“Get It On,” Demolition Doll Rods (Album: On, 2004)
MOTOR CITY LOVE SONG is my love letter to the Detroit indie and garage bands that came up in the 1990s and early 2000s, full of the DIY spirit and determination the city is famous for. The Demolition Doll Rods are a great example of this, with their elemental rock sensibility and distinctive visual presence. Definitely check them out on YouTube playing live.
“Running Up That Hill,” Kate Bush (Album: Hounds of Love, 1985)
A key element of MOTOR CITY LOVE SONG is “Heart Fire,” Paloma’s last release before she dropped out of the public eye in 2001. When the song becomes a viral hit decades later after being featured in a hit Netflix show, Paloma is back in the spotlight … a la Kate Bush’s resurgence thanks to Stranger Things. “Running Up That Hill” is ethereal, unapologetically theatrical, and fiercely feminine. Kate Bush isn’t for everyone, and that is her greatest strength.
“Times Like These,” Foo Fighters (Album: One By One, 2002)
Paloma’s “Heart Fire” is a departure from her gritty punk ditties as she reflects on her troubled childhood, her hardscrabble career, and her life with Jace, her girlfriend and manager. I imagined this ballad would have a strain of melancholy in the midst of hard-won hope—much like this song that was running through my head as I wrote lyrics on Paloma’s behalf. Dave Grohl wrote “Times Like These” when the Foo Fighters were on the outs and he was “scared but hopeful” about finding their way back together. Be sure to give the acoustic version a listen, too.
“View from Here,” The Gories (Album: I Know You Be Houserockin', 1994)
“Motor City Baby,” The Dirtbombs (Album: Dangerous Magical Noise, 2003)
When MOTOR CITY LOVE SONG becomes a motion picture, these songs could bookend the film. Singer and guitarist Mick Collins was a founding member of the Detroit punk trio the Gories. Described as the “most offensively primitive band possible,” they were the first band Jack White thanked during his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. A few years after the Gories broke up, Collins started the Dirtbombs as a “singles band” with a more radio-friendly sound. Taken together, “View from Here” and “Motor City Baby” showcase the ethos of Detroit indie rock at the turn of the 21st century.
No one knows why the queen of indie rock vanished from the Detroit scene twenty years ago. Now, her ex-girlfriend is determined to track her down—and what she uncovers will change everything.
Detroit, 1997. At the Artemis Club, Paloma is chasing rock-and-roll stardom, with her girlfriend and manager Jace committed to making her a worldwide indie sensation. But when Paloma suddenly disappears from the public eye in 2001, Jace is left to pick up the pieces.
Two decades later, Jace learns The Artemis Club is in trouble. Saving it will mean tracking down Paloma, whose early-career hit just went viral. Paloma has her reasons for not wanting to be found, and Jace isn’t eager to reopen old wounds. Still, each keeps measuring her life against the love she lost. With the Artemis Club’s fate at stake, Jace and Paloma are pulled back into the scene they once ruled . . . and back toward each other.
Told in two voices, this sapphic salute to Detroit’s garage-band era shows that sometimes the truth is the most powerful love song of all.
Romance LGBTQ [ Dial Press Trade Paperback, On Sale: February 10, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593736708 / eISBN: 9780593736715 ]
Lisa Peers is a writer with a passion for smart, funny love stories with well-deserved happy endings. She has acted professionally in San Francisco, produced TV and radio programs in Detroit, and is currently a creative director for an international marketing agency. A Harvard graduate with an MFA in acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, Lisa lives with her partner Dani in metro Detroit, not far from their three grown children, along with their beloved cats and way too much yarn. And plenty of sweets.
No comments posted.
© 2003-2026