Dave Hause

I remember sitting in the basement of the Brixx Bar and Grill on a Thursday night over a year ago waiting for two local bands to play. I sat with some friends eating tacos and talking music and I brought upDave Hause‘s solo material. I had only heard a few songs at that time, but I was in love and was gushing over the songs, highly recommending that my friends check them out. This was Thursday night, on Monday morning I got a message from a friend who had seen The Flatliners play the night before in Calgary. Joining them on stage that night was Dave Hause who happened to be in town on a solo tour. It turned out that after I had gushed about Hause on Thursday, he actually made his way to Edmonton a few days later on the Saturday but I missed it. It was short notice and little build up and I missed it. I was heart broken.

It’s been a year and a half since then and in that time I finally had the chance to hear more solo material in the form of Hause‘s debut solo record,Resolutions and – more importantly – I’ll have the chance to finally see him live in a few days as he once again comes through Edmonton with Tony Sly and Mikey Erg. After a few scheduling conflicts, Dave answered a few questions for me over e-mail in anticipation of the tour.

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You’re about to kick off this Western Canadian tour with Tony Sly and Mikey Erg – are you pumped?

I am. I’m really excited. It’s one of my favorite places to play in the world. It’s so beautiful and the people are so fun and kind. 

Last time you came through Edmonton was last April, I missed it because it was such a last minute thing that I only found out that you were here two days after you played. Are you glad you were able to have more time to get the word out this time?

Oh yeah. This time I have a record out, I’m on a tour with Tony who has a record out, and there has been lead time, so I’m hoping the shows will be busy and fun. That said, the spring run last year went really well, especially on short notice. 

Of course, this tour is with Mikey Erg – are you going to keep him in check and make sure he doesn’t get any more pubic intoxication arrests on his record?

He’s his own man, and the idea of me keeping anyone in check is laughable. We’ll have a good old time. 

After this six date Western Canadian tour, you’re heading out East with Chuck Ragan – wouldn’t it have been easier to have all four guys do the full Canadian tour together?

That was the original idea but Chuck needed some time off and was wanting it to be a Revival Tour if it’s cross-Canadian, and it just didn’t quite work out for multiple reasons. When Chuck bailed on western Canada, Tony and I decided to do the tour anyway and I’m happy we did. 

Is this going to be the closest thing us Western Canadian people get to the Revival tour?

No. Chuck says he intends to do a cross-Canadian Revival Tour in the future, so look for that. 

The Revival tour sees all the performers joining one another on stage for one big celebration – do you think that atmosphere and sense of community is essential is kind of what punk is all about?

Not necessarily, no. I think the way he’s structured that tour is more about how music is played in more rural, less performance based situations. I have friends who play bluegrass in northern PA and their whole thing is just singing by a fire all night, and the music isn’t being performed so much as shared and enjoyed. I think that’s more the desired effect, and it’s amazing. I’m not sure it has anything to do with punk per se. I’ve never thought about it though. 

The Revival tour is a combination of punk performers who all strip down to the bare necessities and play acoustically. Why do you think there is such a big trend for punk singers to go acoustically? 

Well the punk thing is probably where it gets confused. Chuck wants to have the Revival Tour be an acoustic, collaborative evening of music. The reason so many punk singers have done it is because he generally knows more punk guys due to his many years of service in Hot Water Music. He has, however, had all kinds of singer-songwriters, bluegrass folks, etc on it too and I think as it grows and expands, you’ll see more and more diversity in the performers. 

What, personally, made you try the solo route?

I wrote a batch of songs that didn’t feel like the 3rd Loved Ones record, so I put them out on my own. I felt they were more well suited to be recorded and performed as a singer/songwriter as opposed to a loud rock band. 

The first time I heard a solo song from you was C’Mon Kid from the Revival Tour 2009 compilation – that was two years ago. What took so long to get the finished album out? 

That was the end of 2009 and Resolutions came out in Feb, so it was only a little over a year. Plus the record has been done for a while, it just took time to have it come out. 

Speaking about the Revival Tour compilation – you left a somewhat cryptic message on Twitter saying that you and Pete from the Souls were recording vocals for a Chuck Ragan song for the new compilation – any details on that? 

There is going to be Revival Tour compilation CD/vinyl for the fall dates in UK/Europe, and Dan Andriano and I both sang on an a capella song Chuck recorded. I just heard the mix and it gave me chills. I did my best Chris Cornell impression, I took the high harmony. 

As I said, a lot of punk guys lately have been stripping down the music and going acoustically – you, however, went a different route with Resolutions and added a lot of added instrumentation. Why did you decide to do that? 

I wanted the songs to sound the way on the record that they did in my head. I like songs that can be interpreted many different ways and retain their essence based on melody and lyrics. That’s why performing them on an acoustic guitar works as well as with a band. Ultimately that decision of which way to play them on a night to night basis then is decided by logistics, like whether I can afford a band, etc. In Canada, I don’t know a band so I come play songs on my guitar. Closer to home I had percussion, piano, guitar, bass, etc. In California my buddy Mitch comes out and plays lap steel, guitar, mandolin, etc. So it’s this organic, ever-changing thing. 

The added instrumentation really adds something to a lot of the songs – pushing them that step further.  Drumming and piano on Meet Me At The Lanes, lap steel on Pray for Tucson, piano on Time Will Tell. But then others, like Rankers & Rotters, kind of have a full blown Loved Ones vibe to it – how did you balance the two? Keeping it a solo album yet adding more than just the acoustic?

Song by song, Pete and I made the decisions to go in whatever direction the song sounded best in. Many of the songs we had even more tracks for and edited stuff out, some we rehearsed bare bones and they needed more, it was just playing whatever sounded best. 

I want to talk videos for a bit. Time Will Tell, your first video was directed by None More Black’s Jason Shevchuk – what made you get him to direct?

Jason is one of those guys that is good at just about everything he touches. He directed The Loved Ones’ first video in 2005 for 100k, as well as our video for Jane. I emailed him the idea and he said “sure thing, sounds fun. We’ll bang it out in 2 hours”. It was really fun and easy, he’s an old friend and a super talent. 

The video is also a remake of Martin Scorsese’s student film, “The Big Shave” – was it your idea to do that or Jason’s?

Mine. 

Why that film?

I thought I wanted to be a film maker when I went to college, and I quit after 2 semesters, after realizing I like to watch movies a lot more than to make them. I saw The Big Shave in film school and it blew me away. It’s a protest film against the Vietnam War, and we’re still embroiled in 2 wars almost 40 years later. The idea to have the video be a homage works as a protest and works visually with Time Will Tell’s general vibe, I’m really happy with how it came out. 

You mentioned on your site that your sister Sarah didn’t like you covered in fake blood – have other people been turned off from the amount of blood?

Some, yeah. Its gruesome, but that’s kind of the point. 

You also star in the new Gaslight video for Bring It On – how’d that come about?

Brian asked me to do it and I said “sure”. 

One quick Loved Ones question – when you played the Stone Pony back in February, you debuted a new song. Any word on a new album?

I’m almost done writing it. I’d like to record it this year and release it early next year, then tour it like crazy. 

Thanks!

Thanks for the interview and all the support.