When we last spoke to Sing It Loud in September of 2007 they were just getting their feet wet. The Minneapolis quintuplet had just released a self-titled EP and had been a band for less than five months.
Oh kids these days, they grow up so fast.
Now they have new songs on the horizon (recorded with Josh Cain of Motion City Soundtrack), a wealth of touring experience, and oh yeah, they signed to Epitaph Records home of MCS, The Matches and Bad Religion.
With all of this happening in the few months since I last sat down with Kieren and Pat of Sing It Loud, I decided it was time to check back in.
Sing It Loud has put in thousands of miles of being sweaty in a van together over the past several months and it shows.
“We are definitely getting a better feel for playing together as a band. It feels like we know what each other is doing when we are performing now, whereas a few months back, we had been a band for such a short period of time that it didn't feel as natural. We are also developing a lot not only musically, but as friends,” Pat explains. “When the band started, I had really only known Kieren well and not so much the other guys and I know that goes the same for them too. Throw five guys on tour that have never really known each other before and it's crazy! But we are becoming very in tune with each other [on a personal level].”
When they weren’t on the road, they were in the studio with Josh Cain (guitarist of Minneapolis’ own Motion City Soundtrack), recording their debut full-length. The experience and wealth of knowledge Josh brought into the studio is sure to show on Sing It Loud’s upcoming release.
“The best thing Josh brought to the table was his outside ear. I've never been in a band that writes a record and then has someone with tons of song writing experience come in and give opinions, help make changes and what not. It was amazing,” says Pat. “It really helped to make every song unique. Josh really helped me out a lot with my melody lines, making them different from each other. Also, having someone like Josh behind us really gave us motivation to write and record this record.”
Up next for the Minneapolis-based group: touring, touring, and more touring, with the release of their full-length Epitaph debut next fall.
“The new songs are very upbeat and feel good. The sound recording itself is a little different from our EP; it’s a more natural sounding record. It’s definitely the kind of pop record that you would want to have in your CD player when you get in your car to drive home from your last day of school,” Pat proclaims. “The recording sounds very big. And the songs themselves, we had more time to write them and all contributed to the process this time around, whereas with our EP, Kieren and I wrote them and started recording them before we even had a lineup.”
While the band is obviously excited about their new status as a signed artist, the boys in Sing It Loud aren’t letting it get to their head.
“Now that we've signed with a label, nothing really has changed internally as a band,” Pat explains. “We will still be sitting on our MySpace 24/7 talking to fans, we're still going to be writing even though our record is already recorded, and we will be on the road almost literally the entire next year straight; kids can definitely expect us to be in their state at least once or twice during this summer .”
With a promise like that, you have no excuse not to check out Minneapolis’ latest buzz band, Sing It Loud.
