Lipscomb is home to a wide range of musically talented students such as The Arcadian Wild and Abbi Scott; newly formed band RAINEY has joined the mix.
The band first appeared at the Black & White dinner this August and also played at SAB’s first block party in the square.
The indie-rock pop group formed in May 2015 by several Lipscomb students.
RAINEY is composed of senior business entrepreneurship major Lana Rainey from Temecula, California, junior youth ministry major Trevor Ault from Denver, Colorado, junior history major Landon Woods from Southeast Missouri and junior biomedical physics major Benjamin Siebold from Denver, Colorado. Senior accounting major Hadley Kelsey from Madison, Mississippi is their manager.
Rainey joined Ault, Siebold and Woods after recording a solo EP which debuted on Nashville radio station Lightning 100.
She met Woods while studying abroad in Vienna, but Ault said the three boys had already been playing together in their dorm for a semester.
“We started writing songs and playing music together,” Ault said. “Then we decided we were going to do a coffeehouse at the end of the year. Landon was going to sing, but then we were like we could actually get a singer so we practiced with Lana two or three times.”
Though the band identifies as an indie-rock pop group, each member brings their own unique style.
“We all have different influences,” Ault said. “We all want to sound like something different and it just comes out sounding like us.”
Ault said his influences include Two Door Cinema Club and Bombay Bicycle Club. Rainey’s influences include Sylvan Esso, Arctic Monkeys and Kings of Leon.
Although the band has only been together for a few months, they have already played a handful of gigs. Both Rainey and Ault cited their performance at Mercy Lounge as a favorite.
“Even though it was just three songs, playing on a stage and seeing all of these people that I love was really cool,” Rainey said. “It’s cool that we’ll be able to go back there and have our own fan base there at some point.”
RAINEY plans to record its first EP this month and has started a GoFundMe page to help raise money for studio fees. The band will play their next show at Soulshine Pizza Factory on Sept. 21 and will play the United Nashville house show on Sept. 25.
“We have been overwhelmed with the amount of support that has been coming from Lipscomb,” Rainey said. “It’s been amazing and our friends have been incredible.”