Marin band of middle schoolers hits music scene – The Press Democrat

From the time they were little, 13-year-old twins Roxanne and Rex Rosen loved going to work with their dad. And why wouldn’t they? Their father, Alan Rosen, is the owner of Bananas At Large, a San Rafael musical instrument store stocked with shiny new guitars, drums, keyboards and all the latest audio equipment. For a couple of music-minded kids, the place has been a clubhouse and playground throughout their childhood.

“They were store rats for sure,” Rosen joked.

With all those toys to choose from, it wasn’t long before they found the instruments of their choice. Roxanne Rosen started strumming ukulele and graduated to guitar. Rex Rosen burned off his considerable energy bashing away on drums. When they were old enough, they started taking lessons from teachers at the store. And now, some six years later, the twins are in a band together, a neo-punk group called Punked Out PrettyPunked Out PrettyPunked Out Pretty.

“Ever since I’d been in third grade, I knew I wanted to be in a band,” said Roxanne Rosen, the guitarist and driving force in the group. “My dad would talk about the bands he played in as a kid, and I would see people in bands on TV and say, ‘I want to do that. That’s cool.’”

Bananas At Large, a 5,500-square-foot showroom on San Rafael’s busy Second Street, caters to amateur and professional musicians alike, including some major Bay Area rock stars. Several of them are her dad’s friends, so Roxanne Rosen has had some high-profile role models and mentors. Guitarist Joe Satriani, a 15-time Grammy nominee as a rock instrumentalist, gave her the high-end amp she uses. More personally, he helped her manage her stage fright.

“I was frightened to go up there and play in front of people, so he would tell me stories about how he feels when he goes on stage,” she said during a break in a Punked Out Pretty rehearsal in the living room of her dad’s house in San Rafael’s Gerstle Park. “He told me how he’d put on dark glasses and make a whole other persona and go on stage with that. Knowing someone else was frightened getting up there was comforting.”

She’s also gotten advice from Journey guitarist Neal Schon, whom she calls “Uncle Neal.” And her dad, wanting her to have a successful female musician to guide her, hooked her up with drummer Cindy Blackman Santana, a member of the Santana band and Carlos Santana’s wife.

“She would tell me, ‘You can do it,’ and ‘Believe in yourself,’” Roxanne Rosen said.

Nine months ago, after a couple of false starts with other bands, she formed Punked Out Pretty with fellow students at Davidson Middle School in San Rafael. Her brother was an easy choice to hold down the beat on drums. She plucked lead singer Madison Dieterich, 13, from the school choir. And 12-year-old Lilah Sitver, the youngest member, switched from cello to electric bass so she could be in the band.

“In the beginning, when Roxanne started taking this seriously, I saw an ability and spark and thought this really could go somewhere,” Alan Rosen said. “I love that the band members all are aligned behind Roxanne’s vision and energy.”

As the band’s manager, he gave Punked Out Pretty some valuable early exposure by putting them on the cover of the latest Bananas At Large catalog. And he’s booked them into such notable venues as the HopMonk Tavern in Novato, Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square Music Festival, the San Francisco nightclub Neck of the Woods, the Haight Ashbury Street Fair, Music City in San Francisco and Petaluma’s Phoenix Theater.

Through friends and family and an active social media presence, the band is attracting a growing fan base that comes to its shows, impressing club owners.

In January, they played their most prestigious gig yet, a coveted slot at the annual National Association of Music Merchants Show, commonly called the NAMM Show, at the Anaheim Convention Center. The huge trade show celebrated its 125th anniversary with 3,500 brands and more than 75,000 attendees, according to the association.

Punked Out Pretty’s 50-minute set, on one of the show’s three stages, included a couple of original songs studded among covers by the likes of the Runaways, the Ramones, Bikini Kill, the Cranberries, the Zombies and the Clash.

“I was a little nervous, but I saw what other bands were doing and I knew we’d do very well there,” Roxanne Rosen said. “It was really fun. There were a lot of great people there.”

She particularly enjoyed the after-show glow, mingling with fans and signing autographs. For four middle schoolers who’ve been together less than a year, the young musicians have an impressive list of a dozen brands that endorse them, including Ibanez Guitars, Vintage Guitars, Zildjian cymbals and Black Diamond Strings.

“We met practically everyone there,” Roxanne Rosen said. “It was helpful to meet our vendors and supporters, and we made new connections.”

Punked Out Pretty was one of just 33 bands picked to perform out of nearly 4,000 that auditioned for the NAMM Show. Alan Rosen has been involved with NAMM for decades and is a former board member who still consults and does charity work for the association. He’s upfront about his position in the music business giving the band a leg up over other startup groups.

“I view my role as the guy that removes as many roadblocks as I can,” he said, “but they still have to earn everything themselves.”

He’s adamant that the NAMM Show was something the band earned on its own, that it wasn’t a nepo gig, in fact, quite the opposite.

“I reached out (to NAMM) about it, and they told me if you get involved, they will not get picked,” he said. “There was no influence from me. In fact, I would have been an anchor if I’d gotten involved.”

With that major experience behind them, the next step for the fledgling group is to write more original material and go into the studio to record an album or EP. At the same time, Rosen is careful that all this rock star glamour doesn’t turn out to be too much too fast for kids barely in their teens.

“I keep a very close eye on their relationships with each other and make sure I pace things so they don’t get burned out,” he said. “I’m also blessed and lucky to have some amazing parents of these band members who are so supportive of the project. We are committed to having fun first and foremost and, secondly, growing as musicians and as a band together. It’s been an amazing learning experience for them in ways that school could never teach.”

Contact Paul Liberatore at p.liberatore@comcast.net