jeanne crump takes it to the hause…
2011 delivered some seriously good music, in my opinion, and one of the albums to shine through it all for me was Resolutions by Dave Hause. The album’s single (also titled “Resolutions”) was a hole-in-one, first-listen favorite. But, track after track on that album stood ground better than the next. From the ballad I hold dear, “Meet Me At The Lanes” (The Asbury Lanes is in my backyard and a venue I find myself at more than I’d like to disclose), to “Prague,” which was quickly on repeat, to the counter-culture anthem “Rankers and Rotters,” the album is composed of thoughtful, endlessly honest songwriting.
Dave Hause is best known for his career with Philadelphia-based band The Loved Ones, but has quickly etched his name in stone as a leading solo songwriter. He’s touring with Social Distortion, The Bouncing Souls and The Gaslight Anthem in 2012 alone. Need I say more?
In an attempt to bring Resolutions to the forefront of it all, Dave decided to release two original alternate-version tracks off the album separately in a series of 7” vinyls all on different labels. The “B” side contains two tracks covered by Hause from each label’s catalog. The first release was through Side One Dummy this past April on Record Store Day, beginning with tracks “Resolutions” and “Melanin.” Jade Tree then released “Heavy Heart” and “Rankers and Rotters” in May followed by “Pray for Tucson” and “Years From Now” on Bridge 9. The latest release was on Chunksaah which appropriately included “Meet Me At The Lanes” and “Time Will Tell.”
I recently had the chance to talk with Dave about the decision to do split 7” releases, his plans for the fall, and his thoughts on the punk-gone-acoustic genre I unintentionally dubbed him under (whoops.)
Pop-Break: I’d like to start off with getting some background on the idea for releasing 4 separate 7” vinyls on different labels for Resolutions. Was this your idea or did one of the labels come to you with the pitch?
Dave Hause: There is actually 5 releases. There is one coming out in September that we haven’t announced yet, we’re still getting to it.
PB: What label are you releasing it under? Are you allowed to announce that yet?
DH: It’s going to be released under Sabot Productions, the label that Against Me!’s tour manager and manager have run for years.
PB: So backtracking, how did the idea for these releases come to mind? Was it your idea or a label’s?
DH: No it was my idea. I was trying to get the songs worked up the way that I played them on the road and get them out to people because fans on the road had been asking me where they could get a version of the songs that I had played on tour and it got me thinking. The record label that put out Resolutions in the states didn’t really do much with it and it kind of caught fire by me working really hard and playing lots of shows so I thought I should attempt to release it in a cool new way. I started to call friends of mine at labels–and I said “wait a second, why don’t I just split this whole thing up as a 7” inch thing.” It was really one of those “ah ha” moments where you’re like oh fuck, that would be awesome.
I started to ask different people that I was interested in and got an immediate response. It took some time to put together, definitely took some effort, and we were able to get everything together so that the releases came out a month apart except this last one had one hiccup, but yea, it’s been really fun. It’s been really fun to rework the songs and rework the covers–we just went all over the map.
http://youtu.be/knOK39Ye69g
PB: Yeah, my next question was going to be regarding the cover songs you chose. I know they’re from each label’s catalog. Was there any selection process here or songs that have influenced you in some way?
DH: Not always songs that influenced me, but more of songs that I thought “wow that would be a challenge.” I mean, I like every single song that I covered for different reasons and I was pretty picky, like for instance with Side One Dummy they asked if I was going to cover a Chuck Ragan song and I said “no of course not” and they were like “why not, people want to hear that.” I told them I wanted to do something a little more outside the box. I just want to be clear from the perspective I’m coming from and that’s solely from songwriting and being a music lover. To me, doing something completely obvious with music you already get lumped in withwould be boring. I certainly want to challenge myself and the people who get on board.
PB: With all these releases, has there been one (and I hate to use the word favorite), but has there been a release that has meant more to you than another, whether it be the songs that you wrote or the label you worked with?
DH: Well with Chunksaah, they’re like a really close family, from working with Pete [Steinkopf] he produced Resolutions, and he hand-picked “Meet Me At the Lanes” and “Time Will Tell” for that 7”. So from my own perspective, that was the most significant because it was the first one made (it didn’t come out first as a release), but they’re like my family.
But as far as the covers go, the ones I think came out the best was the Jade Tree release just because the Jets to Brazil song I just think is such a well-written song and Jade Tree had such a high-quality, and again, it was one of those ones where it was difficult to pick songs because I wanted to stay away from the obvious like Kid Dynamite and wanted to do something that was deep in the songwriting tradition and I think with Jets to Brazil, Blake [Schwarzenbach] was hitting his stride as such an amazing songwriter, so much more so than with Jawbreaker, even though I love that band for so many other reasons. He was at the peak of his powers with perfecting his songwriting. And the same thing for The Promise Ring, the records they had on Jade Tree were just gems, just really, really terrific, awesome records. So I think those two songs turned out the best in the case of covers.
PB: Yeah, I actually thought your choice of covers was really great. I’m a huge fan of your album and I definitely think it was one of the best ones released last year. I didn’t get turned on to it until early 2012, and I kind of back-tracked with your music because I heard your solo album first and then started listening to The Loved Ones. Unfortunately I was just never exposed to it.
DH: Awesome, thank you. Well you’re definitely not alone–I think there are a couple factors– one being that a lot of the things we [The Loved Ones] did as a band were much more steep in the punk paradigm and some bands like The Gaslight Anthem and Frank Turner opened this other door that others have been trying to kick down, and we started to a little bit, like touring with The Hold Steady and The Weakerthans and by doing some more singer-songwriter oriented stuff, but we were more of a punk band. I think people that are into that punk with a songwriter hinge are like “oh shit, who is this guy?” It’s just a strange turn of events.
PB: That’s kind of what happened with me–I’m a huge fan of Frank Turner and I went from discovering one act to another in that genre that you’re in with the punk-gone-folk/acoustic acts such as Tim Barry and Frank Turner.
DH: I think you have to be really specific about the aesthetic–there is a difference between what a few of us are doing and the way we approach it, between that and what some of the other punk-gone-acoustic guys are doing, which is just taking their songs from their record and playing without their bands. It’s not as much of an artistic statement. I think it’s important to meet that delineation. What I’m attempting to do is different from what my band was doing and the punk-gone-acoustic thing sometimes sends a slight shiver down my spine.
PB: Haha, sorry. I won’t ever use that term again.
DH: Well there are people calling themselves that that are nothing of what I’m doing. I’m definitely trying to specify myself as a songwriter.
PB: Well, as for your touring, I know you’ll be all over Europe this fall right?
DH: Yeah, I’m actually doing two different tours. One is some festivals, then two weeks with the Souls and then some shows with Social Distortion. Then I’m coming back and doing a short comedian run with the Souls then I’m back to Europe with The Gaslight Anthem. Then the Revival Tour is going to Australia. So, I’m busy through the rest of the year. I’m trying to get some writing done between all of that but we’ll see.
PB: That’s all very exciting! Have you toured with Social Distortion before?
DH: No I haven’t actually. I’m friends with the guitar player and I’ve met the band and they’re all great. They’re a fan of Resolutions and know about the Loved Ones, but I haven’t gotten to play shows with them, it’s usually a scheduling thing, but I’m super excited. They’re one of my favorite bands.
PB: That’s awesome. You can’t go wrong touring with Social Distortion. I know you had said you were going to work on a new album. Is that going to be a solo album or are you planning on recording with The Loved Ones at all?
DH: I had plans to write with The Loved Ones and we all sat down and started to really talk about it and it seemed like the timing was better to do a solo record.
PB: Are there any possibilities of you doing shows with the band? Maybe a few one-offs?
DH: There is always a possibility but I’m pretty focused on what I’m doing right now.
PB: Awesome, well hopefully I’ll see you in Asbury for a show soon. Do you have any plans to make an appearance at the Lanes?
DH: Not as of now but hopefully I’ll make it through soon.
