Break out the dancing shoes.
Indie rock/synth-pop darlings The Faint is coming back to In The Venue on June 6.
And this time they promise to show up.
The Faint formed in Omaha, Neb., in 1994, briefly featuring a then-unknown Conor Oberst–of Bright Eyes fame.
Since The Faint’s inception, its music has evolved to incorporate more dance-oriented sounds, while retaining hints of the indie scene it came from.
The band is currently building a studio where they plan to record their next effort. Keyboardist Jacob Thiele is optimistic about the studio space.
“Hopefully it’ll be done by the time we get back (from touring),” Thiele said.
Having just survived another brutal winter in the Midwest, The Faint is taking the opportunity to take its dance-party beats back on the road to kill some time and try out new material.
For fans in Salt Lake City, it will be a welcome return.
The Faint hasn’t played Salt Lake City in more than four years–but not for lack of trying. The Faint scheduled Salt Lake City as the first stop of its tour late last October, but winter came early and the band decided a couple of weeks before the show that it was better to reschedule than risk driving through a snowstorm.
“Poor planning on our part, trying to make that drive in the dead of winter,” Thiele said, referring to the stretch of I-80 between Colorado and Salt Lake. “At least we cancelled it well enough in advance. The roads turned out to be closed anyway, and we would have had to cancel the day of.”
With the release of Danse Macabre (2003) and their latest album, Wet From Birth (2004), The Faint became both a hipster buzz-band and media darling.
And like any indie band with a lot of hype, the big leagues came calling for The Faint. They briefly flirted with Rick Rubin’s Island imprint American Recordings, but the hype quieted down about a year ago and Thiele isn’t sure where The Faint’s next record will land.
“The future is uncertain,” he said. “It’s not easy to make a decision, but we talk about it a lot.”
Thiele remains tight-lipped about any recent label offers and whether The Faint plans to remain with Saddle Creek in the future. He prefers to focus on their upcoming tour.
“We’ll be playing some new songs and some old favorites,” Thiele said. “And make sure they bring their dancing shoes.”
And Salt Lake’s burgeoning hipster crowd will be ready to do just that–providing The Faint actually makes it this time.
