Ann Arbor News Spotlights LIZ LARIN's Ark Show with Cover Story
The Ann Arbor News
August 12th, 2004Liz Larin: Back Home and Loving it
ANN ARBOR NEWS -
Thursday, August 12, 2004
BY WILL STEWART
News Special Writer
Liz Larin can't make the songs stop coming.
The critically acclaimed Detroit-based songwriter has been trying to finish up a CD of songs she's recorded over the past year, but batches of newer songs keep emerging and requiring her immediate attention.
"We thought we were going to stop and try to get this record finished up," the personable singer-songwriter said during a studio break recently. "My music just lets me know when a song needs to be written and they've been coming like crazy lately.
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"Once I write them, I like to get them down on tape so they don't slip away."
For the prolific Larin, it's been like this since she started writing songs in her bedroom at age 10. By the time she was 16, she was playing in rock bands and had left home because of her parents' aversion to her choice of vocations.
"My parents, of course, were concerned for me," she said. "So I knew I had to strike out on my own, and I left home when I was 16.
"I would teach guitar after school, then go to a gig. That was how I kept myself alive."
Within a few years, Larin had teamed with Michael King in the duo Press, which changed its name to Rebel Heels and landed a deal with Atlantic Records. The pair moved to Los Angeles, where they recorded one album and toured relentlessly before splitting up.
Still owing Atlantic a record, Larin released "Test Your Faith" in 1997, but soon found that she was tired of the Los Angeles music scene - and longing not only for her loved ones, but for Detroit's cohesive musical community.
"I missed my family, I missed my friends," she said. "I felt like I needed a life to be able to write about and it wasn't happening in California."
Upon returning to Michigan in 1998, the songs started coming to her again and by 1999, she had released the "Merry Wicked" CD on her own label. Although it consists of songs written mostly in California, Larin said, the record is inspired by her longings to return to Michigan.
"It's just amazing how much more productive you can be when you're genuinely happy," she said.
Last year, Larin released "The Story of O-Miz," musical autobiography of sorts concerning Larin's alter-ego, who, she said, is searching for her own place in society. The record won an astonishing 10 Detroit Music Awards, adding to the five she had previously won for her solo work, as well as the Rebel Heels record. That the awards range in categories from "Outstanding Album" to "Best Folk Singer" to "Outstanding Instrumentalist" speaks to Larin's diversity.
For Casey Sperling, a fledgling singer-songwriter from Canton, Larin is an inspiration - not only because she's a gifted songwriter, but because she's a strong role model.
"I just think she's brave," said Sperling, who is working on her first CD. "She's not afraid to say what's on her mind, whether it's sadness or anger or heartache.
"She sings her own, personal truth and that's not an easy thing for people to do."
While there are elements of confessional singer-songwriter styles in her music, Larin's songs rock out too much to slide easily into any folk genre. Yet their honesty and intelligence exempt them from a simple "rock" classification."
"I like to try on lots of different hats," she admitted, adding that she spent part of her LA sojourn as a jazz bassist. "There's too much music out there to limit yourself to one style all the time."
For her gig Sunday at The Ark, however, Larin said she and her band - which varies in personnel from night to night, depending on the venue - will strip down to the bare essentials and concentrate on a gentler, acoustic vibe.
She said she plans to introduce some of the newer songs that are standing in the way of completing her album, too.
"There's definitely a bravery that comes from having nothing to lose," she said. "I can play the songs I believe in because the people who love me are still going to love me, and my friends will still be my friends, no matter what."
© 2004 Ann Arbor News. Used with permission
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