All Our Best To The West

Thanks to everyone who joined us at a show or a hang on our west coast tour.

Owl City, Runner Runner, and Classic Crime were all wonderful people to have with us on the road.

We start vocals this week and I'm pretty one track minded about it. Its gonna be fun.

Twitter - @matthewthiessen/@relientk

Twitter Dum

So my @matthewthiessen is being flakey to say the least. To resolve this, I've commandeered the (@relientk) Relient K twitter. Hopefully the @matthewthiessen will be back in my possession before the release of the first Earthquakes record. Haha.


South Dakota this weekend followed by a NYC trip. We have to see a few suits and (hopefully) I see a pair of jeans along the way.
Matt MacDonald from Classic Crime paid us a visit from Seattle this week to sing on a song called If You Believe Me. He's awesome. We had our first Mono Vs. Stereo meeting last night. We're all excited about a lot of stuff. Good times. Can't wait to finish this album.

We have shows with Owl City, Classic Crime, and Runner Runner fast approaching. I don't know if there are tickets left or not, but I hear that its not wise to be hesitant about purchasing them. We'll play some new tunes, and I foresee a fair amount of band interaction.

Sleeps On A Plane
Matty





ssssnakessss

Not Too Legit To Twit

So I guess I'm doing it. Twitter.com/matthewthiessen


I'll still keep this blogform and update it more frequently when I'm not recording an album.

We had a great time in Oklahoma City on Saturday... I'm still battling the remnants of a virus, so I had Tim from House Of Heroes help us sing some tunes. We played a bunch of acoustic songs as well. We were stoked to see Sloop John B and Pedro The Lion's, Big Trucks show up in the set list.

Later
Matty

Walking In a Spider Webisode

Week II HERE.

The Webisodelicious

Our band did a webisode. Watch it by clicking on THIS.

Whoa!

I haven't blogged in a good while, but for (what I've dubbed) a good reason. There are still lyrics to write for the next LP, and I haven't been able to justify typing anything that isn't a verse, chorus, or bridge.



However, we have lots of tasty nuggets of information that we've been anxious to pass along to our friends.

First off, we started recording the new record today! Right now we're working at Dark Horse Recording with our favorite producer, Mark Lee Townsend, and after we get some tracks recorded, we're going to travel back to CA to make some tunes with John Feldmann at the helm.



After we turned in The Bird And The Bee Sides, we fulfilled our first record deal (six albums) with Gotee Records. This made us free agents. Our plan? Matt Hoopes and I just signed up to begin positions as A&R for the soon to be resurrected Mono Vs. Stereo records. We'll sign a few bands a year, and also release Relient K's material through the label. We'll set up some email addresses soon with the specific purpose of receiving demos from unsigned artists. All this to say, we may eventually end up partnering up with the least evil of majors that expresses interest in giving us a helping hand. We'll just have to see. Fun stuff!!



Relientk.com is a temp site right now. Our apologies. Even though we're a bit notorious for having a terrible internet presence, we're planning an attempt to quickly rectify that reputation. Until then we'll lean on our myspace.



It's been a while since we've ventured out west (apart from Warped Tour), so we're going to do a short run of left side shows at the end of May. I've quickly become great friends with Adam Young from Owl City, and I'm really excited to announce that they'll be supporting us on all the dates. I'm also just as pleased to have Runner Runner and Classic Crime with us on selected dates.



5/26/09 Glass House (Pomona, CA - Owl City/Runner Runner)

5/27/09 The Dome (Bakersfield, CA - Owl City/Runner Runner)

5/28/09 The Boardwalk (Orangevale, CA - Owl City/Runner Runner)

5/29/09 Indigo District (Eugene, OR - Owl City/Classic Crime)

5/30/09 Wonder Ballroom (Portland, OR - Owl City/Classic Crime)

5/31/09 Neumo's (Seattle, WA - Owl City/Classic Crime)

6/2/09 Knitting Factory (Spokane, WA - Owl City/Classic Crime)

6/3/09 Knitting Factory (Boise, ID - Owl City/Classic Crime)

6/4/09 Murray Theatre (Salt Lake City, UT - Owl City/Classic Crime)




I'll do a not so businessy blog in a few.

Matty

Zweitausend Nein!

We're seventeen days into the new year, and I haven't even said hello. Sorry about that.

Anyway, after the WWS tour I took a few weeks off, relaxed a bit, and enjoyed the holidays.

A few days before 09, we played a few shows (4) in Galtinburg, TN. We did a bunch of dorky stuff like minigolf, go carts, and buying almost $200 worth of elk jerky.


Since then, I've found my way to here.
I'm on a lake in the middle of nowhere,
and I'm taking some time to write some new tunes for a new LP.
So far, I'm enjoying the process immensely.


Encyclopedias are crucial to any studio set up.



On Monday, my friend Adam from Owl City will be paying me a visit. We're going to work on a few of his songs for his upcoming record. I can't wait.

2009 is gonna be a great year. We've got a ton of really cool things going on, and we'll be doing some major renovations to all of our web stuff. After that, it'll be easier to inform everyone of what we've got cookin.... And it won't just be jerky.

Matthew

I'll Blog If Yule Blog

My friends!

Its been a while. Normally that means that life has been bland. Fortunately, thats a far cry from the truth.

First order of business.... We released some new music!


If you buy Let It Snow Baby, Let It Reindeer for $9.99 on iTunes, you get three new Christmas songs (Oh Holy Night, Silver Bells, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen). These songs are also available a la carte.

If you pick up Let It Snow Baby... in a store, you'll get a card that gives you

The 3 new songs
Two limited edition RK tour posters
Relient K wrapping paper
And our friends House Of Heroes' version of Silent Night

Our new animated video for Sleigh Ride is also available on iTunes.

I know we didn't release a full length Relient K studio album this year, but we did manage to deliver about 30 unreleased songs. We hope you like what we've done in 08, and we'll have plenty more new music in 09.
_____________________________________

The rest of the Uncle Fest Tour was so much fun. The last show of the tour was in Chicago, and it proved to be our favorite! I love ending on a high note.

My personal highlight of the tour was Halloween night in Cleveland. House Of Heroes all dressed up like me.
Cute.

Then the craziest thing happened.
Brady Quinn (the starting QB for the Browns)
and Nick Sorenson (the cornerback that saved the week 8 game vs. Jacksonville)


both showed up to catch the set at the Cleveland House Of Blues. They were in the same box as my brother, Jeremy, and he called me up after the show to meet them. Turns out that they dig the stuff, and they came to watch the show before going to Joshua Cribbs' (another Browns player) Halloween party. I told them that I dig their stuff, and I did a stellar job of not geeking out on em.

This Providence, Ludo, House Of Heroes, and their crew were some of the most amazing people that we've ever had on tour. We're sure gonna miss hanging out with those guys.

We had a few days off after the tour, and then we started up the Winter Wonder Slam tour with B. Reith, Family Force 5, and Toby Mac. We're about six shows in, and our Christmas spirits are high. If you happen to live by any of the twelve remaining dates of the tour, I recommend you make it out to see the show. Its a fun time.

Later.
Thiessen

*

The last few weeks of tour have been wonderful (as expected). We've been through a lot of our favorite towns and met a ton of great people.

We got to see Death Cab For Cutie on a day off in Columbus, and the show was EXCELLENT. They're always good, but the set list was the best its ever been. Ethan had a fun little birthday when we were in the Boston area, and I got to go to the best Cleveland Browns game that I've seen in a LONG time.... if not ever.




I'm pretty sure I didn't get on TV with my sign (which was a little wordy), but I'm ecstatic that the text proved to be applicable. Nobody gave my Brownies a chance against the champion New York Football Giants, but they played an excellent game, and turned my first Monday Night Football experience into one pretty magnificent night. My buddy 2tone (who is the biggest Giants fan I know) drove up from Nashville, we went to Kinkos to print up some signs, and we went to the stadium to sit four rows away from the Brown's bench and the 30 yard line. My brother Jeremy scored us the sweet seats. The Browns followed up by scoring those 35 sweet, sweet points. Great night.

The mercury is beginning to slide down the thermometer, and its feeling more like autumn everyday. We're hitting NYC tomorrow, and then we'll make our way down the east coast towards warmer temperatures. Looking forward to it.

Now You Know What I Did This Rocket Summer

I don't know if you guys have seen the Rocket Summer video for Do You Feel, but for some reason, Bryce let me be in it. Check it out here. A bunch of my buddies are in the video too... looking less nerdy than me. The video is pretty cool though.... Makes me smile and think.


Last night's West Des Moines show was a great time, and we're excited to continue that trend in MN tonight.

Much love.

Madison, Wii

Whee.

The Uncle Fest Tour kicked off today. It was my first opportunity to watch This Providence, and it proved to be time well spent. They put on quite the live show, and they're a pleasure to hang with back stage. House Of Heroes and Ludo tore it up as always, and it was a very satisfying thing to confirm that we're on a tour with a bunch of amazing bands.

Our set had the anticipated "first show of tour" bugs, spiders, etc... But naturally, it was a rootin tootin good time. Three of our friends in the audience arrived in matching Pugsley stripes, and I kind of didn't get it at first. I thought they were horizontal referees.

We played a few songs for the first time, including Death Bed. Other than few flubs (some more key than others), we made our way through the 11 minute storyboard. Its definitely a fun one.

Ethan took a picture and taught it how to say one one hundredth of a thousand words.


Matty

(and yes... 7PM is, in fact, a word)

Here comes Octourber

We finished recording the new Christmas jams, and tomorrow we start rehearsing for The Uncle Fest Tour while they get mixed. Its all happening, Penny Lane.

Had a really fun show in Valpo, Indiana yesterday.

The Browns and OSU landed in the W column this weekend. Go sports team go.

35 MPH

The rest of Warped Tour was just as awesome of the first half.
Afterwords, I received a PS3 for my birthday, moved to Liberty City, and slowed things down to look at the scenery.
I did do quite a bit more than play video games, but crossword puzzles, frisbee, and roller coasters were almost as equally productive.
So, if this blog did, in fact, die for a few weeks.....?
I'm in the mood for zombies anyway.

Love Halloween. But The Uncle Fest Tour is not going to be a Halloween themed tour. At least not 100%. All I'm saying is that I'm not going to eat candy and I'm not going to bob for any apples. Bottom line.
Anyway, it shall be a Fest nonetheless, and I know I keep saying it, but we're really looking forward to hitting up the following
towns alongside Ludo, This Providence, and House Of Heroes.

Fantasy Football is back... I'm 1-1. It was a rough weekend for me in the sport arena. My fantasy team, OSU, and The Browns have all validated my pre-season doubts and fears. Nonetheless, my allegiance shall remain strong.

This Saturday is my Tusky Valley High School 10 year reunion for the class of '98. I was the (probably the only one who ran for) class president, but our treasurer and the other officers did most of the planning. However, I did set up the corn hole tournament and the karaoke that will be there. Should be fun.

We're getting ready to track a couple more Christmas songs to add to this year's release of Deck The Halls, Bruise Your Hand. Its nice to let the Christmas catalogue snowball a bit each year.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Oh Holy Night, & Silver Bells are this season's selections, and along with this, we have (what is shaping up to be) an amazing animated video for "Sleigh Ride" in the works.
Go stuff that in your stocking.
More news on on that jingle jangle later.





________________________
A Blog, Blog Time Ago


July 27- August 17
Warped Tour continued to buck and weave us through the midwest.

Scranton's show was a blast despite the 45 minute thunder/hail storm delay. So, for the benefit of the soggy Scrantonites, our homage to NBC's The Office was delivered with an extra scoop of pizzaz . I'm not sure if they could tell.

Jersey, Pittsburgh, Cinci, Indy, and Milwaukee were all wonderful in every way. Indy is an old stomping ground of mine, so its always good to get back to the uh... 317?

Chicago was my favorite Warped Tour date of 2005, and this year, it proved to be the best again. The show was great and the crowd was fantastic. After our set, the day got a bit interesting.
A couple of the guys from Say Anything told me that Max lost his voice and wouldn't be able to sing. They had recruited a few other singers from the tour to step in karaoke style, and they asked if I could do a tune.
I chose Futile cause its one of my faves from Is A Real Boy.
I was nervous as heck before they went on, and all the Say Anything guys, Fred (The Color Fred), Stephen (Anberlin), Cory (Norma Jean), James (The Bled), Justin (Motion City Soundtrack), Keith (Everytime I Die), and I formed a circle, put our hands in the middle, and sang that Rembrants song I'll Be There For You. I really did believe they would all be there for me.
I was the third one to sing, so I had moment to cram as many lyrics into my brain as I could. I only forgot a few words, and I had a really good time singing with the band. I had never done anything like it before. Livin' The Dream.

The next week took us from Minnesota through Canada and around the Pacific Northwest. Highlights included riddles, dumbos, my friend Zach getting a unicycle in Boise, and watching The Aggrolites while the sun set behind the gorge in George, WA.

We had a day off in Ashland, OR on my birthday, and all the fellas in the band threw me a great party. About 1000 balloons were harmed that day. It was the best bday I'd ever had on the road.

The last week of Warped went by in a blur. We enjoyed the California sunshine and the promise of clean laundry in the near future.

And that's it. Warped Tour was a great tour for us, and I'm so glad we got to be a part of it.
I'll try and post again in less than six weeks.

Matthew Thiessen

The Least And Most Of The Eastern Coast (And The Midwest Too)

Hey friends. Nothing much going on in my world except for the last two weeks of Warped Tour.

Florida was a hot and sweaty ordeal, but a lot of fun shows. The Miami crowd was a great highlight.

The North Carolina, VA Beach, and the DC area MD sets were all wonderful in their own right.

It felt marvelous to stroll around in my Browns T shirt in Cleveland, and Detroit was another highlight crowd (especially considering an earlier time slot).

Canada was interesting. Toronto had us singing High Of 75 in a hearty downpour, and Montreal made me wish I could transpose our lyrics into French. Both shows were a great time, but certainly not the easiest of the tour.

At this point we had played 12 shows in a row, so we all slept a little better the night we drove into Boston for two days off.
I continued supporting my new frisbee addiction, and I watched Hellboy, Hellboy II, and the new Batman installment (which I adored).

Despite impressive thunderstorms and tornado warnings, the show went on in Boston. The result was one that led to smiles on all of our faces. The New England ladies and lads did not disappoint. That morning, Zach from All Time Low and I went for a jog. In an act of spontaneity I steered our run onto a path that led through the woods. Zach got a bit off the path, and moments later said, "Dude, I think we should run faster, there's a swarm of bees following you." I looked back and confirmed the colony in flight. After getting stung twice, he soon realized that he had followers of his own, and we high-tailed it out of the woods into a trailer park. Even though we were out of the bees' natural environment, the bloodthirsty demons decided to pursue us without relent. We soon passed some kids walking towards Warped Tour and passed off our bee problem like a baton in a relay.
Start running kids.

Buffalo and Philadelphia area Jersey were another set of fine and dandy days.

This morning we played Long Island and enjoyed beautiful weather for the rest of the Saturday afternoon and evening. I love NY.

Matthew T.

We Heart You Too (and your oversized Rice Krispy treat)

The tour has been humming along nicely.

We spent the fourth of July in Austin, TX, 'Merica. It was wonderful. There were fireworks and scared bats everywhere.

We had a splendid day in San Antonio, and a nice morning-time sing along in Houston (we opened the stage that day).

After Texas we took a few days off and reconvened in Atlanta. I finally bought toothpaste for the first time since losing my personal supply on the second day of tour. Its nice to be back with my own brand.

Yesterday we began our descent into Florida with a show in Mickey's hood. I was loving me some Orlando until I blew out my voice in song. I didn't realize how bad it was until I woke up today and gathered that St. Pete was most likely going to hear me sound like St. Pete Brady for thirty minutes. Nonetheless, the show was another dose of fun in the sun.

As for tonight, I'm about to go cook up some throat coat, and stay out of the present rainstorm.
Later.
Matt "about to drink some" Tea, Son

Apple B Sides Served Medium Rarities

We released The Bird And The Bee Sides yesterday! We're so happy to have it out and available. A toothy smile and thanks to everyone who picked it up or who is planning on doing so.

The first twelve days of Warped Tour have been nothing short of fantastic. Every show has been so much fun, and I've made a ton of new friends so far (behind and in front of the scenes).

There's a ton of great bands on the tour that I've had a chance to meet and see on the tour. There's more than 80 bands on the tour, and I think there might be 50+ that I've never listened to before in my life. I've been chiseling away at my personal "go see" list, and I've realized that this Warped Tour is an even better value than I originally thought.

Some highlights include

Say Anything (my favorite show on the tour... it may have something to do with the fact that they've let me sing gang vocals on "Belt" a few times)

The Higher (they play a great new song, and Seth's vocal is pretty smooth on their cover of "Bye, Bye, Bye")

The Academy Is (rumor has it.... your foot will be tapping)

Reel Big Fish and Oreskaband (you can't beat a talented ska band on Warped)

Anberlin (I've seen them play a thousand times, but I still love watching my buddies tear it up)

Street Dogs (classic Warped punk rock)

The Maine (the day I saw them, they drove all night and played first on zero sleep... they still managed to pull off a superb set)

August Burns Red (I couldn't tear my eyes away from the drummer, Matt. At one point he pulled off a fill so crazy that I started laughing and yelled out "SICK!!!". I looked around, and everyone else watching was doing the same thing)

Beat Union (punk/ska/reggae from Birmingham, England. I could tell that they're really loving Warped Tour. So much fun to watch)

The Aggrolites (they play dirty reggae, and they're by far the tightest band on the tour. One of the best moments of the tour was when I watched the Aggrolites play the Warped BBQ in Las Cruces, NM)

We've also been working with a wonderful organization called Blood:Water Mission. They're providing wells and latrines for people in Africa whose lives depend on those things. A huge thanks to Paul Reed Smith (PRS) guitars for providing us with a guitar to raffle off for BWM at the end of Warped Tour.

In conclusion, I guess I'm just recommending that everyone come out and enjoy a day at Warped, and pick up our new EP/B sides record.

I'm having a lovely summer, and I hope the same applies to you.

Matty T.

This Means War

ped Tour Has Begun


Photo by Jered Scott


Considering that today was the first day of Warped Tour, it was a great day. Not perfect, not entirely smooth or comfortable (108 degrees during our set), but still great.

I think we're going to post a new song on our myspace tomorrow. Its called The Lining Is Silver.
Its another one off of The Bird And The Bee Sides (26 songs - comes out July 1 - ten bucks or less at most retailers).

Can't wait for San Fran tomorrow. Its supposed to be sunny with a high of seventy six.
Ha.

Matty

Bird & Bee; Flight In Formation

More Details
If you've followed our band a bit over the last few years, you'd have noticed that we enjoy releasing recorded music apart from our "official" records. Lots of bands do it. Its always fun for us.
In the early spring of 2000, we printed an EP called 2000 A.D.D., months before our self-titled album came out. It was the first thing we'd ever done with a record label logo on it. I guess it seemed pretty special to us.

Ready, set, go.
We've been having a good time making Christmas records, EPs, and Acoustic releases ever since.


Meet the new EP.


Gotee signed us up for six. And for number six, we decided to release an EP, B sides, and rarities album called The Bird And The Bee Sides. The following is the track-list for the 26 songs that are going to be on the physical copy. Its everything that we could squeeze on to one disc, I promise. (the suits talked us out of doing a dual disc release) An additional, digital album will also be included with The Bird And The Bee Sides. We don't know how many songs are going to be on that yet. Again, we'll keep you posted.

The first thirteen make up The Nashville Tennis EP.

These songs are new tunes. Track six is a new version of the previously recorded song, The Thief.


The last thirteen songs have never been sold in a record store. Some have been on various EPs we've done, some are acoustic covers of album tracks, and some are demos. All of them have been remastered, and a lot of them have been remixed.
The Bird And The Bee Sides.


Its going to be a cardboard digipak, the price of a normal cd, and available in stores July 1.
Please pass this message on to anyone you know who might care. Please.

Head here to check out a new song called The Scene And Herd.

Stay tuned!
Matty.

A While Indeed

Not too much to report. Did a bit of gardening and music stuff this weekend.

All (most?) of the new tunes will be mixed as of tomorrow night. That makes me smile. Gotta love Christmas Eve syndrome.

Getting close on an album cover too.

More smiles.

Love ya, Mom (she definitely doesn't read this... haha)

Matty

The Hiram Terriers

We had a really lovely time playing in Hiram, OH last night. After rehearsing it for the first time Friday, we decided to play a new song called The Scene And Herd. I'll be tracking the vocals this week, and I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Secondhand Serenade joined in as well, and it was a joy to meet and hang out with those dudes.

We did a fun woodsy photo shoot during the day (hopefully some of the shots will make it into the Bird And The Bee Sides packaging).

Also, I got to congratulate the Hiram Women's softball team for advancing to their tournament, and I got to wish my friend Nina a 24 hour belated happy birthday.

And this is my nephew, Hudson.

In a hat.



Matty