Image: Jason Stoltzfus
Jay Houhlias
Larkin Poe are Rebecca and Megan Lovell, sisters of the blues, rock and roll, bluegrass, southern rock and almost any other genre you can think of with real instruments, real emotion and real roots. Their hard-hitting sound comes from a combination of both the music they like listening to and the music they like making.
“We grew up listening to a lot of southern rock, so to be able to have that flavour, that sound, has always been baked into the metaphorical pie. But also, I think being women in the rock sphere, we’re so used to getting misjudged… the book covers are misjudged for us all the time, so there’s also that part of us that wants to prove people wrong, so we definitely put a lot of ferocity into our live performances specifically. There is a lot of hard-hitting coming from our need to really kick the door down.”
“It can be a little bit exhausting to introduce yourself as an individual and not be judged by your gender, or your sex. But also, there is a lot of power in being able to fight for what you believe in, and to fight for an equal playing field. There is a lot of different ways to look at it.”
Listening to Larkin Poe’s music, in particular their latest release Blood Harmony, I am reminded of the old blues legends; Little Walter, John Lee Hooker, Howlin Wolf. Their minimalist approach and ability to leave space in their music rather than fill it creates a powerful effect on the listener.
“So many of the albums that I am obsessed with are albums that are just a guitar and a voice. So many of the blues artists that inspire my sister and I are Son House, or Skip James, these are artists that released records that were recorded live in a space with just the one soul making noise on their guitar and singing. There is so much faith and power for an individual to shine.”
“We’ve always had a very sparse and reductionistic production style… The studio can be a breeding ground for so many bells so many whistles… I do think the fact we’ve spent so much of our career out on the road, this is our 18th year touring, we’ve been able to become very well acquainted with who we are at the core. We tour as a four piece typically so it’s very stripped back. It’s just drums, base, me on guitar and Megan on slide.”
We asked about Rebecca’s unique voice and Megan’s use of a lap steel guitar, also an incredibly unique sounding instrument.
For Rebecca: “Not to be too retrospective, we’re children of the 90s… we can idealise record making of the past because we grew up with Pro Tools (music production software) and the ability to autotune, and make pop tracks layered to the umpteenth degree, and that’s really cool. But I do think, for my own taste, I want that authenticity. I want there to be humanity in the recording. I don’t want to autotune myself… even though that option exists nowadays.”
“Increasingly Megan and I’s focus has been to create music that is imperfect and human. That’s what speaks to us. That’s what gives me chills… I always harken back to a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song, 4 + 20, where you can hear Neil Young singing, and he stops and he swallows, and you can hear him sort of catch his breath. It’s my most favourite part of any vocal take I’ve ever heard! It reminds you that the voice is coming out of a human.”
For Megan (about the lap steel guitar compared to regular guitar): “It is a completely different instrument all together… The strings are raised up off the fretboard by about an inch/inch and a half, so there is no way you can physically fret the guitar. And having it horizontal, the slide is very different. Megan doesn’t play with a traditional slide where you can put it over your ring finger… it’s like a little brick of steel that she holds in her hand. She’s tuned completely different… it’s an incredibly awkward instrument.”
“Not only does my sister (Megan) play her instrument exceptionally well, but also multitask with walking and not looking at where she is playing… a lot of it is visual, you need to see where you are in space to know if you’re in tune.”
“Megan jokes, in the Ven diagram of my experience on stage, you have performance, pitch on the lap steel and pitch on the voice. She says, at some point something has to give. She’s trying to do all; making eye contact with the audience while simultaneously trying to feel for pitch with the guitar, and then sing in pitch as well… I’m not going to bat one hundred out of one hundred categories!”
Larkin Poe will perform twice at Bluesfest’s 2023 edition on Thursday 6 April and Friday 7 April, as well as Bluesfest sideshows at Sydney’s Metro Theatre on Sunday 9 April and a sold out show in Melbourne at Croxton Bandroom on Monday 10 April. The pair have also added an extra date at Melbourne’s Corner Hotel on Tuesday 11 April.
