Relient K is back with the release of their 5th full length album, FIVE SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO. Frontman Matt Thiessen talks about the new album and reveals what a long way this quartet has come.
What are the major differences between your first album and your latest album?
The first album we made, the producer had never really made a record before and we had never made a record before, so there was a lot of time spent figuring out how to do it. On the last record, we’ve been doing it long enough that it’s not about the basics anymore, so we get to innovate a little more and get more creative, and sonically, it comes out a much better product.
What’s your favourite song from the new album?
It’s the last song on the album; it’s called “Death Bed”. It’s eleven minutes long and it’s the most fun I’ve ever had writing a song.
Your music is full of puns. Where does that come from?
It’s a mixture of a lot of things. My dad and my grandpa make puns a lot, and so I guess genetically, it got passed down to me. It’s an attempt to try to make things interesting and the humour just kind of happens on its own. It’s not like they’re everywhere anymore, but I definitely enjoy them.
What’s the most challenging part about being in a band?
I guess every band has their challenges, but for us it changes over the years. Right now, the biggest challenge is the fact that none of us live close to each other at all. We have two guys in Nashville, our drummer is an hour away from me in Ohio, and our bass player is in Denver.
If you hadn’t gone down this path then, what do you think you’d be doing today?
I don’t know. I like being creative. My latest obsession is criticizing the heck out of commercials on TV. I’ve been seeing obviously local commercials; the copy’s really terrible and the acting’s really terrible…so maybe I’d get into advertising or something, but I know that’s a very political world, so I don’t know how much I’d want to do it.
Has success changed you or your band mates?
In terms of where we are internally, as friends, or where we are spiritually or our mindsets, no, definitely not. We’re not fighting terrorism or curing cancer…but at the same time, we think it’s very cool that maybe our lyrics can have a positive effect on people. But as far as me, when I was 19, I was living at home…now I can afford not to live at home, which is nice, so things like that have changed.
You mentioned your band mate is having a baby soon. Any cool gift ideas?
For Christmas, even though she hasn’t been born yet, he got her a Hello Kitty Fender guitar. He put it up on the wall, and he’s basically waiting until she’s tall enough to reach it.
Did you have a favourite childhood toy?
I was super into G.I. Joe’s. I’d always watch the commercials and they’d have these elaborate sets to play with the G.I. Joe’s, but I didn’t have anything like that so I would spend all day with construction paper and markers, building boxes of TNT and creating cliffs and making elaborate sets for myself.
Are there any sights you’d like to check out when you’re in Canada?
I was born near St Catharines, so I used to come up to Canada all the time before we started touring. I’ve been to Toronto a lot; my dad used to take me to the SkyDome for my birthday to see Jays games, so I’ve been around a little bit. I’m still Canadian.
Thank you Matt Thiessen!