Frankie
and His Fingers
By Peter Aaron
But
watching Niss attack her kit is perhaps what gives the better part
of a Frankie show’s take-home impressions: Besides mastering
the essential art of laying down a riveting, locked-in beat—something
many of her elders never get the hang of—she throws in complex
tribal patterns on her rack toms and wild, all-over-the-place rolls
like she’s merely out for a stroll. It’s no surprise
that Keith Moon is her hero.
“I
took bass lessons when I was really little, but I was having a hard
time because my hands were too small,” Niss recalls. “One
day, my dad was playing a Who record and I couldn’t believe
it. I asked him how many people were playing the drums on the record
and he said, ‘No, Sammi, it’s just one person playing
the drums—that’s Keith Moon!’ So I listened for
few more minutes. Then I said, ‘Um, Dad, can I play the drums
instead of the bass?’”
The
band’s live reputation has earned it a devout Hudson Valley
following (“It’s small, but large enough to make us
feel good,” says McGinnis), especially among fans in their
own late teens/early twenties age bracket. “It’s great
to be playing to a packed room at the Colony Café [in Woodstock]
and have kids yelling along with the words of our songs.”
Currently, the group is working on new material (“We write
a new song just about every practice,” beams McGinnis) and,
believe it or not, auditioning bassists. “We want a fuller
live sound,” says McGinnis. “But it has to be the right
person. We’ll just have to see if we can find them or not.”
As
they put potential third members through the mill, McGinnis and
Niss are also coming to grips with their justifiably growing status
as members of a “local band to watch.”
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