Like fellow punk-minded performers Brian Fallon, Jesse Malin and Butch Walker, songwriter Dave Hause has become expert at melding introspective, often edgy, Americana lyricism with the most irresistible of pop-rock hooks. The Philadelphia native, and onetime leader of punk outfit the Loved Ones, further hones his craft on the new album Kick, the follow-up to 2017s Bury Me in Philly.
Hause announces the LP, due April 12th release, with the cathartic new song The Ditch. Written by Hause and his brother/bandmate Tim Hause, the track is a guitar-fueled rager that seeks to excise the demons of anxiety brought on through genetics or even political trauma. If I cant make it out of this ditch/I better make a home of it, sings Hause.
My brother has become a songwriting juggernaut. When he came up with the chorus, I stopped in my tracks. If theres ever been a lyric that has paralleled mental illness with the sociopolitical climate, it was that. If you cant change the circumstances around you, sometimes the only thing left to do is to try to make a home out of the wreckage, says Hause, who repeats shake, shake, shake over and over in the songs refrain.
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If all you do is shake in fear and you can find someone else who is maybe willing to do that with you, theres a beauty in that struggle, he says.
Kick also takes its title from a lyric in The Ditch: If you hold me close and lock the door/we could kick against the current and hope we find a shore.
Hause will embark on a mini-tour of the U.S. in late March in support of the album, including a pair of sold-out gigs in his native Philly, before heading to Europe in April.
Kick is available for pre-order now.
Here are Dave Hauses tour dates:
March 29 Los Angeles @ The Redwood Bar
March 30 San Francisco @ Thee Parkside
April 3 Philadelphia @ Boot & Saddle
April 4 Philadelphia @ Boot & Saddle
April 5 Boston @ Great Scott
April 11 Minneapolis @ 7th Street Entry
April 12 Chicago @ GMAN
April 13 Chicago @ GMAN
April 14 Toronto @ Dakota
April 15 Toronto @ Dakota
April 24 New York @ Rough Trade
April 27 Hasselt, BE @ Groezrock
April 28 Hannover, Germany @ Bei Chez Heinz
April 29 Heidelberg, Germany @ Karlstorbahnof
April 30 Munster, Germany @ Uncle M Fest
May 1 Amsterdam, Holland @ Paradiso
May 2 Hamburg, Germany @ Yebek & Gefhrlich
May 3 Berlin, Germany @ Bi Nuu
May 4 Dresden, Germany @ Beatpol
May 5 Vienna, Austria @ Porgy & Bess
May 7 Munich, Germany @ Backstage Halle
May 8 Stuttgart, Germany @ Universum
May 9 Cologne, Germany @ Buergerhaus Stollwerck
May 10 London, UK @ Scala
May 11 Nottingham, UK @ Bodega
May 12 Glasgow, Scotland @ Oran Mor
May 13 Dublin, Ireland @ Workmans Club
May 14 Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
May 15 Bristol, UK @ Thekl
August 8 Slovenia @ Punk Rock Holiday Festival
August 9 Germany @ Rocco Del Schlocko Festival
August 10 Germany @ Open Flair Festival