Frankie Rose and the Outs prove they are more than little brown-haired girls on their debut album

Singer Frankie Rose candidly chats about her Bay roots and why she can take her shirt off is she wants to

By Eleanor Whitney
Published: September 26th, 2010 | 9:00pm

Musician, scene maker, bartender, and indie rock philosopher Frankie Rose has managed to capture the ears, heart, and sound of Brooklyn in just a few short years. Her new album, Frankie Rose and the Outs (Slumberland), finds her emerging from the shadow of her former projects Vivian Girls and the Crystal Stilts. Though she shaped the sound of those groups and wrote songs for them, in the live setting she was mainly behind the drumkit. In her new project, however, Ms. Rose is right where she belongs—center stage. Sounding like a heady combination of Black Tambourine, Nico, the Aislers Set, and 1960’s girl group pop stripped down and fractured, Frankie Rose and the Outs are what indie rock has been missing for the past few years.

Over a glass of rosé wine, Rose talked about what brought her to New York City where she made her latest album—a move that took her out of a working-class community in San Francisco. “[At that time] I was just realizing I could be in a band,” Rose explains of her Bay roots where she started the punk band Shit Storm with her friend Hannah Lew, now of Grass Widow fame. “We started the band just to go on tour with another band who had a van.”

To the surprise of her mother and others in the Bay area punk scene, Rose was a pro at playing the drums, a rarity for women at the time. “There was no Rock Camp for Girls then. The fact I could play drums was empowering and surprising,” she recalls.

Fast-forward to her latest album which was inspired during the dead of a long, cold New York winter. “I can honestly say it was dark days,” she offers without hesitation of the writing process. The record features layers of sound—guitars, vocals, keyboards, and drums jump out at points—and songs like “Hollow Life” and “You Can Make Me Feel Bad” sound more meditative than depressing. However, true to form, the record also features plenty of jangle- and feedback-filled pop gems such as “Candy” and “That’s What People Told Me.”

Rose took 21 days to record her debut, working with her close friend and producer, Jeremy Scott. She says she did not have a particular sound in mind, but let the record’s feel emerge organically. In addition, she made sure all of her bandmates, who she had met working with them at a coffee shop, were involved in the writing and recording process. “This was completely opposite from the Vivian Girls,” she laughs, explaining that the friendship with her current partners came before the band. “I moved to New York and wanted to start a band right away. I was like, ‘Oh, you play guitar, great.’”

Frankie Rose and the Outs are made up of four women, a conscious choice Rose explains, “I needed four female vocal harmonies to create the sound I wanted.” These harmonies are in full swing on tracks like “Little Brown Haired Girls” and “Memo,” where the vocals swirl and intermingle with the guitars. Being in a band with all women also offers another, more challenging, element for Rose. “I’m definitely a hot temper,” she laughs. “But I’m also good at processing and communication, which is important in a band. I want music to stay fun. I love my bandmates and I want to keep making records with them for a long time.”

Rose’s firm commitment to creating music spills over to her musings on the music scene. “Indie rock is like Mad Men sometimes,” she says of the sexism that often runs rampant. “It’s time to stop acting like this.”

As an example, she points to a prominent music blog’s virulent reaction to a decision she made to be photographed without a shirt for a New York Press photo shoot. “People want to draw the line, but why can’t feminism be about choice—take your shirt off, don’t take your shirt off. Who cares! Just do it, as long as you’re empowered.”

With their fierce yet down-to-earth approach to making music, Frankie Rose and the Outs are headed on a short tour to support their record. Upon her return to Brooklyn, with winter approaching, Rose plans to write more songs and return to the studio to continue crafting hauntingly catchy songs. Lucky for us.

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Frankie Rose and the Outs MySpace page

Slumberland Records