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LOVE IS ALL
By Kevin Riley
The venue was an iron façade loft space in Brooklyn, NY that served as a Dominican speakeasy in the 1970s. It was a humid June night that poured down Fat Albert raindrops; yet, the angelic-ruffian Brooklynites staid fast to hear Love is All, a punk/pop/jazz band from Gothenburg, Sweden.
With misunderstanding as their influence, and claming their sound is something like confusion, it’s no wonder their sound ranges from chaotic to Wild Iris limestone smooth. As soon as the first note hit the back wall, the crowd pushed towards the front of the stage, forming an obligatory pulsating mosh pit. Lead vocalist Josephine attacked back, playfully teasing the crowd with her all-embracing vocals. The rest of the band played fast and steady – breaking out into jams now and again – keeping the energy at a constant high.
Favorite recorded song:
‘Make Out Fall Out Make Up’ - a scream along with angsty lyrics, foot stomping beats and fist pumping horn.
Favorite live song:
‘I Ran (Flock of Seagulls cover)’ – it’s a Flock of Seagulls cover. Need I say more?
I recently was given the chance to ask All is Love some questions. They’re currently touring in Europe but have plans on coming back stateside in the fall. Whether you’re a Brooklynite, Berliner, or Londoner, make sure to catch them if you can.
So who’s in the band and what do they play?
- Josephine Olausson - keyboard, vocals
- Markus Görsch - drums
- Nikki Sparding - guitar, vocals
- James Ausfahrt - saxophone and keyboard
- Johan Lindwall - bass, vocals
How did the band form and how long have you been playing together?
Josephine, Nikki and I used to be in another band called Girlfrendo. When we split up around 2002 the three of us still wanted to play music together, and we already had a bunch of new ideas for songs... and a new practice space! We would meet there every now and then and work on songs. First it was just me on drums, Nikki on keyboard
and Josephine on guitar. Then for a short while we made electronic music on the computer. Finally we were asked to play a show at the local DIY/punk club Starke Adolf, and we thought we should have a bass player for this so we asked Johan to help us out. Turned out he’s an excellent bass player and person, so he became a member of the band.
For a recording session in 2003 we were thinking it would be cool to add some crazy sax at the end of one song (Spinning And Scratching). I knew Fredrik from musicology class at the University here in Gothenburg, he was this kid who was always wearing a Ride T-shirt and talking about James Chance, so we figured he would understand what kind of sax we wanted. It sounded even better than we thought, so he ended up playing on most of our songs. Fredrik was in Love is All until the spring of 2007, and after he left we asked James Ausfahrt to join. (Markus)
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