Italove - interview

1. Who are the members of Italove and where are you from? 

Italove is me Martin Blix on Vocals, Dave LaRoxx on drums and computer and our secret genius and songwriter Dr. Mateo. We all come from Stockholm and have been working with music in other genres. We met each other through a common friend and talked about our passion for Italo Disco. Things went fast and all of a sudden we had started a band.

2. You´re obviously a band which draws inspiration from italodisco. What makes italodisco so appealing even today?

In a lot of the classic Italodisco music there are elements of mysticism, great synth sounds and the lyrics are more about the words than the actual sentences. We are also very inspired by synthpop and bands like Pet shop boys. We think it sounds fresh and exciting still today.   

3. Who is your favorite italodisco artist? And why?

There are so many, but Ken Laszlo is someone we all liked in our childhood very much, especially the songs Hey Hey guy and Tonight. To do a duet with him was a dream come true. Also we like Koto, Scotch, Gazebo, Valerie Dore. But most artist has a few good tracks it's seldom you find an italodisco artist that has more than 3 really good songs. All the Zyx compilations are magic.

4. Have you thought about expanding your sound into other genres like house or electro?

No we stick to what we are good at. In a remixed form ItaLove might come out with more electro and housevibes. But the originals will be italodisco/synthpop but with a bit of 2014 flavor  

5. What do you think of the current EDM (=electronic dance music) phenomena? Is it good or bad for the underground bands?

I think there is a place for all music genres, I myself can love it after a few beers in a club, the other guys in the band not so much. But it's not in our soul and heart. Italo Disco we grew up with.

6. How did you manage to get Ken Laszlo to feature in your song Disco Queen?

We met at an Italodisco festival in Finland and then the idea came up. Fred Ventura was the one that introduced us to our recordcompany, and he is also a very close friend of Ken Laszlo, so we asked him if he could play the track for Ken and he did. Ken liked it very much. I am very proud of that track. Ken recorded his vocals in Italy and we in Sweden. But we had a very fun time together up in Stockholm making the video.

7. Are you heading towards an album? So far there has been only single releases.

I think that is the most common question people as us. I honestly don't know. We have enough tracks for it and we have some really great songs we want to release as singles. But with todays technology when people download and stream, albums doesn't feel so necessary any longer. But I think we will release an album sooner or later, but then we would like it to be something very special.  Press it on a picturevinyl, or some other creative idea just to make it different.

8. Where is Italove in the year 2024? 

I honestly hope and think we will have gotten a big break mainstream, so we can make a living of our music. We want to bring back an Italodisco wave for the new generations.  

9. Are you going to perform in Finland in the near future? 

Yes, We have gotten a request that seems very serious to perform in Helsinki in September, don't know the dates yet. But we really look forward to that.

Thanks for the interview!