It’s safe to say that anything Omar Rodríguez-López has his hands in is going to be interesting. The Mars Volta/At the Drive-In guitarist has joined Teri Gender Bender (Le Butcherettes), and Melvins’ guitarist and drummer Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover for a new outing called Crystal Fairy that’s equally as rough-around-the-edges and guitar-driven as all those bands combined.
The band’s self-titled debut is out February 24th on Mike Patton’s Ipecac label, but the group has recently posted a trio of tracks ahead of its release, on which Gender Bender’s vocal range is on full display. Over a bed of heavy, thrashing guitars, Gender Bender is up to her same ol’, yet welcomed tricks, her mania seesawing between high-pitched shrieks and spoken word.
The stoner-metal 11-track album was announced in October when the band released “Chiseler.” Gender Bender said in a statement: “It was so much fun to write this song with Buzz, Omar and Dale. It literally just came out like a flying saucer while we were working the parts out for ‘Chiseler.’ That same day we recorded everything. It was so impressive to see how well we all experiment with one another. While writing the lyrics for this one, I completely let my hand do the story telling… the unconscious is sometimes wiser than our premeditated thoughts.”
According to Rolling Stone, the idea to form Crystal Fairy came about during the Melvins’ tour with Le Butcherettes last summer. Gender Bender would regularly join the Melvins for a Bikini Kill cover while Rodríguez-López (a former producer for Le Butcherettes, who also played with them) tagged along.
“Through the travels, the Melvins and Omar connected as well,” Gender Bender said. “Sometimes, Omar and I would fantasize loudly of hopefully being able to form a power together. Before we knew it, we were writing music in the studio (both in El Paso and L.A.) and birthed a magical little gem that I am extremely proud to be a part of.”
Here’s the Crystal Fairy Track List, with the songs below it:
1. “Chiseler”
2. “Drugs on the Bus”
3. “Necklace of Divorce”
4. “Moth Tongue”
5. “Crystal Fairy”
6. “Secret Agent Rat”
7. “Under Trouble”
8. “Bent Teeth”
9. “Posesión”
10. “Sweet Self”
11. “Vampire X-Mass”
