Crystal Fairy

Substitute rock supergroup Crystal Fairy was shaped in 2016 by Hype Osborne and Dale Crover from the Melvins, Omar Rodríguez-López of In the Drive-In as well as the Mars Volta, and Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes. The seed products of the music group had been sown when Le Butcherettes backed the Melvins on the 2016 summer season tour and Gender Bender got up on-stage every evening to accomplish an encore of Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Young lady” using the headliners, which became the highlight from the night. Rodríguez-López, who got produced and performed acoustic guitar for Le Butcherettes, installed with others for the tour and floated the theory that they ought to all type a music group together. The others, as the saying goes, is background. With Osborne on acoustic guitar, Crover on drums, Rodríguez-López on bass, and Gender Bender on vocals, the quartet — probably named following the 2013 Chilean comedy-adventure film starring Michael Cera — booked studio room time in Un Paso and L.A. to begin with writing and documenting their debut record. The material over the causing self-titled work was closest in build towards the Melvins, with sludgy riffs and pounding drums, and a faintly psychedelic experience, but the true added value originated from Gender Bender, whose free-association lyrics and swooping, sneering vocals provided the impression of the punk Kate Bush. The record premiered early in 2017 on Mike Patton’s Ipecac label.