Fluke

Love on Drugs, or Thomas Pontén and band, curiously and passionately blend americana and power pop, mixing influences from both sides of the pond into a rare and unique cocktail. Thomas left his hometown Gävle a long time ago and via Uppsala and Stockholm he ended up in Gothenburg in the 00's. His music has been compared to among others Jayhawks and Teenage Fanclub, but also legends like Neil Young, John Lennon and David Bowie. Thomas mainly feels kinship with artists and bands that are a bit all over the place genre wise, namely Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, XTC, David Bowie, Kirsty MacColl, The Band and Elvis Costello, to mention just a few.

German Folkworld describe the music as, ”This is on the rockier side of folk rock. They definitely establish a nice groove, which gives this the edge over many other bands you hear playing in club land”. Love On Drugs has played with among others Ted Russell Kamp (US), The Mommyheads (US), Pi Jacobs (US), Sarah MacDougall (CAN) och Gordie Tentrees (CAN).

On his 4th album, ”Fluke”, Thomas presents a mix of americana and power pop. The 10 songs on the new album range from the melodic country ballad ”Tears Must Fall”, the New Order inspired ”Never Walk Away”, and the vintage americana vibe on ”You Got Away With Words”, to the powerful, modern indie americana on ”Through The Dark”. The opening song deals with Thomas' feelings about undergoing an assessment for Parkinson's disease, having had tremor in his left arm and leg for a few years. Being a guitarist, he fears losing his motor skills, but he also acknowledges the irony of working with children with disabilities every day in his job as a music therapist, and now possibly becoming disabled himself. Closing the album is a cover of Talking Heads' “Heaven”. The album truly reflects his eclectic taste in music.

Jenny Lundin (Surrender Dorothy) sings backing vocals, Berra Karlsson plays lap and pedal steel guitar, and Andreas Hall plays saxophone. The band consists of Markus Larsson (Kai Martin & Stick) on keyboards, and a solid rhythm section of Robert Olsson on bass and Martin Lillberg on drums. The album is produced by Thomas himself.

As early as grade 6 Thomas wrote lyrics for his friends heavy metal band. After attempting drums and keyboard he fell in love with the guitar in secondary school. If secondary school represented the awakening, high school was the nerd phase, where he practiced scales and was seduced by what is sometimes referred to as musicians music. With help from the before mentioned Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, Thomas realized that the songwriters and the storytellers are the real heroes and heroines.

Through the years he’s played everything from reggae to avant garde in various bands, and constellations. With Love On Drugs however, it's the 1st time in his music career that he fronts a band and sings lead vocals.

In the spring of 2016 he released his debut album, ”I Think I’m Alone Now”, and in April 2018 his 2nd album, ”Solder”. In March 2021 he released the 3rd album, “meLODies”. All 3 records received great reviews and a lot of airplay throughout Europe. The upcoming album, “Fluke”, is released on June 2nd, 2023.