Music is truly universal. In fact, even within one band we now often have international flair. Our recent discovery of Low Level Lovers proves that our world is full of music. Their hard rock pop sound can be a hit in any country. We had a chance to sit down with the band and get behind the music. Enjoy the interview here:
First off, where did the name Low Level Lovers come from?
We used to work in same IT company and we were hiring low level software developers all the time what made us joking. “We need to hire new low level lovers! Wait a minute, what a great name for a band! Should we start a new band together?”
How would you describe your sound?
Garage smelling, hard gangster rock embedded with big tasty guitars and catchy choruses. Something old from 1980’s golden era of hard rock bands, something new and something nice mix of garage rock sound and influences from indie alternative bands.
How did this band of seemingly very different individuals come together?
At the beginning, we all worked at the same company and we participated national Company Rock 2016 band competition where we survived to the finals. Lead guitarist-songwriter Jori, Rhythm Guitarist Henri and bass player Pekka has been part of the band from the start. Later Jori`s old schoolmate and band member drummer Osku joined the band. After our original amazing Canadian vocalist Yves moved to California, Jori started to compose new songs with new french vocalist Nikko who has the good sense of creating singing melodies.
Which bands have been your biggest influences?
Each of us has different influences but I think what you can hear in our songs and band playing are hard rock, glam metal and garage bands like The Darkness, Volbeat, Guns`n`Roses, Mötley Crüe, Ghost B.C., Neil Young & Crazy Horse and Fozzy and maybe something from alternative/indie rock scene artists like Blur, Biffy Clyro, The Police and Pulp.
What do you hope listeners get from your music?
Like we sing in our new song “Salvation”, “Music is my salvation, in six strings we trust!”. We do music what we ourselves want to listen without commercial pressure and without following any music trends. We want to give people good energy and vibes, the Salvation in the name of Rock`n`Roll! Hallelujah! We hope that people of all ages can come to our gigs and enjoy relaxed, energetic atmosphere.
Low Level Lovers seem to be having success getting placed on Spotify playlists. How did you manage that?
To do promotion is a combination of hard work and finding right contacts. Luckily our music is easily approachable and radio-friendly, so it is interesting to people quite fast who like this genre of music.
Your debut album In Low We Trust recently came out. Tell us about the process of putting that together?
First goal was to record a single for Eurovision Song Contest but unluckily Finnish competition was cancelled in 2017. Finnish TV Broadcaster Company invited X-factor U.K. finalist Saara Aalto as representative of Finland instead of real competition. Obviously, we were too loud for Eurovision!
Process of songwriting starts from guitarist-songwriter Jori`s recordings and lyrics drafts. Lyrics should have an interesting leading red thread, ‘Signs of Life’ is a song about a man who is wondering why aliens don`t want to contact us. ‘Getaway Car’ is a song about leaving everything behind. ‘Salvation’ is an ironic song about a guy who is dreaming of being part of music business industry. Global warming related ’Naked Truth’ song asks why people don`t see the truth what is happening around of us. ‘Walking on Thin Ice’ is a song about relationship problems.
Part of song ideas are from back to high school years, good guitar riffs never go out of date! During several iteration rounds band members add their own arrangement and structure ideas, Nikko adds his singing melody ideas and lyrics improvements. Suddenly we had material for debut EP album which was recorded at January 2018 at RockAbove Studios, Finland by Tomi Korhonen. Album was mastered by Le Art Music Studio, Nice, France by Camhi Sébastien.
What advice would you have for other bands trying to get noticed?
Enjoy what you do! You must love what you do, practicing and composing new songs, keeping the noise of yourself and doing gigs. If you don`t enjoy the journey and you are just looking for fame and glory, you cannot do this in the long run.
What is next for Low Level Lovers?
We have already 5-6 new song drafts on demo recordings. We continue to do us good songs as possible and what we enjoy to play as an independent artist, do combined gigs with other bands and try to awake awareness of bigger audience. We have found our own sound and made great songs, people just don`t know us. Check our album now on Spotify, iTunes, Deezer, Apple Music, Google Play, Amazon Music and TIDAL. Low Level Lovers is one you don`t want to miss!
