Relient K has become very well acquitted with a touring lifestyle, being on the road on average 150-200 dates a year. Touring has been a key element to the band's development of their fan base and strong record sales. Being a part of tours featuring bands such as Switchfoot, The O.C. Supertones, Five Iron Frenzy among others, have helped to put the band in front of over a million people to date. In addition, Relient K has ventured out on two very successful headlining tours. The name "Relient K" is from Hoopes' K car. You can see a picture of the car in the photo gallery under the "media" link.

Both Matts and Brian grew up as casual friends. They went to the same church. Sophomore/Freshman year, they all started playing guitars for youth group worship on Wednesday nights. All three of them were really into MxPx, Ghoti Hook, Slickshoes, Plankeye, and other bands like that. With those immediate influences, the guys decided to start the band. That was the fall of 1997. They found a drummer named Todd Frescone, and he played with the band for about a year. In Feb. 1998, Relient K recorded an independent demo with Mark Townsend. It was crappy but fun to have recorded music. The guys just went to school and played a bunch of shows. Some were a lot better than others. In August 1998 Gotee records showed interest in the band. A demo deal was set into place, and the band started working really heard to try and set things in motion to start full-time. The self-titled debut was finished in August of 1999, and was released 4/28/00. From there on, Relient K started touring regularly. After a few drumming changes, Dave Douglas took the permanent role in December of 2000.

About eight years after that premonition, Thiessen joined up with friends Brian Pittman and Matt Hoopes to start Relient K. The boys wrote some songs that were under the influence of bands such as Mxpx, Ghoti Hook, Five Iron Frensy, and Click Shoes. In January of 1998, with the addition of drummer Todd Frascone, Relient K started playing shows. One month later, as a favor, producer Mark Lee Townsend recorded "All Work and No Play" (Relient K's first demo) for $200. While on tour with DC Talk, Mark played the demo for DC Talk member and owner of Gotee Records, Toby Mckeehan. Toby heard some raw promise in the demo, and eventually signed Relient K to the Gotee roster.

"When I was about eight years old, I distinctly remember tossing around the ideas of being a 'rock star' when I grew up," says Matt Thiessen, singer/guitarist for Relient K. "Immediately after the thought entered my mind, I felt very dirty for having such an idea. That, of course, was 1988, and the tail end of MTV's spandex wielding hair band era. My definition of a rock star was a guy (resembling a girl) with long wild hair, skin tight leopard print clothes, and a keytar (keyboard guitar) in hand. All of this accompanied the fact that I was forbidden to watch MTV, and that all of these impressions of rock and roll were illegally snuck into my mind under mom's ever-present radar. After those 30 seconds of absolute rebellion, I submitted to the respected aspiration of being an astronaut."

Relient K's first album (self-titled) was recorded in the summer of 1999 and released in April 2000. The self titled album was received warmly and has since racked up over 100,000 units in sales. Their second album, "the Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek," was recorded in January 2001 and released late August of that year. The album showed that the band had maturing potential as well as an ever expanding fan base, selling 300,000 copies. In March of 2003, Relient K released their third full length LP, "Two Lefts Don't Make A Right, But Three Do" debuting at #38 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. "It's cool. I'm glad that it exists and that we made it," says bassist Brian Pittman.

"In addition to our 3 nationally released recordings," adds Matt Thiessen "we've always released an EP before every album to allow some new and exclusive material to leak out in-between LPs."

Musically, Relient K listen's to a ton of stuff that influences them. Pretty much any pop punk band you can think of (Midtown, Piebald, NFG, Blink, etc?) as well as bands like The Beach Boys, Ben Folds, and Simon and Garfunkle. Our lives are influenced by our Christian beliefs, our friends, and our amazingly supportive families.

Following up the extraordinary success of 2001's The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek, Relient K fires up another red-hot batch of punk-powered rock 'n' roll that makes their third release, Two Lefts Don't Make a Right, But Three Do, simply explosive. Their riff-driven new album exemplifies this band's continued growth as lyrical craftsmen and pop hook dynamos all realized through songs as smart as they are snappy. Their latest, which vocalist Matt Thiessen co-produced with longtime collaborator Mark Townsend, perfectly captures the group's signature hooks and harmonies without forgetting to slam it all together with a burly dose of untamed punk attitude.

Two Lefts (for short) opens with "Chap Stick, Chapped Lips, and Things Like Chemistry," an ear-addicting take on relationships with a classic Relient K kick. The group's trademark wily wit and John Waters-ish nostalgia rings most rowdy in songs like "Mood Rings" (a sarcastic wish to know when girlfriends are thinking kiss or kill) and "Hoopes I Did It Again" (which describes Canton as "90210 without the Beverly Hills"). And showing revenge is best served loud and fast, "In Love with the 80's" pays back those childhood poundings as Thiessen mocks his older brothers' new wave rites of passage, such as wearing pink cummerbunds to their proms and sporting the famed mustache-and-mullet.

When not jabbing at pop culture stereotypes, Relient K also exhibits deft skill in capturing life's highs and lows in songs that really hit home. Last summer, the group witnessed their music's reach when tragedy stunned their hometown community as a local teenage girl was kidnapped and later found murdered. Relient K happened to be the girl's favorite band, so at her parents' request, the group flew back home from tour to perform "For the Moment I Feel Faint" at her memorial. Recalls Thiessen, "We got to meet her parents and really interact with all her friends. It was incredible to see the impact that the music actually had."

With Two Lefts, serious songs like "Getting Into You" stress the importance of setting one's priorities straight, while "I Am Understood?" deals with feelings that no one understands, including yourself. Likewise, "Falling Out" focuses on the aftermath of a bitter failure, and "Over Thinking" tackles the torn emotions of concluding ill-fated relationships. Clearly the impact of last summer's tragedy further stirred Relient K's approach to offering hope within wellcrafted songs.

Looking back, Relient K originally formed with the simple desire to play shows making their live debut on New Year's Day 1998. Even then, the group's humor invaded the band's very name, which they christened after Hoopes' train-wreck heap of a car, a Plymouth Reliant K. Thiessen laughs, "One night we stopped the car on the highway to see how fast it could go from zero to sixty. It took over fifteen seconds!"

In 2000, Relient K dropped their self-titled Gotee Records debut, which earned the group a Billboard Video Music Award nod. Their 2001 follow-up, The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek, proved to be the group's breakthrough as it continues selling thousands of copies every week while turning these young Buckeyes into a club headliner. In fact, Relient K sold-out 25 mainstream clubs last fall on their first top-bill tour. With Two Lefts promising even more success, Relient K is already set to rubber the road again this spring on the national See Spot Rock Tour, expecting to fill over 40 auditoriums in "A" markets across the country.

"We are just regular kids," confesses Thiessen about his band. "I think we relate to our audience because we are our audience. We like the same music that our fans do, songs that helps us have a good time but that also make us think."

Without question, Relient K's latest is about to deliver a lot more of these good times, and that's something to think about!