Phoenix Indie-Rockers Fairy Bones Are Back After Breaking Up Last Year

Fairy Bones are hitting the Crescent Ballroom stage on October 9 as one of the openers for funk-infused indie rockers Black Carl. Why is this a big deal? Primarily because they broke up last year.

The current iteration of Fairy Bones includes Chelsey Louise (vocals), Matthew Foos (guitar), Ben Foos (bass), and Konstantin Bosch (drums) for this back-to-it show. Longtime member Robert Ciuca can’t make the first gig but will return to the fold soon after.

The group took Black Carl’s invitation to join the bill for the upcoming show quite seriously.

Chelsey Louise says that when Black Carl asked for her, it was a no-brainer. “I am such a fangirl,” she tells us. “In the days when members of Fairy Bones were coming up in the scene, there were some local bands that we looked up to, and Black Carl was one of them. However, we never got to play with them.”

Louise had to run the invitation by the rest of her bandmates, and they all felt the same way. “I wanted to get a vibe from the band, and when I asked them about it, the answer was a unanimous ‘yes.’”

She wasn’t surprised that the band was ready to reconnect. “We never left with a plan of any kind, and I, and I don’t think any of us thought, ‘We shall never revisit this project.’ We just needed some space.”

For the better part of a decade, the band was an inseparable unit. They created and recorded music together and resided beneath one roof. Needing space is totally understandable.

The time off gave everyone some time to stretch their fairy wings. Louise, for instance, took a deeper dive into helping artists like musician Sydney Sprague and painter Brandon McGill with promotion. Ciuca is in the band Paper Foxes, and Matt Foos came to Fairy Bones’ first rehearsal this go-around ready to rock, armed with a slew of new music.

Because they have all had some time to grow and do some new things, they’re going to move back into Fairy Bones at a steady pace and not rush anything. “It’s a much more relaxed Bones, Louise says, adding, “We aren’t rushing to go on tour or anything.” Recording is something they want to do, also, with Bob Hoag of Flying Blanket Studio, who, Louise says, is “our fifth Fairy Bone.”

During their long chunk of time together, the band recorded a couple of full-lengths, an EP, and a handful of singles that garnered them a loyal fanbase and plenty of critical praise. Their sound is never easily defined by placing it in the column of one genre. The band merges pop, punk, art-rock to create songs that sometimes take you on a frantic rollercoaster ride and others that get you locked in a groove.

Louise’s powerful vocals never fail to captivate. She lures you into one part of a song with some sweetness and then, in one angsty moment, flips you on your ass with a new tone or lyric. While that’s happening, the band continuously proves their collective strength. Their top-notch musicianship is the group’s foundation, and it is always solid.

What’s going to be different this time, Louise lets us know, is that the band is going to “lean a little harder into the rock.”

What does that mean? “We love pop structure,” she says. “We are doing things that are going to change the sound. It’s much heavier, and it’s, and it’s warmer and not aggressive. We don’t want to do just pop, though. We always wanted to be The Pixies, and I think we’ll go to our grave trying to be The Pixies (laughs), but yeah, it’s really cool, and we are excited about it.”

“We just love music, miss each other, and want to play together,” is how Louise sums up the Fairy Bones reboot.

Fairy Bones. With Wyves, Adam Bruce, and Black Carl. 7 p.m., Saturday, October 9, at Crescent Ballroom, 308 North Second Avenue. Tickets are $19.