The Loved Ones

About

Keep Your Heart by The Loved Ones For as much as punk rock is about breaking down the barriers we build around ourselves, it’s a challenge to be a “people’s punk band” when the scene that spawned you wants you to stay inside its walls forever. But with their new, second album, Build & Burn , that’s just the challenge Philadelphia’s THE LOVED ONES are ready to take on. Broader-focused, more rock & roll-inspired, and (dare we say it) catchier than ever before, the disc finds the quartet crafting a sound that’s as worthy of dive bars stages as it is of warming stadiums for Bruce Springsteen or Tom Petty. Forget the “pop-punk” tag that’s followed these guys just because they’re old hardcore kids (alumni of the Explosion, Trial by Fire, the Curse and Paint it Black, if you’re keeping score) with a gift for melody. If you have to pigeonhole it, Build & Burn is POPULIST punk, and it’s also the best damned thing the Loved Ones have done. Lyrically speaking, Build & Burn , which follows the band’s acclaimed 2006 debut album for Fat, Keep Your Heart , and a self-titled 2005 EP on Jade Tree, is also the Loved Ones’ widest-ranging record yet. It may not be a double-length concept disc in the vein of, say, American Idiot , but read between the lines and you’ll find the songs all revolve around a basic human concept. “I tried to write around the theme of examining how the choices we make affect our lives,” singer/guitarist Dave Hause explains. "Whether you’re a “he” or a “she” or old or young, ultimately, the thing that sets you apart from other species is your ability to make choices. Those choices can lead to your undoing as much as they can make your life come together in the way you want it to, and that’s something I’ve been going through daily for a while: You can build things up, but there’s always that urge to go the other way and burn them down." Oddly enough, the Loved Ones might not have survived to make Build & Burn without a few torched unions to b