Grouplove is bringing more than just an energetic performance to campus on Friday – they’re also spreading environmental awareness.

Grouplove will perform at Foellinger Auditorium on Friday at 8 p.m. as a part of the Campus Consciousness Tour, a part-music and part-environmental campaign. This is the second time the registered student organization Star Course has brought the Campus Consciousness Tour to the University, the first being in fall 2011 when Janelle Monae visited campus with fun., said Hannah Ahn, one of Star Course’s public relations junior managers.

“We just feel like the campus as a whole is able to connect with Grouplove,” said Ahn, junior in Engineering. “We know that they get a ton of air play over at WPGU, and so we thought it would be a good fit.”

Grouplove was chosen as the Campus Consciousness Tour’s headliner this year. Opening acts will be electronic duo The Knocks, and alternative rock band Saints of Valory. Founded in 2004 by the nonprofit organization Reverb, the Campus Consciousness Tour comprises one band and a nonprofit partner — this year being the Rainforest Alliance, a global nonprofit that aims to conserve biodiversity. The nationwide college tour’s goal is to “inspire and engage students to take action regarding social and environmental issues,” said Anna Clark, communications associate at the Rainforest Alliance.

Hannah Hooper, singer and keyboardist of Grouplove, said that participation in the Campus Consciousness Tour carries various meanings for all the band members.

“We’re just trying to bring our personal experiences into a program that’s dealing with a lot more environmental issues, and just take our part,” Hooper said in a conference call.

From approximately 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Campus Consciousness Tour will be holding an “eco-village” on the patio in front of Foellinger Auditorium, where students can participate in eco-oriented activities, said Donald Bauer, one of Star Course’s senior managers. Students can sign up for the national Campus Consciousness Challenge, where the student with the best sustainable innovation will be granted $10,000 to use in the execution of his or her idea.

The Rainforest Alliance will also have a table at the event and provide information about how students can support sustainability and create a healthier planet. Students can also enter contests to win a signed Grouplove poster and record, as well as a meet-and-greet with the band.

At 1:30 p.m., Hooper will be joining students for “Art for Activism,” an art project that supports sustainability, said Bauer, senior in Business. Hooper will be at the event for an hour and a half, according to Clark.

If there is inclement weather, the eco-village will be moved inside the Illini Union, Bauer said. The exact room has not been specified as of press time, but if there is a change in location, Bauer said the information will be shared on the Star Course Facebook page.

Grouplove consists of Christian Zucconi on vocals and guitar, Hannah Hooper on vocals and keys, Sean Gadd on bass and vocals, Andrew Wessen on guitar and vocals, and Ryan Rabin on drums.

The Los Angeles-based band formed in the late 2000s, when the five members met each other on an artist residency in Greece on the island of Crete. Hooper and Zucconi hailed from New York, Wessen and Rabin from Los Angeles and Gadd from London. In 2011, the group released their debut LP, “Never Trust a Happy Song.” The song “Tongue Tied” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative chart and stayed on the list for 43 weeks, and also became No. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Grouplove released their sophomore album, “Spreading Rumours,” in September. They kicked off the month with their Seesaw Tour, where they spent two nights in every city on the tour, one night performing an electric show and the next an acoustic show.

“It just gave us an opportunity to look at two very different sides of ourselves,” Hooper said. “One was the electric night, which was a more performance-based evening for us, and we got really crazy and wild. And then the acoustic night really got down to the root of our songs and where the songs came from, and kind of brought it back to the process of writing songs.”

Hooper said Grouplove originally thought of the album title “Spreading Rumours” during Hurricane Sandy, a time when phone lines were down and they had to cancel shows. With little technology available, they talked about the power of word of mouth and the power of the question: “Is it a rumor or is someone telling the truth?”

“If someone came to our show, and then spread it on to a friend and told them about us, would they exaggerate, would they be telling the truth, would that encourage someone to come to our show next?” Hooper said.

Hooper, who created “Spreading Rumours’” album artwork, said she came up with the idea when she was in the studio at the beginning of recording. She said she was doing a bunch of one-line drawings, yet had no intention of it becoming the album cover.

While Grouplove’s music can be classified as indie-rock, Hooper said it’s hard to define exactly what genre they are.

“I think that our band is so different. We all grew up in different cities and have different influences,” Hooper said. “Ryan loves Nine Inch Nails, I love the Pixies, and Christian loves Nirvana, and Sean loves rock and roll, and Andrew loves The Beach Boys. There’s something about that melding that I think creates our sound, and I think that’s why each song is so dramatically different, and that’s why you can’t really pinpoint a certain genre.”

As for anything special planned at the University performance, Hooper said the group is pretty spontaneous, and they sometimes perform covers of songs.

Hooper said one of her favorite songs to perform live from their album “Spreading Rumours” is “Borderlines and Aliens.”

“’Borderlines and Aliens’ is like, across the board, my favorite song to play live right now. It’s like a headbang anthem or something. I just get lost in that song, and it’s really fun,” she said.

Bauer said he saw Grouplove perform in Milwaukee, Wis., in May 2012, and he is looking forward to seeing them again on Friday. Both Bauer and Ahn said that Grouplove are great to see live not only because of their music, but also because of their energetic performance style.

“I think they’re a really fun, energetic band, so I can’t wait to see their show, but on top of that, I’m really excited for the Campus Consciousness Tour as whole, because it’s not just their show, but they also have this environmental consciousness movement that they’re trying to push,” Ahn said.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for students are $25 and tickets for the public are $30. Tickets can be purchased on the State Farm Center website and at the door, Ahn said.

Alison can be reached at [email protected].