"We're borrowing amps for every show"

Island Of Love are signed to Jack White’s label, but the band’s two guitarists are still hustling for gear in the pursuit of ear-bleeding volume

- By Jonathan Horsley

Island Of Love are a band with a wide dynamic range, big songs, big hooks and all the volume in the world, but none of the gear. They’ve made it this far without the latter. That has become a thing, an in-joke. To say you are “Island Of Lovin’ it” is to say you show up at a show with a setlist and in desperate need of a loan – a guitar or maybe an amp to get the job done. This is de rigueur in the hardcore circles that guitarist/vocalists Karim Newble and Linus Munch moved in before putting Island Of Love together, but it is unbecoming of a band who were the first to be signed to Third Man London, part of Jack White’s empire. With that comes a certain expectation. “When we started rehearsing it we didn’t even have a fuzz pedal, and amps are definitely the next step for us,” says Linus. “We are still borrowing amps every single show.”