Good news, Lenina Crowne fans: The 5-sometimes-6-man band isn’t leaving us quite yet! With lead singer, Eric Faust, graduating this December, that leaves one remaining member (graduate student and State College’s own sexy sax man, Nick Rudenko) enrolled at Penn State for the coming year. As fall graduation quickly approaches, rumors are circulating that Lenina may be taking advantage of the free time to make a daring move to the Philly music scene. After attending their Friday Noontime performance and speaking with the members, State in the Real is pleased to announce that we have at least one more semester, if not more, of the folk-rock, testosterone-powered band.
Eric Faust relayed the band’s overall sentiments towards a potential advantage of pursuing music in a small town, like State College, over a big city, like Philadelphia. To put it simply, State College is a central meeting and practicing place for all the members, they’re guaranteed 3-4 shows per week here, and now that all of the members have completed their undergraduate degrees, they have more time to seriously write and record.
“Everything is done online nowadays,” says Faust, “It used to be that a band would play some renowned club in the city with a big-time producer in the back who was scouting new bands to sign. It’s not like that anymore. For the most part, bands find fame over the internet and social media, so if we can pursue music seriously in a comfortable town, like State College, with guaranteed shows and without having to kill ourselves working to make a living in the city, then why wouldn’t we?” In the same breath, Faust didn’t discount the possibility of one day moving to Philly once things are more set in place for all of the members.
Some more exciting news from Eric: Lenina Crowne is scheduled to record with the underground-famous Philadelphia recording studio, Weathervane Music (famous for launching the career of Sharon Van Etten, among others, through its highly-viewed Shaking Through Sessions) this January! Stay tuned, readers, because it sounds like LC has some serious tricks up its sleeves for the coming year.