Sing It Loud

by Tiara Isom

Earlier in November, I got to interview Pat Brown; lead of the band Sing It Loud (SIL), Ben Peterson (Keyboard) also made a guest appearance.  I have to admit I was a bit nervous because this would be my first time actually interviewing an artist that I kind of knew personally. When I met up with Pat at the show, I immediately knew this interview was going to be hilarious. As we were trying to make our way inside the venue, we kept getting mobbed or blocked by fans that were desperately trying to get a picture or autograph. Eventually, we realized that we weren’t getting into the venue so we decided to hold the interview in their van; hence the reason the video is so dark.
see videos from the interview here
For those of you who have never heard of Sing It Loud, you are missing out. Hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota, SIL consist of Pat Brown (Vocals, Guitar), Nate Flynn (Bass), Ben Peterson (Keys, Vocals), Kieren Smith (Guitar, Vocals), and Chris “Sick Boy” Lee (Drums).  SIL began in April 2007 when Pat’s band (The Semester) and Kieren’s band (And Then I Turn Seven) broke up. Having played quite a few shows together the two step-cousins decided that they would form their own band, and SIL was officially born. In March of 2008, SIL signed to Epitaph Records, after playing only 7 shows, and began working on their Self-titled EP that was also released in March. Their full-length album ‘Come Around’ (produced by Josh Cain, Motion City Soundtrack) was released later that year in September. SIL then went on to tour with acts such as Motion City Soundtrack, Valencia, All Time Low, Cobra Starship, Ludo and Valencia. This past summer they played the 2009 Warped Tour on the Hurley stage.

SIL’s album has received excellent reviews and they are well deserved. While Epitaph Records is known for signing Punk bands, SIL has managed to hold their own on the label even though their sound is more pop rock. They have put a lot of time, effort, and blood into SIL and their efforts have made SIL into the band they are today. They have managed to build a solid fan base due to their engaging and exciting live-shows. Keep your eyes out for SIL, I guarantee that you’ll be seeing them soon.

Now that you’ve got a bit of background info on SIL, check out a few questions from the interview as well as the video!

So I heard you just finished recording your new CD, how is it different from Come Around?

It’s crazy…it’s not a record that most bands or fans are expecting us to release. It would be like if you take our original record and mix it with Third Eye Blind, Rascal Flatts, Def Leppard, and Taking Back Sunday, it’s super different.

How was the recording process for the new record?

We rented out an apartment in downtown Minneapolis for two months. We got to record the album song by song, for each two days, which was cool because it saved my voice. On our first record, I kept losing my voice like crazy because I sang for a week straight all day long, so this was easier.

Was the recording process stressful, any fights?

Yeah, me and Kieren got into some pretty epic fights because we both write the music, and actually on this record Kieren sings a lot more, so we fought a lot over which parts to sing, but overall it turned out amazing.

All right, so were there any pranks you guys pulled while recording?

Yeah, our Producer Jordan, he gets annoyed with certain things sometimes. So everyday I’d pee in a water bottle and then hide it somewhere in the studio and at night when he’d clean the studio, he’d find it and get really pissed.

How do you guys deal with people placing you guys into the category of pop punk boy bands and how do you try to separate yourselves from that stereotype?

I think something that we take pride in, and we’re not super prideful people, but I don’t think there is any band out their that spends as much time at their merch table or with their fans as we do. Also, on a performance level I think we give that extra effort during our performance that a lot of bands don’t. We take so much pride in our live shows; when people come, they come to see a show; we want to make people laugh and have a good time. Music wise, we really tried for our second record to do something that no one else is doing. I think a lot of people that hate us are going to hear the record and their going to be like ‘alright this is pretty sweet’.

How do you plan to achieve longevity?

That was our main goal when we started this band. So many bands die off after album two, but we’re firm believers in winning people over one by one rather than getting super big all at once.

That makes sense; you want to build a solid fan base first.

Absolutely, you look at bands that have been around for years like Motion City Soundtrack and they are now just getting their first major label debut, but their still a massive band. That’s how we want to do it.

To hear about tour pranks, life on warped tour, which band member almost killed someone one the road while driving, the sandwich game, and other fun stuff about Sing It Loud, check out the rest of the interview in the video below.

Also, I want to say thank you to Sing It Loud for giving me the opportunity to take photos for you guys as well as do this interview. It means a lot and I can’t wait to see what you guys have in store for next year! P.S. Sorry this took so long to type up and all, college is time-consuming