When The Loved Ones’ bassist Michael “Spider” Cotterman walked the university campus almost 10 years ago, he already knew what he wanted to do when he graduated – and it wasn’t to become a working stiff.

“When I finished school and graduated, I still wasn’t ready to go into the job world,” Cotterman, 30, says. “I just wasn’t ready for the proverbial adult crash.”

After graduating from the university with an English degree in winter 1997, Cotterman worked at the Maryland Food Co-op and dreamed of playing in a band full-time.

“I remember one time when I was at Maryland, The Diamondback did an interview with John Davis [of Q and Not U], and I thought, ‘Ahh, I’d love to be in his position and play music forever.'”

Now, a few bands and a decade later, Cotterman has managed to give himself the chance to do just that with his Philadelphia-based band, The Loved Ones. The band’s Fat Wreck Chords full-length debut Keep Your Heart hits stores today.

If you didn’t know the band’s history, you’d probably think they were a few guys new to the scene trying to break into the mainstream by playing honest, straightforward rock.

But while the music is indeed honest and straightforward, the members are anything but green.

Cotterman played bass for the almighty Kid Dynamite, which is arguably one of the most influential East Coast hardcore punk bands that rose from the ashes of – and some say eclipsed – the original pop-punk band, Lifetime. Combine Cotterman’s experience with singer/guitarist Dave Hause (formerly of The Curse and Paint it Black) and drummer Mike Sneeringer (formerly of Trial By Fire), and The Loved Ones are ahead of the curve in terms of street cred.

Hause says he, Sneeringer and Cotterman met in the brief heyday of Kid Dynamite during the late ’90s and says their friendship formed fast. Former Kid Dynamite singer Jason Shevchuk directed two of The Loved Ones’ music videos, and Kid Dynamite roadie Colin McGinniss played guitar on Keep Your Heart.

“I think it’s cool to have met so many people in your late 20s and still have them as your friends,” Hause says.

Along with other Kid Dynamite-inspired bands, Hause and The Loved Ones have cultivated their own niche in the punk hardcore scene.

“People ask me … what I think of the punk rock scene,” Hause says. “They ask, ‘What do you think about Fall Out Boy?’ And I say, ‘I don’t think of Fall Out Boy, I don’t know anything about them. We stick with bands of like-mindedness. The closest part of that scene, of course, is None More Black, Paint It Black and The Loved Ones. It’s based on the whole Kid Dynamite connection, with us trying to realize the Kid Dynamite dream. There’s a lot of pain in that situation, but it can be resolved and we can play together and have a great time.”

But keeping their love in the family hasn’t stopped The Loved Ones from slowly becoming a potential music juggernaut. In its almost three years of existence, the band has shared the stage with the biggest names in punk rock, including Bad Religion and current tour partners NoFx.

Hause says he learned a lesson from his experience with Kid Dynamite and other bands and would not allow The Loved Ones to be limited by the scope of a particular genre.

“When The Curse dissolved, I said f— it, I’m not going to do a band that has limitations in terms of sound or scope anything,” Hause says. “I didn’t want to keep it strictly to the hardcore punk thing. That’s a reason we have so much fun. It’s just honest music.”

Hause says he is happy with the band’s progress thus far.

“We wanted to sign with Fat because they’re not creepy businessmen but do have a significant amount of money,” Hause says. “Mike [Burkett, owner of Fat] is a really artist-friendly guy and you know he’s not gonna do you wrong.”

The Loved Ones might jump to a major label in the future, Hause says, but he’s not pushing for it.

“It totally depends on the circumstance,” Hause says. “I don’t want to be the guy under the table waiting for the scraps of a major label; I would want to broker a proper deal.

“I don’t know, I’m not really thinking about it right now. All I’m thinking right now is that we’re probably going to be a little late for load-in tonight. That’s as far ahead as I go.”

Contact reporter Sam Hedenberg at hedenbergdbk@gmail.com.