Photo credit: Jack Hackett
Tell us about your tour vehicle.
When it’s California and a small group we’ll ride in my 2017 Honda Civic, which now squeals every time I slow to a stop, so it makes for good publicity. When it’s my five-piece, I rent a transit van from a local dealership in town. I forged a relationship with them back when I was working on TV commercials and they are ever so kind and generous with us. I love driving the transit. So much rooooom and I feel so tall. Queen of the Road!
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
Cooler bag of snacks from Trader Joe’s, free meals at venues, and whatever we find on the side of the road. I appreciate a road pickle. It’s when you get a large pickle at a truck stop and put it in a dixie cup and eat it like an ice cream cone.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I never break strings and I hardly replace them. I usually have a guitar tech say, “Hey Rosy, you want me to change your strings?” and then I say, “Oh yeah, you probably should.”
Where do you rehearse?
We rehearse in my bungalow in Los Angeles. It’s all the way back off of the street and removed from my neighbors, so it makes for a good practice space. We practice unplugged so it ain’t no thang.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
When I was 15, I wrote a song called “Screaming.”
The chorus went:
“I’m screaming
My thoughts are steaming
I don’t even have time to think
Because I’m screaming”
Describe your first gig.
My first gig was at Gilman Street in Berkeley with my Riot Grrrl band, The Rape Utic. I played drums in the band with my three best friends. We had a habit of getting wasted at these shows and walking up to whatever band that was playing and asking them to let us get on stage and play a song, usually while they were mid-set. More than not, they said yes. But this time we had an actual show booked. I believe our sound guy was Marshall Stax that night. We had a few of our buddies in the crowd. I debuted “Screaming.” It was the best feeling in the world. I decided that night I was going to do music for the rest of my life. I’m still chasing that high.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
Art coordinating fancy TV commercials in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, they’re just not shooting in LA as much anymore, so that’s pretty much dried up.
My favorite non-music day job was probably as a projectionist at a B-movie theater in Santa Cruz called the Del Mar. I got a job there because they were playing Boogie Nights and I really wanted a poster. They were still using real film in the late ’90s and my job was to thread the film through the projector and operate the machine. These were really old machines so often the film would jam and start melting. The audience would start yelling and I would have to run up to the projection booth, cut and splice the film, thread it back through, and get the movie on before everyone walked out. Technically, I could say I was an editor on Boogie Nights.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
Well, I certainly seem to invest more and more money on music these days. Do exposure bucks count as income? We’re getting better paying gigs but I don’t know how any independent artist is making money these days without a side hustle. Currently, my side hustle is my credit card. I’m hoping when I relocate to Nashville this November I’ll be able to start touring more consistently and working those circuits. I think side players are able to pull in consistent money if they’re gigging a lot, but us band leaders gotta shell out a lotta dough to make the whole thing go.
In 5-10 years, gee…I hope we are still a United States. I’ll always play music no matter what but the direction this country’s going makes me really worry about the wellbeing of artists and underserved communities.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I wish I knew to trust myself first.