Love On Drugs

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, 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 like this. ”This is on the rockier side of folkrock. They definitely establish a nice groove, which gives this the edge over many other bands you hear playing in clubland”. 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 the new single, “It Ain't Over”, Thomas present a stripped down americana ballad about when holidays are over and the rat race begins again, we shouldn't have to stop having fun and do things we like. He co-wrote the song with his old friend Andreas Johannesson, together with Thomas a founding member of Little Green. Andreas sadly passed away 10 years ago.

Jenny Lundin sings backing vocals and Thomas plays all instruments, as well as produced the song. The single is mastered by Hans Olsson at Svenska Grammofonstudion.

As early as in 6th grade 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 'musician music'. With help from 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 avantgarde 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 the debut-album, ”I Think I’m Alone Now” and in April 2018 his 2nd album, ”Solder”. March 26th, 2021, saw the release of the 3rd album, “meLODies”, and the latest album “Fluke” was released June 2nd, 2023. All 4 records received great reviews and extensive airplay throughout Europe. In between albums Love On Drugs have released a number of singles

The new single, "It Ain't Over", will be on all download and streaming sites August 22nd, 2025.