We kicked off Cyber Monday (excuse me, Substack Monday) by accidentally turning the first ten minutes into a comedy routine about $40 tea bags, the new White House “media offenders list” (and how we could get on it), and my dog Kira demanding her Nature Gnaws sponsorship. But once we pulled ourselves together, we brought on our guest
— music writer, entrepreneur, professor, and now Reykjavík local.Right away, Larry clarified something important:
He’s non-binary, but does not use they/them.
He prefers Larry. Full stop.
His explanation was powerful — that non-binary identity isn’t a monolith, that English grammar was never the issue, and that being grouped under a single pronoun didn’t feel like it captured his specificity. Hearing him talk through how he came to understand his gender and asexuality — after decades of marriage, parenting, and performing a life he thought was expected of him — was a fascinating journey.
From there, the episode became a sweeping tour through Larry’s life as a writer and creator:
Lurking on Medium for years before finally writing once he had language for his identity.
Realizing, through therapy, he’d been “performing” much of his life.
Publishing 85+ Medium pieces, many now feeding into his memoir.
Running a quarterly EastEnders fan newspaper for 25 years, because why not.
But the moment that electrified the chat — and Lawrence — was Larry’s newest venture: Thermal Beets, a record-pressing company using plant-based material (from actual beets), powered by Icelandic geothermal energy, aiming to create the world’s most sustainable vinyl.
Yes, really.
And yes, it’s as cool as it sounds.
Larry walked us through the entire serendipitous origin story — from hearing about plant-based vinyl in Germany, to watching Icelandair’s music programming, to discovering that “one in three Icelanders is in a band,” to meeting two industry veterans who had the exact same idea at the exact same time. Every door kept opening. The red carpet kept unrolling. Iceland basically said, When can you start?
He’s already secured his first round of funding. He’s living in the “Neighborhood of the Gods” (actual name). He found an apartment because a landlord met him once and said, “I got 70 applications, but I want you.”
We talked records, sustainability, A-list artists, shipping hurdles, circular economies, sugar-beet farming, and why Iceland hasn’t had a pressing plant since 1986. Larry wants to bring vinyl home again — ethically, artistically, and geographically.
And woven through all of it was this throughline:
Larry has always been a person ahead of the trend, even before he knew himself fully.
Identity, creativity, entrepreneurship, reinvention — it all clicked into place the moment he stopped trying to fit a mold.
Thank you
, , , , , and many others for tuning in. We love you, mean it!
