Latest Hits Have Driven Relient K To Top Speed

By John Voket

Regular viewers of MTV, FUSE and even VH-1 are discovering what loyal radio listeners and fans have known for some time – Relient K is probably America’s wittiest new band. But they don’t joke around to disguise a shortage of excellent musical output.

The band, named after the reliable Chrysler which co-founder Matt Hoopes said is still sitting in his parent’s Canton, Ohio, driveway, has certainly gone from cruising speed to overdrive, driven by the success of their latest album and a pair of infectious singles that are getting widespread exposure on radio and video airplay.

You can’t ignore their latest pair of hits, “Be My Escape” and “Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been,” which are both still in heavy rotation.

According to recent reports, the phenomenon of their escalating success is particularly amusing to Relient K’s other original member and co-founder Matt Thiessen, who never even got to watch MTV and other commercial video channels until he started touring outside the Canton region. Apparently his mom, a devout Christian, never permitted the multi-talented musician to watch the provocative music channel.

While Relient K launched itself as a Christian band, playing coffee houses, church halls and “Faith Festivals,” the band has been slowly converting its material to hook-laden pop-punk, although its messages are still positive and in some cases inspiring. But from day one, this group established itself on a foundation of devout musicianship with influences ranging from Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys to classic rock acts like Queen and even Green Day.

The band showcased its talent and infamous wit during a recent sold-out headline gig at The Webster Theater in Hartford. Since Relient K’s tour kicked off February 15, Matt Hoopes’ birthday, his fellow members dubbed their cross-country jaunt “The Matt Hoopes Birthday Tour.”

Each show starts off with the “lighting” of a huge inflatable birthday cake and the audience joining together to sing “Happy Birthday” to the affable guitarist.

But a couple of hours before Relient K hit the stage in Hartford, drummer David Douglas, Mr Hoopes, bassist John Warne, and even the other Matt (Thiessen), sat down with The Newtown Bee to chat a bit about their newfound fame, the incredible lies being circulated as fact in their “official band bio,” their humble roots, and all the fun they are having during their current and perpetual “birthday party.”

The Bee: So, David, your bio said you’ve been playing drums since you were, like, two years old?

David: Oh really! The bio lies … I started out playing in fifth grade band, playing percussion, what is that like nine, or 10?

The Bee: How did you end up hooking up with the two Matts? Were you a classmate of theirs at Glen Oaks High?

David: Glen Oaks? Is that what the bio said? Matt Hoopes went to McKinley … I don’t think any of them went to Glen Oaks!

The Bee: Wow, the bio really lies. So I guess it’s BS that someone in the band owns a Reliant K?

David: No, that’s true. Matt Hoopes still owns that Reliant K. It’s still down in Canton in his parents’ driveway.

Anyway, I went to college down in Canton and we had a lot of mutual friends. So I knew these guys a couple of years before I joined the band.

The Bee: Did you start out playing in Christian bands?

David: I wasn’t necessarily out looking for that, but almost everyone that I played with previously were Christians. It was always about trying to make some rock and roll that we liked. Everyone in the band is Christian, but there was never a goal to be classified as a Christian or worship band.

The Bee: You’ve been with the band since 2000. What was it like as you guys were up and coming?

David: Some of the gigs were super small. We were driving around in a van, playing shows where nobody showed up. But the progression has been really natural, slightly larger crowds, slightly more records selling. There was never a point when it went, “Boom,” and we were wondering what happened?

The Bee: Did last summer’s Vans Warped Tour provide that critical mass where you were playing in front of more people than ever before?

David: Every summer we played festivals and those crowds were always huge. The Warped Tour were definitely huge crowds, but people were there to see like one of a hundred bands playing.

The Bee: The press always talks about your witty song titles, and the lyrics, and all the fun you guys seem to be having, but you really seem to have a very sophisticated musical formula. How did that develop?

John: Matt’s favorite band is The Beach Boys, and Brian Wilson, so vocally that influence comes through with lots of harmonies. Plus his focus is on melody, so a lot of the focus is on melody and harmony when were putting songs together.

The Bee: You kind of had a strange situation coming into the band. Were you actually recruited by the guy you replaced?

John: It was actually really quick, I got a call from Brian (Pittman) the bass player that’s not in the band anymore. They were on the road, and he said, “Hey, do you want to play bass in our band?”

And I was going to school at the time, so I talked to my professors and took a week to think about it. And then the band came back to Canton, I said yes, and two weeks later I was in the studio working on the next record.

The Bee: So do you have any twisted Warped Tour stories? That was a pretty crazy scene.

John: One thing that was kind of crazy is one day we were hanging out, and Tim Armstrong from Rancid came up to us and said, “Hey, I really like your band.” And it was one of those surreal moments because he is one of my heroes.

The Bee: With all those dozens of bands, is there really a lot of interaction among all the band members?

John: The catering area is like summer camp, there’s like a hundred people all walking around from all these bands.

And when you get like 800 musicians hanging out on busses for a month without taking showers for four days at a time, a lot of comradery develops.

The Bee: There’s such a difference between the sounds you put out on the record and what you see during the show. It’s almost like live, at least on the Warped Tour, you were like a punk Relient K cover band.

Matt Hoopes: When we started out we just wanted to be as crazy as possible. But since the last album, we’re really trying to get less punk rock.

As we get older, it’s almost like were trying to follow a pop punk style, but our tastes are getting more varied because we’re listening to so much more music. We still try to be a little more raw live.

The Bee: I was really touched when I read that someone in the band actually left a tour to sing at a memorial service for a teenage girl who got murdered back in Ohio. Can you talk about that?

Matt H: It’s kind of a weird thing to talk about. Sometimes I think it makes light of the seriousness of what happened, because it’s showing up in our press coverage.

It happened really close to where we lived. We got a call while we were on tour, and they told us about what happened. And I guess someone in the church where she went chartered a private jet that picked Matt up while we were on tour, and he flew out and met the family and sang at her service.

The Bee: So in terms of your success, it’s really been quite a ride.

Matt H: We never expected it to go this far. We never expected it to go anywhere really. We just take this as a blessing, and every show is an opportunity and try to have a s much fun as we can, and make the most of it!