“Demons and Dogs” from Dramabot by Fairy Bones. Released: 2015. Debut album, Dramabot, out FEB 3 on all digital platforms
this is from our friends at… Blowing Smoke
Q&A on Blowing Smoke with Fairy Bones singer Chelsey Louise
“Led by the charismatic, power packed, dynamo Chelsey Louise (vocals/piano), with the insanely affable Robert Ciuca (guitar/bass/synth), the amazing Ben Foos (bassist/keyboardist), and the ever shirtless Matthew Foos (drums), Fairy Bones has been one of the most well received and well respected bands in town and their live shows are always stunning”.
–Mitchell Hillman, Java Magazine
“This band has some super cool shit going on. Very original.”
-Ellie Vee, The Charms
The minute we heard Fairy Bones, we knew this was a unique and special band and everyone that hears their debut album “Dramabot” seems to agree. They have a great singer and they can play their instruments and above all they have some brilliant songs. This all translates into a superb debut effort that will appeal to a wide variety of music fans.
Singer, songwriter, keyboardist and fan of Freddie Mercury, Chelsey Louise tells us more in this Q&A exclusively for Blowing Smoke.
BS: When and how did Fairy Bones form as a band and how did you come up with the name?
CL: Fairy Bones was formed in January 2013. Robert (guitar) and I (Chelsey, vocals) had been in a band together previously, and wanted to start a new project. We found Matt (drums) on Craigslist, and he is conveniently related to Ben (bass) – and you can’t really beat a brother rhythm section! The name comes from us wishing we could have used the name “Pixies,” as they’re one of my favorite bands and major influences, but alas, that was taken. Fairy Bones was pretty close.
BS: What is it like being part of the Phoenix music scene?
CL: The Phoenix music scene surprises me every day. I’ve been noticing recently that I have a lot of preconceived notions about people and bands, and how social media can really warp your view of things. It can get competitive, but that’s also a driving force for me in particular, as long as it’s friendly. I grew up doing musical theatre, so I appreciate construction criticism and friendly competition. There’s good and bad in every music scene, and we’re happy to associate ourselves with positive, hard working, and talented bands, venues, and promoters.
BS: Tell us about the band’s songwriting process?
CL: Our songwriting process varies from song to song. A general theme is one of us writes a song acoustically, and we bring it to the band, and then layer on top of that with out own parts. There’s very few times when one of us tells another what we should be doing on their instrument. We love writing our songs, but we have no problem listening to criticism and growing as songwriters and musicians. Bob Hoag, our producer, has been a huge help in learning about song structures for us. We’re eager to learn and try out new things, which is big reason why our genre is a little hard to describe.
BS: How did you come up with the song selection for “Dramabot?”
CL: It felt pretty natural. Most of the songs on the album we have played in front of audiences for the last year, so we listen to the crowds reactions and their opinions after the show, and based our choices on what was most popular. “Banshee,” “Butchery,” and “Heat on the Lips” were banged out a couple days or a week beforehand, I think just because we had so much pent up anxiety about going into the studio for the first time, we just obsessively wrote songs for a bit.
BS: Fairy Bones have some really cool videos. Do you guys shoot your own videos?
CL: Thanks! Our friend, Shaunte Glover, has shot a majority of our music videos, with more to come. I usually text her at like 2AM with some half baked, crazy idea in my head, and she’s always game, which is awesome. I love creating visuals for our music, it’s as important to me as the music.
BS: What are the bands plans as far as touring goes?
CL: We’re touring the West coast Feb 21st-March 8th, from Arizona, to New Mexico, up to Washington, and down California. Tour dates can be found on www.fairybones.com. We’re hoping to do 3 mini tours this year spanning most of the US, in support of our debut album, Dramabot.
BS: Who are some of your personal favorite bands?
CL: My all-time favorites are Queen, Nirvana, Michael Jackson. Right now I’m feeling Alt-J, Circa Survive, Bjor, The Faint, Bruno Mars, Sam Cooke, and Tobacco .. aaaand I really love musicals.
