Singer and guitarist Dave Hause made a name for himself in the early 2000s as the frontman of Philadelphia punk band the Loved Ones. He formed the group in 2003 with two friends from the Philly punk scene, Michael „Spider“ Cotterman and Mike Sneeringer, after logging time as manager and/or roadie for various bands like Sick of It All, the Bouncing Souls, Kid Dynamite, and the Explosion. Hause had also spent time playing in a few Philly-based hardcore/punk acts of his own: the Curse, Step Ahead, and Paint It Black. After forming the Loved Ones and pulling double band duty for a bit, he officially left Paint It Black in mid-2004 to concentrate fully on the former band, which had just recorded a short demo. They went on to release a self-titled EP in early 2005, and after a few albums of straightforward, melodic punk rock, Hause found himself with a bunch of songs that didn’t totally seem to fit a Loved Ones album. So instead, he kept them for himself, started playing out some solo shows in 2009, and the songs eventually found their way onto what would be his first solo effort — recorded with the help of some friends, affectionately deemed the Empty Bottles Band — called Resolutions. Inspired more by singer/songwriters than punk rockers, though not totally removed from the musical realm of the Loved Ones, the stripped-down album was released in early 2011 on Paper + Plastick Records.