Dave Hause-Kick

With the formal formation of his backing band, The Mermaid, Dave Hause has become more adventurous. Where 2016’s Bury Me in Philly felt transitional, Kick sounds like a musician who wants to see where he can reach.  The singer-songwriter still channels the Americana of his peers Brian Fallon and Craig Finn perpetuate, but there’s more of an inclination towards a (slightly more) modern America than the Ferris wheels and classic cars that you’d probably expect from the former or the drug abuse as religious metaphor of the latter.  Hause allows his work to be more bass-driven, as he reflects on finding some contentment in age and sobriety. Continue reading

30 Years of Appetite for Destruction

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I’ve never known a time when Guns N’ Roses weren’t one of the biggest, most important rock bands of all time.  I was born in 1994, right before the band dissolved into the Axl and company show that they were for most of my life.  The first time I ever heard GN’R was about 12 years ago, at my cousin’s baptism.  An older cousin lip-synced and air-guitared to “Welcome to the Jungle,” a song that I’ve always had a shifting perspective on.  Living in a post-Guns-Reunion world makes the 30th anniversary of Appetite for Destruction that much more bizarre. Continue reading