Blood Harmony Records, Soundly Music and acclaimed Philadelphia-bred singer-songwriter Dave Hause are excited to present “Damn Personal,” the second track to be lifted from the Friday, April 28 release of Drive It Like It’s Stolen, Hause’s sixth full-length solo album (pre-order/pre-save HERE). Following the uplifting and breezy “Hazard Lights,” “Damn Personal” is a windows-down, heartland rock anthem honoring the lasting spirit of a departed friend. “If you’re lucky, you live long enough to start losing people you love,” Hause says of “Damn Personal.” “Sometimes the only way through all of that is to wail a little bit together.” Stream “Damn Personal” on YouTube HERE.
Additionally, Hause recently announced the inaugural Sing Us Home Festival taking place in his hometown of Philadelphia, PA on Friday, May 5 and Saturday, May 6. Coinciding with the release of Drive It Like It’s Stolen, Sing Us Home Festival will feature a unique show from Hause, Kathleen Edwards and Craig Finn (The Hold Steady), along with performances by Hause and his band, The Mermaid, alt-country rockers Drive-By Truckers, Tim Hause, Lydia Loveless, Crossed Keys, The Tisburys, Ocean Avenue Stompers, and Philadelphia ska-favorites Catbite. Sing Us Home will be co-produced by Rising Sun Presents, the team behind a number of Philadelphia-area venues, including Ardmore Music Hall, and local outdoor festivals and events such as the Wayne Music Festival and King of Prussia’s Concerts Under the Stars. It will feature local food trucks, craft beer and bar offerings as well as VIP ticketing and parking options. Tickets are on sale now and more information can be found on Sing Us Home‘s official page HERE.
Produced by Will Hoge, Drive It Like It’s Stolen features 10 songs that overflow with Hause’s trademark urgency and passion, shimmering with a truth that reflects the harsh realities of life as well the intermittent jolts of joy that punctuate it. Earnest and heartfelt, raw and real as anything he’s ever written before, there’s also a subtle yet significant difference on this LP — here, Hause delves into a more fictional type of storytelling to create what he terms “post-apocalyptic Americana.”
From the album’s haunting and ominous opener, “Cheap Seats (New Year’s Day, NYC, 2042),” a dream of escape from a ravaged New York City set two decades in the future and “Damn Personal,” a boisterous, blue-collar anthem about lost friends that’s charged with electric emotion to “chainsaweyes” and “lashingout,” two tracks that merge personal anxieties with universal horrors, Drive It Like It’s Stolen presents a weary and apocalyptic quasi-reality that examines the new American city, parenthood, and our individual places in society, post-pandemic. Elsewhere, “Tarnish,” a song about both a life lived and one still being lived and “The Vulture,” a song that harks back to the defiance that dominated Kick but which is recast with his children in mind, cements the thematic shift Hause is making on this record. These songs may still be for Hause, but they’re increasingly less about him.
“My life is getting increasingly less interesting,” he smiles. “And that’s by design. You want to be steady, you want to be at a baseball practice or taking your kids to gymnastics or whatever it is. You don’t want to necessarily be staring into the abyss all the time and trying to determine your existential weight. I don’t want my life to become fodder for songs — I want my creativity to be the fodder for songs.”
With this particular car ride, then, Hause is en route to a whole new world. Whether real or imagined or a combination of both, it’s time to buckle up for the ride.
| Drive It Like It’s Stolen cover art |
