When Menomonie High School senior Brie Passofaro decided on Meeting and Event Planning for her senior independent study, she never expected to become a rock band promoter. “I was working with Mrs. Turgeson on my event planning project and she told me to contact the Mabel Tainter about using their basement for the event,” said Brie “When Mr. Schuster asked me what I really want to do, well I wanted to have a concert with Sing It Loud, the band that Ben Peterson is in.” Sing It Loud, a pop band with an arena-rock musical background and a punk-rock pedigree, will be coming to the Mabel Tainter Center for Arts for an acoustic performance on Thursday, January 29 at 7:00 p.m.  Linden, a local band, will be performing an opening act for Sing It Loud. Tickets are $8.00 for adults and $6.00 for students. To purchase tickets call the Mabel Tainter Box Office at (715) 235-0001 or online at www.mabeltainter.com. Tickets can also be purchased at Menomonie High School from January 12th through the 23rd before and after school.

“So many pop bands are on ‘pop’ record labels,” explains Sing It Loud vocalist/guitarist Pat Brown, but Sing It Loud is a pop band with more of a punk-rock label. Sing It Loud recently signed with Epitaph Records and released their debut album Come Around on September 23, 2008.  “It lets us keep a more individual and original vibe because we’re not associated with a bunch of bands on the same label that sound exactly like us.”  You may recognize Ben Peterson, the keys player for Sing It Loud, (fourth from the left in the photograph) since he graduated from Menomonie High School in 2007. “That was part of the reason I wanted to present Sing It Loud, because we all knew Ben when he was at MHS,” said Brie.

 A meet and greet with the band on Thursday prior to the concert will held be at Menomonie High School immediately following school at 3:10 p.m., the event is open to the public. The band will talk about how they got started, their journey to recording their first album, and the upcoming WARP tour this summer which will have Sing It Loud performing around the nation for three months.

 A portion of the proceeds from this event will be donated to Thursday’s Table, the weekly community meal program held at the First Congregational Church in Menomonie.