INTERVIEWS
Sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell of the Powerhouse Duo Larkin Poe By Lisa Lim
Photo courtesy of Larkin Poe
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lassically trained in music at an early age by their parents, these sisters took that background in music and transitioned into a style of their own utilizing traditional folk instruments into an Americana, rock-infused, Southern style, defining it as a roots rock genre, blended with blues. Sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell took on the band name Larkin Poe in 2010 based on their family historytheir great-great-great-grandfather was a distant cousin of Edgar Allen Poe. How does the writing process work with you and your sister? Does one write the lyrical content while the other commandeers the musical content? Rebecca: Every which way, I would say. Megan, how would you say? Megan: Yeah, we approach it in many different ways. Rebecca usually commandeers the lyrics and I’ll help with the music. But, she’s definitely kind of our musical leader in the band. So, she heads it up and I add my finishing touches here and there. Rebecca: You’re the finesse in everything we do. Are there ever any creative differences between the two of you? Megan: I feel we’re so lucky that we are on the same page since we’ve been
playing music together. We’ve played music together since early childhood, and professionally for over a decade now. We move together so easily while we’re creating. We feel very lucky to have that sort of close sibling bond. Rebecca: Absolutely. We share very similar musical tastes. Like all my favorite bands are Megan’s favorite bands and what we aspire to create together, we always have a shared vision. We do not take it lightly. We’re very lucky that we do walk in lockstep, you know, nine times out of ten, especially at this point, in our musical relationship. I think at the outset, everyone has to figure out their differences. You and I are just like, you know, two souls split, entwined. You hear people talk about there being a connection between twins. I get that vibe with you two. You two are so in sync with one another. Rebecca: We feel the twin connection, even though we aren’t twins. But,
in our entire life, we have never spent more than two or three weeks apart. That’s for 28 years. That’s a considerable amount of time to spend with a person. So, all the time, we’ll experience, sitting in the car and will just randomly break into the same song, at the same moment. We look at each other like, that’s so weird. Our minds are working like maybe we saw something out of the window and it triggered something inside our head. Then our brains just went to the same place. It’s very strange. Megan: What I think is the most fun about having spent the last decade in a band together touring the world is the overlap of shared memory that we have together. All the different references and inside jokes that we’re able to share that seem like total nonsense to any outsider. We have sort of this strong like gang bond. It’s a little ridiculous at times and sort of unnerving. But, at the same time, it really helps us make music effortlessly together.
Excerpts from February 12, 2018 interview by Lisa Lim Sister Duo Larkin Poe Talk Peach, Performing, Gear and Goals
guitargirlmag.com Guitar Girl Magazine 25
