So many of these blog posts open with a description of how I first found out about my interviewee. It wasn’t until I sat down to write this one that I realised how being able to pinpoint such instances of discovery might be an odd thing. Do people tend to remember the exact moment when they first discovered art that moved them?
One day in 2008, Build & Burn by The Loved Ones dropped through my letterbox. Back in those days, when I was running Daily Dischord, I’d get promo CDs through the door every day. We’d only started the site a year before, and to get sent something by a band on Fat Wreck was a pretty big deal for a raggedy punk like me. The sheer volume of stuff I’d get sent on a weekly basis not only made it difficult to listen to everything, but it quickly sapped my desire for listening to many of the records I received. Put simply, many of the albums and EPs just weren’t that good, and there’s only so many press releases you can read before you realise they’re all basically saying the same thing.
Fat Wreck Chords was a symbol of quality. It still is. I put Build & Burn into my CD player purely because it was a Fat Wreck release. I don’t even think I read the press release, I just put that disk in and hit play.
I fell in love with the band immediately. The lyrics, all reflections of love and loss in working class America, spoke to me straight away. This was years before I really got into Springsteen, and when I listen to Dave Hause now, I can see the influence. At the time though there was a heart, a truth to the music which hit me in the chest as soon as I’d heard it.
I think that I was primed to accept this music through The Gaslight Anthem, whose album Sink or Swim had me rapt in enthusiasm the previous year. There was a connection between those two bands which made me feel something real; not just tunefulness, but a truth and a sincerity. It was the way these songs chronicled the lives of strangers that struggled to be heard as they found themselves caught up in the mechanisations of blue-collar America which really got me. It held a power which spoke to me in some deep way.
It’s probably how people felt when they heard The Boss for the first time.
Dave’s career has gone from strength to strength since then. First, he embraced the more Americana, folksy, acoustic side of his music before expanding his scope, taking in those heartland rock vibes which seems to ooze from the pores of many of those involved in music from the Mid-Atlantic.
His new album Bury Me in Philly seems to be the final piece of the puzzle which connects Dave Hause, frontman of The Loved Ones, with Dave Hause, the acoustic, alt-rock troubadour. It also adds many other strings to his fantastic songwriting bow.
I’ve been a fan of his music for years and it was a total honour to chat with him. He’s one of the nicest dudes I’ve met in a long time.
I hope you enjoy this interview.

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