Ask Marla Sokoloff about the scores of actresses who have turned chanteuse and she’ll respond with an all-too candid “I want to vomit like the rest of America. I’m aware of that.”
Indeed, it’s not often a crossover chick gets a warm welcome, garnering instead the judgmental roll of the eyes and smirk. But still, that hasn’t stopped Sokoloff, currently shooting the upcoming WB comedy “Modern Men.” The 24-year-old has been in a band for the past decade and is even following what seems to be a de rigueur move for music types today: She’s turned designer, having launched her own line of guitar accessories in February. “Music definitely is my first love,” she says.
Few would know to take that statement seriously, given the career Sokoloff has built on shows such as “The Practice” and “Party of Five” and flicks like “Dude, Where’s My Car?” Even the cast of David E. Kelley’s courtroom drama was unaware they had a seasoned singer-songwriter in their midst, until she finally invited them — after four years on the show — to watch her perform at L.A.’s Viper Room.
There were early onscreen traces, though, of her alter ego as Marla the musician. She played one-half of a rock duo on “Full House,” her first TV role. A year later, in 1994, Sokoloff had a group of her own, Smittin. Although the quartet broke up three years ago, she still has her own band, now eponymous, which consists of a rotating cast of backup members.
Her music is almost as surprising as learning Sokoloff is a musician, one who grew up singing Colgate karaoke, “rocking out around the house with an upright toothpaste pump as a microphone.” She’s definitely not one of the pop tarts she plays on TV. This songbird’s a rocker chick, complete with a deep, throaty delivery that’s missing in her voice during casual conversation. Lyrics — as in the song “I’m Done,” her sound-off to an ex-boyfriend, actor James Franco — take the angst-y tack.
As for her plunge into design, she promises no perfumes and no clothing. Having a dog named Coco (as in Mademoiselle) is about as fashion crazy as she gets. Her only fashion obsession now is Kiss My Axe, the custom-made line of embroidered, Swarovski-studded guitar straps ($50-$120) she makes herself. Well, that and one day attending a Marc Jacobs or Chanel runway show, but she adds, “I think you have to, like, win an Academy Award to go to those.”