Levitate Music Festival spotlight: Fai Laci wants people to listen to their music ‘forever’
The tagline for upcoming Boston-based band Fai Laci is “Making music we want to hear.” Based on the group’s set during the Levitate Music & Arts Festival this weekend in Marshfield, that music includes lots of original songs influenced by classic rock from the likes of Led Zeppelin and newer rock from bands such as Cage the Elephant.
We sat down for a chat with Luke Faillaci, the band’s dynamic lead singer and guitarist, following the group’s set (and yes, the band’s name derives from his last name). Faillaci expends lots of energy on stage, and midway through Fai Laci’s Levitate set he’d ditched his shirt under the scorching sun.
Faillaci, a 2023 Northeastern University graduate who studied mechanical engineering was working in that field until a couple of years ago when he decided he really wanted to give music a shot as a career (“I loved my job, but I love music way more…”).
How did his parents feel about that move?
“They love it, they’ve been the most supportive of it,” he says, adding that they were at Levitate as they are at so many of Fai Laci’s shows.
Faillaci had been writing and producing music on his computer for years, and really wanted to perform live. So he rounded up friends from the local music scene and formed a 5-member band that has been making the rounds at venues such as The Sinclair, Sonia and Middle East, with Levitate being their biggest showcase to date.
Fai Laci was an outlier on the Levitate lineup, which tends toward jam bands and reggae music. But the band was able to give the festival an early boost of energy as patrons were still streaming in. “One of the things people like about our music is the accessibility of it. We’ve played in a lot of different venues, before old and young, and everybody seems excited about it,” he said.
The bands songs feature driving guitar, strong rhythm, and lyrics that range from angsty to catchy.
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While the band is really only starting to crank up its online presence, Faillaci says Fai Laci’s Spotify streams are paying for his rent and food.
“The algorithm works really well for us based on what people listen to and what Spotify recommends,” he says.
Meanwhile, like any grassroots outfit, Fai Laci is doing the little things as well, even producing merch with a backyard press.
The band is working on its first album (it has a couple of EPs and a smattering of singles), and has been recording in Nashville with Easy Eye Sound and producer Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. The people around the studio, the equipment, and the whole scene has been inspiring, Faillaci says.
“To go to a different place and have the pressure to record puts you in a different state,” he said.
Where does Faillaci see the band in five years?
“We want to tour as much as we possibly can and play in front of as many people as we possibly can,” he says. “I want to make a record that people still want to listen to in 20 or 30 years. I want to make stuff that’s genuinely unique that people want to listen to forever.”
Thanks to Mark Washburn for his assistance on this post.
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