Interview with Law of All: ‘Our sound revolves around fuzz’

Oslo rock band Law of All will release their next single ‘Are You Gonna Bore Me Now’ on 20 January before bringing out their next five track EP on 3 March.

The band comprises Amir Yaakoubd (vocals and guitar), Henric Lundgren (bass and backing vocals) and Jens Loqvist (drums and backing vocals). ‘We met on an internet forum maybe five years ago,’ Yaakoubd said. ‘I put out an ad. I played in a band previously but we weren’t on the same wavelength, so I wrote an ad, mentioned some of my musical influences and these guys saw it.’ Loqvist nods: ‘I was stuck in a rut with my drumming,’ he said. ‘I figured it was time to kick myself in the arse! I saw Amir’s ad and it resonated with me right away.’ Lundgren weighs in: ‘Back when I was living in Sweden, I was playing in a band and when I moved to Oslo I missed doing that. So I looked up bands and musicians in Oslo on the world wide web, and found Amir’s ad. The rest is history!’

And there’s an interesting story behind their band name: ‘We wanted a name that sounded massive and that would fit well on a t-shirt,’ Yaakoubd said. ‘In Norway we have this unspoken social “law” that we despise called ‘Janteloven’ (which translates to the “law of Jante”). It teaches people to be humble on the surface, which is a good thing, but ultimately it doesn’t let anybody shine or truly express themself because you’re not supposed to talk highly of yourself. It’s kind of like a social form of socialism or communism. The name “Law of All” came quickly after that.’

Yaakoubd describes ‘Are You Gonna Bore Me Now’ as ‘catchy as fuck’: ‘It’s got an earworm main riff, when you listen to it you’ll start walking like a badass! It’s about how love and relationships have become a commodity in modern society. It’s about dating culture and dating apps, where you can be more inclined to be “off to the next one”. It’s a comment about how capitalism has ruined everything, including love.’ Lundgren agrees: ‘You’re definitely going to headbang when it kicks in!’

‘It can get very dark when people do it repeatedly’

Last month, they released their punk rock single ‘So Low, So High’ about escapism through drugs, saying: ‘Being young men who occasionally indulge on a night out in the city of Oslo, it is rare to not come across people who try to escape their dark sides by using alcohol, pills or other narcotics and who invite you to do the same. This song is just about that.’ Yaakoubd describes the track as ‘groovy and energetic’: ‘It’s the real heavy arse drop,’ he said, sounding delighted. Loqvist is laughing: ‘It’s a slap in the face!’ Yaakoubd jumps back in: ‘The topic was something I’d been thinking about for a while. When you go out here, you see a lot of drug use. It can get very dark when people do it repeatedly. They’re trying to escape something. I think I came up with the riffs first, then I presented it to the band and we worked out the structure. Most of the time, the lyrics come last.’

As the track kicks off: “Come a little closer, little closer, I got something to share. (I have some! Come get some!) Give you a little something, little something, there is nothing to fear. (I have some! Come get some!) Need a little fix, a little fix for your ticks y’all! (Come get some! Come get some!) Come a little closer, little closer, little closer! (I have some! Come get some!)”

It hits the ground running, with Yaakoubd straight in on vocals, accompanied by furiously energetic drumming from Loqvist. The backbone throughout the song is the glorious Death By Audio aptly named Apocalypse fuzz pedal, which offers everything from sustained big muff-influenced tones to squelching blown speaker overdrive – think big, broken and aggressive. ‘Our sound revolves around fuzz,’ Yaakoubd said. Loqvist agrees: ‘Everything is fuzz, just different levels of it from soft to heavy!’ They describe the track as: ‘It gives you all that you are yearning for in the mosh-pit and then causes even more mayhem in the crowd by hitting you with one of the most “stank-face” inducing drops you’ll ever hear.’

It’s true, the drop is glorious and unexpected when it comes and I say that I’ve noticed surprising elements like this in all their songs. They’re not conventionally structured, you never know where a song is going, which is really fun for the listener: ‘We really like surprising moments,’ Yaakoubd said. ‘It’s both conscious and subconscious, I think. I have a bit of an ADHD brain, I can get bored fast (laughs).’ Loqvist laughs: ‘It’s true. I don’t get bored of our songs, I’m very busy (laughs). I walk off stage covered in sweat! The average beat I play is 120-125 bpm but I’m playing double time sometimes! I have a background in black metal, so I’m used to playing very fast.’ Lundgren nods: ‘I think Jens came up with this drumbeat and you, Amir, came up with the guitar riff for two different songs and then we put them together and they worked!’

‘Amir has tailored the sound with a specific amplifier – it can make your ears bleed!’

I ask if they’re all pedal heads and they laugh: ‘We are,’ Lundgren said enthusiastically. ‘Me and Amir are playing with the Death by Audio Apocalypse pedal a lot and I use the HX Stomp, which is a multi-effects pedal. The best ones make the moment.’ Loqvist agrees: ‘Amir has tailored the sound with a specific amplifier – it can make your ears bleed!’

Another single ‘Pushit’ tackles the hook-up aspect of the local nightlife scene. It also launches straight in with fuzzed up riffs and a synth and such is its energy and layering that I wasn’t sure if they had brought in additional musicians or just tracked loads of parts. It turns out that they achieved the big sound by themselves in the studio: ‘I guess we experimented with the recording process to make it as big as possible,’ Loqvist said. ‘We wrote that song very quickly, in like two weeks. We were part of the Emergenza music competition in Norway in 2018 and we got through another round and needed something for the next show!’ Amir nods: ‘We had to “push” a song out and this was it!’

Their mixed heritage brings some interesting musical influences to the band. Like Lundgren, Loqvist is also Swedish. Yaakoubd, for his part, is half Moroccan and half Norwegian and spent some of his teen years living in Morocco.

‘They both are avid readers of poetry, which kind of inspired me recently to try and get into it as well’

Subsequently, they bring a brilliantly diverse set of influences to the band: ‘My biggest musical influences would be Queens of the Stone Age, Death From Above, The Kills and a lot of the stuff that’s coming out of the British rock scene at the moment, like Crows, Royal Blood, Demob Happy, Tigercub and Idles,’ Yaakoubd said. ‘For lyrics, I am a big fan of the writing of Alison Mosshart (The Kills) and Alex Turner’s writing. They both are avid readers of poetry, which kind of inspired me recently to try and get into it as well. I use a lot of bends and half-and quarter-tones in my musical writing, which my Moroccan heritage might be partly the cause of.’

Loqvist has heavier tastes: ‘My biggest musical influences would be most of the bands that came out of the first wave of the Norwegian Black Metal scene like Mayhem, Darkthrone and Immortal,’ he said. ‘I love the eeriness and filthiness that is on those early records. I also have a deep love for funk, which also gave me a lot of sense of groove – bands like Earth, Wind & Fire, Ohio Players and Parliament. It contributed to my playing style – a blend of groove, speed and aggressiveness.’

The punk comes courtesy of Lundgren: ‘I remember listening to Blink-182 and Green Day for the first time – I was around 13 years old – and they completely blew my mind! It was something about the catchiness, the sound and the production of it that got me straight into the punk/rock/pop world of music. It made me realize that music doesn’t need to be complicated, and you don’t need to be a very technical musician to accomplish great songs or great performances. I still have that thought in my mind.’

‘I wanted to write a song that would get the crowd in the mood immediately’

Other tracks, such as ‘Now Watch Me’ have more of a garage rock feel: ‘I remember I wrote it because I wanted to write a more garage-y song with a bit more attack to open our set with,’ Yaakoubd said. ‘I’d been listening a lot to The Osees and A Place To Bury Strangers and they have this kind of drum beat that I wanted to riff to. I wanted to write a song that would get the crowd in the mood immediately. This song is about doing things out of spite, I took inspiration from my childhood (laughs). My parents would say “Don’t do that” but then I’d do the opposite. If you tell a kid not to do something, of course they’ll do it unless they understand why they shouldn’t. I hope if I have kids that I won’t be that parent, that I’ll explain why they shouldn’t do it. With this one, the intro came first and the end, then we came up with the pre-chorus and chorus parts and the “now watch me” bit.’

If they could go for a pint with anyone, Loqvist picks jazz drummer Morgan Ågren. ‘He’s influenced me a lot over the years,’ he said. ‘He’s doing so much crazy stuff but he’s such a great inspiration.’ Yaakoubd and Lundgren are mulling who to pick: ‘The person needs to be fun,’ Yaakoubd said. ‘Maybe Jimi Hendrix, I’ve been a fan since I was 13. He seems like you could have an interesting conversation with him.’ Lundgren has different ideas; ‘As a big skatepunk fan,’ he said enthusiastically, ‘I would say Mark Hoppus, the bassist from Blink-182. He’s the pioneer of the genre, and I think he’s got a lot of interesting and funny stories to tell.’

They’ve had some hilarious non-musical moments on the road, as Yaakoubd recounts: ‘The first thing that pops to mind is one time when we were playing at the Westerpop Festival in the Netherlands,’ he said. ‘Jens went to the bathroom and in the stall next to him he could hear a guy emptying his bowels. Hard. It was the worst thing he had ever heard! After the guy had left, he could hear another guy going in. He could hear him gagging and yelling “Jesus Christ! Eat normal, for fuck’s sake!” Jens joined us afterwards and looked so pale when he told us!’

Instagram: @lawofall

(Photo from left to right: Amir, Henric and Jens. Photo credit: Nina Holtan.)