Frankie Rose hates playing live, doesn’t like touring all that much unless it’s more like a vacation, and would be perfectly content to stay in the studio for months on end. And yet, she manages to be one of the most alluring performers around.
That’s true whether she’s playing with buzz-attracting bands like Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, or Crystal Stilts. Now fronting her own band, Frankie Rose and the Outs, she’s really starting to have a good time.
“At first, it was terrifying,” she said. “The first show I thought I was going to throw up. I just recently started having a fun time.”
Part of the problem is that she spent the last two years hiding behind a drum kit, but now she’s finally fronting her own thing again.
“I’ve wanted to write my own music for ages, but I’m just really shy,” said Rose, who abandons the skins for the guitar and lead vocals this time. “It sort of took me a while to get up the courage or something, that I can do this, be a front woman, have a real band. It’s also with ladies I love and trust.”
Those ladies are Caroline Yes on bass, Margot Bianca on guitar, and Kate Ryan on drums — musicians she met while making lattes at Verb Cafe on Bedford Avenue.
“That place has this crazy rock and roll history,” said Rose. “Like, Kip from TV on the Radio worked there, Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear worked there. It’s just kind of a funny thing.”
Rose has since traded work as a barista to bartending and booking bands at Bruar Falls in Williamsburg. Her life is contentedly confined to the neighborhood, from DJing at Manhattan Inn to drinking margaritas in McCarren Park to holing up all winter at Civil Defense studio, a few blocks away from her place, to record the band’s debut album.
After the Sept. 15 CD release party at Glasslands, she’s off onto the road, as long as she can scrounge up enough cash. “I don’t know how bands go on tour, unless they get an iPod commercial,” said Rose.
Frankie Rose and the Outs at Glasslands [89 Kent Ave. near N. Ninth Street in Williamsburg, (718) 599-1450], Sept. 15 at 8:30 pm. Tickets $10. For info, visit www.myspace.com/saintoftherose.com.
