If you like good music and beer, Fairly Fly is the up-and-coming local band to see. Officially, the band formed recently, but individually, the members have been playing the Wilmington music circuit for a few years now and have sporadically been playing together. However, now the guys have joined forces and are ready to take on the local music scene with an awesome energy all their own.

Al Ganey, a senior at UNCW , as well as vocalist and guitarist for the band, has been playing solo gigs around Wilmington over the past year but has always wanted to find the right like-minded musicians with whom to start a band. When he met Adam Carswell, lead guitarist and vocalist, he knew there was a good musical connection, and the two started jamming with Carswell’s roommate, Logan Greeson, who plays bass guitar. Next came the challenge of finding a drummer to fit in with rest of the Fairly Fly crew. Ganey was able to find Scott Goodman to play drums with them and they were immediately ready to get down and dirty to make some sweet tunes.

Thursday, April 26, at 8 p.m. is Fairly Fly’s is first official gig as a band as they play at the Goat and Compass at 710 N. 4th Street in downtown Wilmington. Fairly Fly plays mostly covers for now, but they’re working on originals too. The musical talent is impressive in this group; they are able to pick and play songs on the fly, depending on their audience. Some bands they cover are Sublime, The Beatles, Bob Marley, The Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains, Bill Withers, Dave Matthews, Pink Floyd and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

“Our instrumentation is set up for a rock band so we like all rock. We can really just look out in the crowd and if it’s an older crowd we want to play The Beatles or Paul Simon or something that they grew up with. But at the Goat and Compass it’ll probably be a younger crowd, so we’ll end up playing stuff that I grew up listening to,” said Ganey.

Carswell and Ganey played together at an open mic this past week at Surf’s Bar & Grille, with Greeson looking on and supporting. The three have great chemistry off stage, but the sound they produced while playing together onstage was fantastic. After spending the evening drinking a couple of beers and playfully going back and forth over which songs to play, they ended up just hitting the stage and letting the mood in the room influence their decision. Their combined musicianship and ability to effortlessly play together shows how individually talented they are. It also speaks to the fact that even though Fairly Fly is a newly formed group, their chemistry on stage is comparable to a band that has been playing together for years.

Ganey is also playing a solo show at The Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort Hotel at Wrightsville Beach over Memorial Day Weekend. The show is booked as an acoustic solo gig, but Ganey is hoping now that he has a band together, he can invite the rest of Fairly Fly to join him. He’ll also be playing a show this weekend, Saturday, April 28 at the Sea Lounge in Carolina Beach.

With their rock vibes and willingness to playing fan favorites, Fairly Fly is a band worth seeing live . With Fairly Fly, you won’t just have a fairly good time; you’ll have an absolutely good time.