any popularity that we’ve achieved, which I think is somewhat limited… we’re still a relatively unknown band I would think. I think people can tell that we mean it and that we do work hard. We don’t usually get too much of that kind of criticism. I think that people who are aware of the band, even if they don’t necessarily like the band, I think they’re aware of the fact that we do go out and tour, and we do put a lot of effort into our releases. I think we keep a relatively regular release schedule. We’ve been a band for five years and we’ve got two EPs and two full-lengths. I think it’s a pretty good amount of output.
Pastepunk: What do you have lined up? Are you guys are on tour right now?
Dave: No, we’re not on tour. We go out on tour with THE BOUNCING SOULS in about a month’s time. I have a couple of solo acoustic shows. We’re writing a record. We’re all doing different things as well in addition to that. I’m working on a project. It’s a band that two of the guys from THE HOLD STEADY and two of the guys from THE BOUNCING SOULS, and I are doing.
Pastepunk: Who are the members of THE HOLD STEADY and THE BOUNCING SOULS?
Dave: Tad from THE HOLD STEADY plays guitar and Bobby plays the drums. Pete and Brian from THE BOUNCING SOULS plays guitar and bass. I’m singing for that band. So we’ve been writing stuff for that and I’ve been writing a solo album; writing a LOVED ONES record with the guys. Just keeping pretty busy.
Pastepunk: That sounds like a full-plate.
Dave: Yeah, for sure. I always like to stay busy and I feel blessed to be able to make music with all these people, so I want to take the opportunities when they come, you know?
Pastepunk: What kind of music are you guys playing in the band with the guys from THE HOLD STEADY and THE BOUNCING SOULS? What’s the direction of that project?
Dave: So far it’s a more along the line of straight rock n’ roll then say what the Souls or THE LOVED ONES are used to. Maybe just a little bit rougher edged then what THE HOLD STEADY are doing. I don’t know. It’s hard to say. We’re still writing material, so…
Pastepunk: How did that whole thing come together?
Dave: Well, The Souls and THE HOLD STEADY became friends and decided to try and do this in their other bands’ off time. They wanted a musical outlet and they thought it would be cool to do it together. I guess they had a couple rehearsals, or a couple writing practices, and decided they wanted to have a singer. So I got a call asking if I wanted to do it. I’ve been friends with The Souls for ten years and THE HOLD STEADY for a shorter while, but we certainly made a quick friendship in this past year. It’s been fun so far.
Pastepunk: Do you guys have a name for that project?
Dave: Yeah, it’s called THE ROADSIDE PROPHETS.
Pastepunk: When can people expect material from that?
Dave: I guess when all of us busy guys get around to getting enough practices to write a whole release worth of songs.
Pastepunk: Do you guys all live pretty far away from each other?
Dave: The Souls guys live in Asbury Park, or near Asbury Park, and THE HOLD STEADY guys live in Brooklyn. I live right outside Philly. We’re all within about ninety miles of each other. It’s not the end of the world to get together. It’s more of a scheduling issue because everyone is busy with their other bands.
Pastepunk: Yeah, I mean, you’ve got the new LOVED ONES record going, which I imagine is quite a time taker. What phase of the record are you at with the new one?
Dave: I would say we are nearing the half-way point of having it written. We haven’t been at it very long and we have a ton of songs, so… It’s going well. It’s been fun. Everyone’s got song ideas and stuff to bring to the table. It’s been really a good time.
Pastepunk: How has the writing process changed since your first LP Keep Your Heart?
Dave: It’s more collaborative. Everyone has a bigger role in terms of the writing. Dave and Chris write songs themselves. They’re very willing and welcome any kind of changes and ideas that I have for them. I’m sort of the same with them. I like the way they write and appreciate their input on the songs that I bring to the table. Its just changed in terms of it being more collaborative.
Pastepunk: What is the direction of this material? What is the music sounding like?
Dave: I’d say it is a little bit edgier than the last record. A little bit, yeah. It’s hard to say. It’s still kind of all over the place in terms of the different songs.
Pastepunk: You’re only half-way, so I imagine a lot of that stuff comes when you put it all together at the end.
Dave: Yeah, once we decide which songs we want to release on the album I’ll have a better idea, but it seems a little bit edgier than the last record.
Pastepunk: Like a little harder?
Dave: A little bit, yeah.
Pastepunk: I read a really interesting interview where you were talking about how much you enjoyed country, blues, and rock n’ roll. I was listening to the song “Louisiana” the other day and to me it sounded like a punk rock redux of a country song. Are more of those influences going to be expressed through LOVED ONE’S songs in the future?
Dave: Yeah, I would think so, but to some degree that’s why I’m taking the liberty to do this solo record. I can explore stuff without it changing… like, without this drastic change in THE LOVED ONES. I think those elements have always been in THE LOVED ONES’ music, but in that setting, it is a little bit more high-octane; closer to the punk rock side of things, which I like. To me, I’m finding that it’s important to have multiple outlets for music, as a person who is creative. If you have a couple different outlets, you kind of can run the gamut of what you’re able to do. But it’s hard to say what the record is going to end up sounding like. I mean, I guess listening back at the last record, I probably wouldn’t have figured it to be that way when we were setting out to make it. It all kind of changes as time goes on and sometimes can change pretty rapidly.
Pastepunk: Like you go in thinking you’re making this kind of record, then all of a sudden, at the end something surprises you?
Dave: I think it’s more in the writing of the record when all that stuff happens. I mean, once the songs are together and you go in to actually make it, it’s pretty clear what the record is going to be. At least it has been to me. I’d say it’s more during the writing process where it is sort of like anything goes. You sort of have to run down every little rabbit hole that the writing process takes you on, you know? Pursue that idea until you know where it is going to take you.
Pastepunk: So you guys write songs before hand and then bring them to the table and jam on them?
Dave: For the most part. There are songs that start with much more of a primitive idea in the jam space and they get fleshed out right then and there amongst us. That happens a little bit less frequently than one of us bringing a pretty solid idea of what a song is going to sound like and then we all work on it, and put our little flares on it. I would say typically, with any given song, we have a primary song writer and then everyone adds to that idea. And then sometimes you’ll have a situation where it’s a complete co-write, where were just contributing to an idea that is sort of happening on the spot.
Pastepunk: Why don’t you tell me a little bit more about the solo stuff you’ve got going. Do you have some shows coming up for that?
Dave: Yeah, I have two shows in Philly and one in Richmond. That’s gonna be interesting. I’ve done some LOVED ONES acoustic stuff, but typically that’s not just me. Spider (the band’s former bassist) used to play bass sometimes, and certainly with Dave and Chris in the band, they both were excellent guitar players. So there has always been accompaniment, but this time it’s just gonna be me. I dunno. I guess the idea behind it is just take complete control of the writing process, and like I said, to flesh out ideas that just don’t quite seem to fit in with the aesthetics of THE LOVED ONES. But I mean, those little oddities and those things that don’t seem to fit are not necessarily anything anyone else would even notice. I think that people who are familiar with my style of writing might say, ‘Wow, his solo stuff just sounds like THE LOVED ONES.’ But again, I think that the whole purpose of all this is just to express yourself with music and try to make it a constant part of your life. We got to the end of 2008 and our drummer Mike was sort of uncertain as to what his touring future was going to be. We had to cancel a tour with THE DROPKICK MURPHYS. It was unfortunate and it sort of put us in this strange position. Like, ‘Ok, well we want to go on with Mike, but we don’t know if he can tour.’ I sort of just said to myself, I’m not going to wait around. I’m going to keep writing and we’ll see what happens. Ultimately he ironed out his issues and we will be able to tour, and we are writing a record. I think it just dawned on me that you don’t just have to play together. We can do other things and be creative with other people. We have so many great friends who are amazing musicians. Why not play music together instead of just drinking.
Pastepunk: So you were saying that some fans might just think these sound like acoustic LOVED ONES songs. Do you really think that, or do you think there probably is a lot of country and blues that’s going to come out that wasn’t able to surface through THE LOVED ONES?
Dave: I mean, I would hope… I just kind of write and what ever comes out, comes out. I’m trying not to think too much about that, but I guess with having various outlets, you have to pick and choose what goes where. I’m trying to think about it more based on the songs, like trying to group the songs appropriately. If I have a high octane rock n’ roll song, it makes more sense to do that with THE LOVED ONES; we have a great rock n’ roll drummer and our shows are known to be fun and high energy. It would make more sense to do a song like that with THE LOVED ONES. Where as, with the solo thing, I’m sort of writing the rules as I go. I dunno. There’s no hard, fast rule to it. It’s more trying to figure out how the songs end up, and then grouping them together so you have a cohesive bunch of songs.
Pastepunk: I read that you also have a small carpentry business. Is that still true?
Dave: Yeah, that’s true.
Pastepunk: Man, that’s a lot. So you have three bands that you’re in and you’re a business owner?
Dave: Yeah. Pretty much man. That’s about it.
Pastepunk: That sounds exhausting.
Dave: Yeah, but you know, again I feel blessed to have all these opportunities, and I get to work around a lot of great people doing a lot of great things.
Pastepunk: It’s like all these great opportunities are coming up, how can you turn them down?
Dave: Kind of, yeah. I think that at the end of the day, I have to work to support my lifestyle. I’m married, I have a house and stuff, so I need to work. I need to have income. But as far as the music thing goes… I mean look, it’s just fun. It doesn’t feel exhausting. I mean sometimes it does; the late nights or the many different practices, the running around. But at the end of the day it’s fun. It’s an enjoyable experience.
Pastepunk: So it’s not exhausting in that sense. Sometimes it gets tiring, but it’s never something that you feel, at least creatively, drained from?
Dave: Right, at least I haven’t yet. We’ll see how it goes. THE ROADSIDE PROPHETS are sort of a new thing and it’s low stress. The whole thing is up to me to decide how much time or effort I want to put into it. It doesn’t feel that exhausting at this point. There are a lot of different possibilities and they are a lot of fun.
Pastepunk: What do you do in the carpentry business? What is your role in that?
Dave: Well, it’s me and a partner who own the business; it’s a remodeling, building, and general contracting business. When I’m on tour, I’m handling a lot of the paper work and the billing, and invoicing. All that stuff. When I’m home, I’m doing that stuff as well, and working in the field as much as necessary. It works out pretty well with my partner. We have a pretty good system.
Pastepunk: Are you actually doing some of the hands on work yourself?
Dave: Yeah when I’m home, sure.
Pastepunk: With Obama in office do you think you’ll be getting tax breaks being that you’re a small business owner?
Dave: That’s what I’m hearing. I’m not sure. Ultimately, if I can make my mortgage payment, I’m happy. I’m not necessarily in the carpentry business to make a mint. Again, it’s just a way for me to make some money and allow me to hold down my mortgage. I’m more excited about the Obama presidency for many other different reasons. If we get a tax break, it’s an added bonus. I’m just excited we have someone who is not a mental midget running the country. An understanding person who uses diplomacy and is willing to sit down with other people and try to see their perspective and share his.
Pastepunk: What can LOVED ONES fans look out for in the next few months?
Dave: We’ve got the east coast tour with the Souls. Trying to get out to England this summer, but for now we’re laying low. I’ll be doing some more solo shows I think. We’re just taking it as it comes because we’re more focused on writing a record than anything else. We were super busy in 2008 and we’ll probably get really busy by the end of this year. For now we’re just writing and stuff.
- Photo by K. Maroon, via Fatwreck.com
