Music: All You Need is Loved

Drew Goren A recent headlining tour and wildly successful trek through Europe helped Punk/Rock band The Loved Ones see their hard work pay off.

The Loved Ones guitarist Dave Hause sounds pretty upbeat for a guy whose band membership has just been downsized by a third. The Philadelphia trio had returned home last month after a fairly intense overseas circuit when original bassist Mike "Spider" Cotterman announced his departure.

"The final conversation happened between Christmas and New Year's," says Hause from his Philly home. "We got home from Europe on the 11th of December and a week later the process started. He was tired of the grind, but there were other issues he wanted to have changed within the framework of the band that were workable but we needed to have some compromise on both sides and he was at a point where he was not willing to compromise. Spider's a sweet guy and always has been; we've been friends for years, long before the Loved Ones started. It was nice to be able to have that relationship sever without the friendship going to pieces. But it's gonna be weird playing without him."

Cotterman's defection from The Loved Ones comes after an exhausting year as the up-and-coming Punk/Rock band was touring relentlessly to raise their profile after the release of their debut full length, Keep Your Heart, last winter. Even by the band's standards, 2006 went by at a record pace.

"We started off a couple weeks before the record came out, and for about half the time we've been on the road," says Hause. "We're finally doing a headlining tour coming up, which will somewhat take the temperature of how well we're doing — or not doing — but we'll see if all that supporting of other bands and all that hard work has translated into us generating our own audience."

There's been very little downtime for Hause and The Loved Ones since they formed just over three years ago. Hause began his music career in a support capacity, selling merch for Philly's Kid Dynamite, which led to tour and stage management duties for KD, Sick of it All, the Explosion and Bouncing Souls. Although Hause had played in a few bands (including The Curse and Paint It Black), he had never taken a leading role with any of them until it was suggested to him by friends that he could and should front his own band.

After discussions with fellow scenesters Cotterman and drummer Mike Sneeringer, The Loved Ones launched in late 2003. The band embarked on a year of roadwork that would establish their intense work ethic, opening for many of the bands that Hause had stage-managed the previous year.

Early in 2005, Hause's former Paint It Black bandmate Brian Wagenschutz released The Loved Ones' eponymous debut EP on his Jade Tree label. The five-track disc generated plenty of positive buzz about the band, leading to more and better touring opportunities and eventually a contract with noted Punk label Fat Wreck Chords.

Almost a year to the day after the EP's release, The Loved Ones unleashed their full-length debut, Keep Your Heart. Like its predecessor, Keep Your Heart was an energetic hybrid of vibrant Punk anthemics and classic Rock melodicism, influenced equally by Bruce Springsteen, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as by The Clash and The Buzzcocks, and was generally hailed as an artistic success.

"I don't think I read or heard of anybody really banging on it, other than people who obviously wouldn't like it. Your average super hardcore Metal Core-type people weren't all that pleased," says Hause with a laugh. "Reviewers and fans of our EP and our old bands and peers and family were all really positive and excited about the record. It sold pretty well for a debut, not that it's as important, but it is somewhat. We feel like we've grown in terms of our fan base. It was a success in my estimation. It was fun to make, it was cathartic and it got through to a lot of people — in a lot of cases, people I didn't even think would like it."

With yet another hectic Loved Ones touring cycle completed at the end of last year, Hause was anticipating a slight holiday respite but Cotterman's departure necessitated a search for an interim bass player for the brief mini-tours the band has scheduled in the new year. Explosion guitarist Chris Gonzalez switches to four strings and will sub on the East Coast leg of the tour until a permanent replacement can be installed; Explosion guitarist Dave Walsh will feature as second guitarist on the tour as well.

For Hause, The Loved Ones' recent tour of Europe and their headlining tour were two of the most satisfying road circuits in the band's brief history. The relative success they've found has given him renewed inspiration for the upcoming year.

"A band our size makes so little money, below the poverty line, to the point where it feels like an extremely expensive hobby," says Hause. "You start to wonder why popular bands are popular, and what the hell's going on in the American music scene. You do that dance and it's a dangerous place to be, because you want to make music for all the honest and right reasons.

"Going to Europe was a wake-up call because it was a much different environment. It seemed like there was a much more genuine love of music and it was exciting to play there, especially in the UK. We did really well there; it was like playing our hometown. And the headlining shows were tacked onto the end of the NOFX tour, and those shows were particularly great. We played CBGB's and came just shy of selling it out, and we played a hometown venue that held 500 people and sold that out. Those were triumphant for us because those were venues that we had gone to see bands play in for years. To have that overwhelming response was pretty significant and meant a lot to us."