Photo credit: Ben Thrasher
HARK!
I hear...a rock sequel...
So much for the myth of the megalomaniac musician: Chelsey Louise is not just a rising rocker, she’s also helping launch other acts.
Early in a Zoom interview, the wildly energetic Fairy Bones leader notes she is the “only permanent member” of the popular punk/alternative band. When performing at Last Exit Live Friday, Feb. 4, she’ll be backed by longtime collaborator Ben Foos on bass, guitarist Daphne Greene and drummer Kash Filburn.
Her current run could be called “Fairy Bones 2: The Sequel.”
Louise, raised in Scottsdale, started the band in 2013, fresh out of Saguaro High.
In its previous incarnation, Louise was backed by guitarist Robert Ciuca, who is now leading Paper Foxes, and drummer Matthew Foos, Ben’s brother who also is part of Paper Foxes, as well as Ben.
Late last year, Louise thrilled her fans by ending a year-plus of silence and bringing back Fairy Bones; the band has some 1,600 followers on Facebook and has had 10,000 views of its YouTube link to the ready-for-a-soundtrack song “No One Can Suffer Like I Can."
"No One Can Suffer Like I Can" on YouTube
The Fairy Bones detour is intriguing, to say the least. According to its Wikipedia page, “The band's first studio album, ‘0% Fun,’ was released on February 23, 2018. They received press coverage in Alternative Press, NPR, the Arizona Republic, Impose, and Paste.”
For Louise, 2018 was a fantastic year…and a horrid one.
While the band was starting to soar, its backstory was a crash-and-burn tragedy: Sam DeCross, the band’s manager, passed away, age 26.
“Unfortunately, he died of a fentanyl overdose,” Louise said. “Please,” she added, “test your drugs…”
The senseless loss yanked away a chunk of her soul: “He was an incredible person, the funniest person I ever met.”
He was like a male version of the ready-to-rumble Chelsey Louise: “Our sense of humor was the same.”
Sam’s death was the beginning of the end of Fairy Bones, Phase I.
A mid-2020 Phoenix New Times story announced Fairy Bones was breaking up and going off in separate ways.
By then, Louise was focusing more of her time on Poor Life Choice, the management company DeCross founded.
Noting “I’m a musician—not a contract reader or influencer,” Louise noted she wears many hats, including promoter. But if you want to join the likes of Sydney Sprague and Taylor Sackson to the Poor Life Choice roster, don’t expect Louise to do all the work while you lounge in a corner and whine.
“I hate hearing ‘I’m not a graphic designer’ or ‘I’m not a video editor’ and ‘I didn’t know there was all this stuff to being in a band'—nobody's forcing you to be in a band!” she shrieks. “So if you want to do it, figure it out!”
While she is happy to help promote talents who are ready to dig in, clearly the rush Louise continues to chase is performing, screaming out over raging guitars and drums to live audiences.
Being a rocker is in her blood: “My dad was a drummer in London in the Sixties and Seventies, he was a big inspiration.”
Louise has been performing most of her life, from being a self-described musical theater nerd in high school to fronting Fairy Bones for most of her adult life; so it was no big surprise she answered the calling to bring her band back.
Fairy Bones plays one of its biggest shows since reforming Friday, Feb. 4, at Last Exit Live with the Woodworks and Chrome Rhino.
What is different about her band now, compared to when she put it together nearly a decade ago?
The normally fast-shooting Chelsey Louise paused to ponder that one.
“I’m much more confident about what I’m doing,” she concluded. “The musicians behind me are super solid.”
The Fairy Bones music, she proclaimed, is “ going to have a lot more balls.
“I’m 30 now, I don’t give a fuck!”
That attitude might lead her to take another no-net career dive:
“Everyone wants me to be a stand up comic! And I want to…”
Stay tuned….
Photo credit: Ben Thrasher
Links and more
Email chelsey@poorlifechoice.com
Twitter IG @fairybonessucks
“No One Can Suffer Like Me” on YouTube
Credits:
Filmed and edited by Jeremy Tremp
Thank you: Bob Hoag at Flying Blanket, Jason Livermore at Blasting Room, Stanley Ellis, Bri Turner, Heath Merris, Kelly Gordon-Sahr, Sam DeCross
Lyrics:
You can cut me out, I feel no pain
Wouldn't you say I'm all alone?
Take me out and watch me bleed
Then you'll see the fight in me
I've never spit a single fucking word that didn't bite
I don't wanna another pill to make me feel all right
Four years of abuse to the system
Can't win cause I can't listen
No one can suffer like I can, hey, hey,
Grabbing at straws with my hands, Woah, Woah
No one can suffer like I can, hey, hey,
Grabbing at straws with my hands, Woah, Woah
I wish my hands knew something more
Than jittering outside your
Why am I so in your face
When you just fill me with empty space?
Why do first impressions always seem to go awry?
It's like my nervous ticks are starting to get out of line
I'll let the sun burn my bones, leave me in the sands of my home
No one can suffer like I can, hey, hey,
Grabbing at straws with my hands, Woah, Woah
No one can suffer like I can, hey, hey,
Grabbing at straws with my hands, Woah, Woah