Relient K Blogs

Woodland Forest - O Holy Nightmare

Posted on Sat, 24 Nov 2007 08:19:00 GMT

Ok so it's been about an eternity since I've worked on Woodland Forest, and for that I apologize, but finally today a new "episode" is being released. Really it's a Christmas Special, and it stars Crosby the Reindeer singing a Christmas carol. Our friend Josh from Emery showed us a demo that someone sent in to a record label of a guy trying to sing "O Holy Night". It's both quite painful and enjoyable to listen to, so I thought it'd be a good idea to make a lovable reindeer sing it after pitching the song up a bit. Here's the result.

Merry Christmas to all!


John W. & Relient K

The Lousiest Update Ever

Posted on Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:00:36 GMT

So.. I kinda meant to post something in this blog area since the tour started, but for some reason, haven't. The tour is going great. We're having a ton of fun with Ruth and Switchfoot. A metric ton.

Jon, John, and I blog in the personal blog section over there on the right, and we tend to write about tour stuff once and a while. We definitely update those more frequently than this blog page.

The Christmas record came out October 23rd, and the feedback is good. It was kind of weird for us to play Sleigh Ride in October though.

The tour seems to be having a positive impact for Habitat For Humanity. We've made it out to a few build sites and had a lot of fun helping the cause.

Hope to see ya at a show.
Matt T.

Our Bus Was No Good, So We Fired It

Posted on Tue, 10 Jul 2007 02:55:52 GMT

So, for any of you that don't know, the majority of our bus and trailer burned down on the shoulder of a Pennsylvania Turnpike around 3am on 6/28. We all escaped the blaze unscathed, and stood on the side of the road, staring wide-eyed (some of us without shoes) at the massive flames consuming what we assumed to be most of our possessions. We were uncertain if the bus was going to cinematically explode, so we watched from a healthy distance. All of us were so happy to be alive, but we quickly took that for granted, and began lamenting over our stuff. "I had my computer bag in my hand, and I dropped it to flee the bus! Why didn't I just bring it!?" someone said. "Why didn't I just grab my phone!? I always grab my phone!" someone else exclaimed. Our guitar tech, Sam, had eight years of hand written writings (he's an author) in his bag. We all accepted that Sam's loss was probably the greatest. I, too, had a computer in the bus that had a lot of unfinished writing. All of it was backed up, but my backups were also torched in the fire. We assumed all was lost, but a fire truck came to the scene after about twenty minutes, and began to extinguish the flames. After a while (including an almost beautiful scene of a fireman, crouched on top of our bus, back lit by fire, hacking a hole into the roof with an ax, and putting a hose through the hole to cut off the fire from reaching the front of the bus), the inferno was extinguished, and we were allowed to walk to the the bus to retrieve some items that weren't burned. The front luggage compartment of the bus was untouched, and a few of us had suitcases down there. Those that did had some clothes, but they smelled so strongly of smoke that they weren't wearable until given a good dry-cleaning. We were all standing around bummed about our stuff, but we kept a positive attitude, because we realized there was nothing we could do about it. The thing that bothered us the most was that we were going to have to miss the Cornerstone Music Festival (our favorite summer fest that we've played the last six years in a row). There's no getting another chance at this year's Cstone, and we really wanted to play.

Around 6am, a tow-truck company brought a school bus out to the side of the road and picked us up. We all went to a Comfort Inn, and tried to sleep. We were all exhausted ('fried'), but it was hard to get the images and reality of what just happened out of our heads. You could say they were 'burned' into our minds. Haha. The next day, we woke up and took a rental van to Walmart. We grabbed some toothbrushes and socks and undies to distribute amongst ourselves. Then, we drove out to the junk yard where our bus and trailer were towed. As you can tell by the pictures, it was pretty crazy to look at all the damage and realize that we were riding in that bus less than eight hours before. After examining the wreckage, all of us were finding things that we had written off as burned or lost, but they weren't; An iPod here, a computer there. Things were looking better than we assumed they'd be. Sam ended up finding all of his writings smoke damaged, but legible. Needless to say, he's going to scan them into a computer and back them up now. Also, about 85% of our gear was fine. This discovery was HUGE. That meant that we wouldn't have to worry about replacing guitars, amps, and the other millions of little things we had in our gear cases. Dave's drum kit didn't quite survive, and every single T-shirt and cd were ruined (haha... burned cds!), but we thought the total damage was going to be insurmountable. It wasn't. However, its unfortunate that we were playing some big shows that weekend. Otherwise, the merch wouldn't have been in such bulk. Even though the majority of the "band" stuff was okay, there were still a ton of personal items that were going to be difficult to replace. A lot of people lost cell phones, computers, clothing, etc. I had personally been living out of a suitcase for a month. I lost everything that I had brought with me (an exception could be said of my iPod. It was damaged, but it wasn't a complete loss), and what I had brought with me was a lot.

This brings me to the reason I started writing about this in the first place. Its all fine and good to say, "At least we all made it out safely, that's the only thing that's important", and that IS obviously how we all feel. However, I kept talking about how stuff is just stuff, and how material things are only ours to be taken away at some point. That IS what I think. But, for some reason, my heart wasn't really on the same page with what I was thinking and saying. For the first few days after the incident, all I could think about was replenishing what I had lost. All I wanted was to have my eight years of photos , my shirts, my phone, and all of my other stuff back. I would go in and out of phases of being almost depressed about it. Then it hit me. I can say whatever I want, but when it comes down to it, I think I'm virtually chained to my possessions. I feel incomplete without a cell phone. I feel deprived if I don't have a functioning computer. I feel desperate to rebuild my entire, fragile, empire of "stuff," because I don't know how to live without it, and that scares me. I've been thinking about how we aren't entitled to our things. Frankly, it's not some God-given right for us to own a bunch of stuff. It's a blessing to live in a place where we can work hard and reward ourselves with those comforts. I was blessed to have a cell phone in the first place. In the same way, I'm blessed to have two arms, two legs, ears, eyes, and so on. Nothing is a guarantee, and the truth of the matter is, the most important things in life, are, in fact, our lives themselves.

It almost seems like too much of a coincidence that just hours before all of this happened, we were hanging out with our buddies in Switchfoot (who we're touring with this fall), and we were discussing some ideas of how to incorporate Habitat For Humanity into the tour. How interesting, that we were thinking about those who had suffered much greater losses than the one we were about to experience in less than four hours. If this night's tale was a work of fiction, this time with Switchfoot would have been foreshadowing. Maybe God was trying to plant some thoughts in our heads, maybe He wanted us to experience a bit of loss ourselves before we tried to pretend to know what other victims of tragedy go through. I guess we can at least accept it as some perspective. Anyway, at a later date, we're going to reveal a couple of the ways we're going to make it fun and easy to donate time/money to Habitat For Humanity (one way will be as easy as buying a ticket to the show). It' s a cause that helps people rebuild one of the most essential things you can lose. The essentials are; food, clothes, and shelter. Hmmm... I bet if my shelter was destroyed, I wouldn't be so bummed about a cell phone.

Anyway, enough rambling. We appreciate everyone's thoughts, prayers, concerned messages, and willingness to donate gear, money, etc... (we're glad we haven't had to accept any of that). We love you all.

Matthew Thiessen & the rest of Relient K

5/10/07 Norfolk, VA

Posted on Fri, 11 May 2007 04:45:00 GMT

As I'm writing this, Hoopes and some of the Sherwood guys are having a hot tub party in the next room. Kinda funny. Thats one of the many many perks of playing The Norva in Norfolk, VA. (although sitting in a hot tub with a bunch of dudes in their boxers may not be a perk) We had a really fun day today, and a great day off yesterday. We've made some really good friends in this town over the years, and we always enjoy hanging out in this fine city. A rad band called Hot Vegas opened up the show today, and Sherwood played a longer set in the second slot of the evening. Unfortunately, Mae couldn't play tonight's show. I'm tired, so I'm going to go call it an early night. PLAY

Matthew Thiessen

5/8/07 Baltimore, MD

Posted on Thu, 10 May 2007 20:55:47 GMT

I never realized how often we don't play Baltimore. I know that sounds funny, but on most tours, we swing by Philly and Washington DC, and then just forget about Baltimore. I'm quite pleased that this tour remembered Baltimore. Its kinda like the Alamo... gotta remember that stuff. We had a really fun show, and here to tell you more about it is Baltimore's own, Edgar Allen Poe.


Matty T.

5/7/07 Washington DC

Posted on Thu, 10 May 2007 19:25:00 GMT

Matt Hoopes and I woke up and went to Voice Of America (a government funded radio station) and played some songs for Larry London. It was fun, but I was too sleepy to sing worth a proverbial darn. The weariness carried over into the set, but we still managed to have a really fun show. Most of this can be attributed to the majesty of the people singing and sweating along with us. They were, as the kids say, far out. We had a fun game of poker after the show, and after that, JP (Mae's merch guy), some other pals, and I went to the Lincoln Memorial, The Washington Monument, and some other famous DC sites. The thing that was cool about it, was that it was 3am. It was a gorgeous night, no one was around (save a few security guards), and it was quite the surreal experience. Here's a crappy pic I took with my celly from the steps of the Lincoln. Its the Washington Monument smaller than ever. I was also standing where Forrest Gump was standing when Jenny waded through the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. So cute

Matty T.

5/6/2007 East Rutherford, NJ

Posted on Wed, 09 May 2007 21:25:39 GMT

5/5/07 Albany, NY

Posted on Mon, 07 May 2007 21:11:33 GMT

We had to work a little bit harder to not be "on the verge of going insane" bored in Albany, NY today. I don't know if everyone knows this, but the town may or may not have been named after Al Bundy. Interesting. Later on, John W, my girl, Shannon, and I went to the Dollar General. While we were there, we purchased a Zoom Copter, 4 kites, some toy airplanes, a Glamour magazine, and 5 jars of Hellman's (it was, in fact, Cinco de Mayo). We took our new items around the corner a had a great time playing with them until they quickly broke. The Zoom Copter was broken, repaired, and finally broken beyond repair before I went all Godzilla on it and stomped it to bits. We got bored with single kite flying, so we tied the My Little Pony kite to the Diego kite, which we then tied to the Spiderman kite. The glorious triple kite was a wonder to behold. Our show, on the other hand, was donkey drivel. It was not RK's best. Boo for that. Everyone that was watching was way cool, but we weren't able to rise above the technical problems enough to feel really good about the show. Sorry about that.

Matty T.

5/4/07 Rochester, NY

Posted on Mon, 07 May 2007 23:37:00 GMT

Rochester New York is my new favorite New York city that starts with an R. One of the reasons that this statement rings true is because of all the cool kids at WaterStreet. We had a grand ole time playing our show for the patrons that came out to the venue that is named after the street on which it is located. I can't remember exactly the last time that we played there, but I remember that we did, and it was also awesome. We met some girls that came to the show that made these amazing hoodies with song titles and lyrics on them. It must have taken them at least a long or a short while. I'm not sure because I wasn't there when they did it, but it was cool and they had very nice penmanship. Here's one of em....

One of the guys that worked the show took Eric (our stage manager) and I to a comic book store that was located in some sort of old warehouse. After we left there, we went to Taco Bell. It has been over 8 months since I have been there because of the now defunct bet that Dave and I made, and it was just as glorious as I remembered. Our lighting designer Will Kent, who is from there, has been talking about this show for a while. We all got to meet some of his friends, including his girlfriend... I had to give him five bucks cause I swore he made her up... I guess you really can trust a guy with two first names. Overall, we had a great time in Rochester and I know I can't wait to get back... See ya next time! js

5/3/07 Cleveland, OH

Posted on Fri, 04 May 2007 18:37:56 GMT

What a day! Cleveland is definitely the closest to home we'll get this whole tour, and the venue was packed with a ton of our favorite friends and family members. It was our first show back from a short hiatus, and we had a good ol' time. I had just been up in Cleveland a few days ago to see the Indians stomp all over my precious Toronto Blue Jays. However, today's experience was a lot less depressing. I spent most of the afternoon picking up stones and gravel in the House Of Blues parking lot. You know......Cleveland Rocks. I love 'em.
At one point during the show, I came down from the stage to sing with and smell the crowd, but for some reason, I couldn't find my way up onto the stage again. I felt quite the fool. Unfortunately, for me, Mr. T. pities the fool. Unfortunately for him, I pity Mr. T. for judging me without really getting to know me.
After the show, I got to hang out with my sibs and some other good friends, and we watched the Golden State Warriors upset the Mavericks. This did not upset me. I'm a big Cavs fan (check out the song Lebron Top Of The World), and other than that, I like underdogs. More than hot dogs or the occasional updog. Whats updog, you ask? Not much. Whats up with you?

Matthew Arnold Thiessen

4/23/07 Kansas City, MO

Posted on Sun, 29 Apr 2007 17:34:00 GMT

Today was the last day of the 2cnd leg of this tour. Basically we're taking a week off and then starting up again. It was kind of like the last day of camp or school... you clean out your cabin or your locker, finding things that you thought were lost, but in reality, they were just placed in places that they did not belong... "I found my Stephen Baldwin Bio Dome Decoder Pin!!!!!" If I had a dollar for every time I lost that thing. Anyway, the show was a mixed bag. Two parts fun, and one part debacle. My microphone wasn't working too well, and during Which To Bury... everything kind of went to crap. From the crowd's perspective, it probably looked like we were playing our first show ever. It was not. I apologize for that. Its kind of funny in hindsight. After the show, we hung out with some nice folks that said they enjoyed the show (despite the weird parts), and then Dave, John, Stephen Baldwin and I headed to the airport hotel and prepared to wake up at 4am.


Matthew T.

4/21/2007 Denver, CO

Posted on Sun, 29 Apr 2007 00:08:51 GMT

4/20/2007 Salt Lake City, UT

Posted on Sat, 28 Apr 2007 23:47:58 GMT

4/18/07 Portland, OR

Posted on Tue, 24 Apr 2007 02:20:01 GMT

Today was either the third or fifth time we played the Crystal Ballroom in good ol' Porty-central. Maybe the fourth. Anyway, the people in attendance were, as always, a joy to sing and play songs for. During the show, we attempted to ignore, but instead endured, some technical problems on the audio front. It seems to me like that's happened every time we're in Portland. I wonder if everyone there thinks I'm a jerk cause I'm always scowling in the direction of feedback. I'm not a jerk. Promise. Two really awesome girls gave us some peeeeiiiimmmmp (pimp) boxing gloves as a gift. I don't know what we did to merit such a jaw dropping (and perhaps dislocating) present. But thanks!!!!

I've been really getting into Phil Collins and Genesis lately. I guess that can't be all bad. Or it could. Who knows? I don't think Phil minds. In fact, I used a special thought-materializing camera that not only captured his image, but photographed his thoughts as well. Check it out...


Matty T.

4/17/07 Vancouver, BC

Posted on Mon, 23 Apr 2007 08:25:33 GMT

We've only played Vancouver twice before, but today was far superior to the previous two experiences. It was actually one of my favorite shows from the tour so far. I don't know if kids like us more in Canada because I'm Canadian, or what.... but whatever it is, crowds like today's make touring even better than it already is. We didn't really do too much today, but when we were crossing the border back to the states, not only did we not leave John Warne, but the customs guys knew our band and wanted autographs. In case you don't know, customs officers are usually pretty stern and operate with a fist of Canadian or American iron. These guys were nice, and didn't even make us get out of our bunks. You can click HERE to read John's accounting of his border experiences from March.
Matthew T.

4/16/07 Seattle, WA

Posted on Sun, 22 Apr 2007 22:05:00 GMT

--Grunge and Hashbrowns-- There are few cities that come to mind when I think of places I would have loved to live in the mid nineties. The one in the forefront of my heart and soul, would definitely be Seattle. I won't go into how much the music that came out of this city shaped and changed my life, because that would be boring for anyone except me... However, I will tell you a story that will both bring tears of joy, and sadness to your heart. I'll start from the beginning. We played a show at the Showbox that was very cool. The venue is set up with more width than depth, and the floors are definitely caving in. With every hop, skip, or mosh of the amazing patrons that attended the show, we could feel it in the form of a trampoline on the quaint stage, which was flush with hundreds of kids, as there was no barricade between band and fan. In fact, they were so close, two girl kept swiping pics off of my mic stand... I didn't really mind though, I had enough to get by. Anyway, we played the show, and had a great time. The energy coming off of the crowd was just amazing. Once the show ended, we packed up the trailer, and headed over to a hotel to take showers. The next few minutes were a blur, as I heard the word "diner" and ran off the bus to follow the crowd. Ethan, our guitar tech/lap steel player led us several blocks to a place that will forever be etched in my heart of hearts... the "Five Points Cafe." I'll get the sad part over with quick. Our lighting director Will, after walking to the establishment, found out that you must be twenty one to enter because they serve alcohol, and like the great friends we are, wished him well on his way back to the bus. Apparently this restaurant has been around since the beginning of Seattle, and still has the original menu inserted with the updated version. I ordered a meal called the "deck hand" which consisted of two eggs, two bacon strips, two sausage links, 2 huge hot cakes, and the largest plate of hashbrowns I have ever seen. Did I mention that the hashbrowns were unlimited? I can't imagine the glutton that would endure more than one plate of these hashbrowns, but I'd sure like to shake his hand. This was of course the glorious part of the evening, that will surely bring you tears of joy, and probably envy. We ate, we conversed, and we rolled ourselves back to the bus. What is the moral of this story? Make sure you are twenty one before trying to order a "man's" plate of unlimited hashbrowns at 3 in the morning in Seattle, or you will have a lonely, lonely, hunger pained walk to a dark, and sad corner of an empty bus... Love ya, Seattle. js

4/14/07 San Francisco, CA

Posted on Fri, 20 Apr 2007 08:22:23 GMT

Today was the third day in a row that we had to get up and do something "extra" before the show. We played an acoustic set at the Apple store in downtown San Francisco. A ton of folks showed up, and we couldn't have been happier. Unfortunately I was pretty tuckered out from our super busy week. The performance could've been a lot better, but we're thankful that nobody threw any broken iPods or rotten apples at us. Which brings me to the fact that they don't even sell apples at the Apple store! Thats like not selling barrels at Crate and Barrel! ... Oh wait... do they sell barrels? They do not. However, this place does.

Anyway, the show was awesome... We played the Fillmore... just like Hendrix and The Grateful Dead had before us. Sherwood played a great show for their "hometown" crowd, and Mae nearly brought tears to my eyes with their beautiful rendition of Tears In My Eyes by Dwight Aaronson. Right before we played In Love With The 80's I asked this dude Mike (who was in the front row) to go to the senior ball with Laura (also in the front row) per her request (request was made before the show). Mike said yes, and there was much rejoicing (and a nice little hug between the couple). I think I'm done now... Yup... pretty much... DONE.
Matthew Thiessen

4/13/2007 LA, CA

Posted on Fri, 20 Apr 2007 03:10:47 GMT

4/12/2007 Burbank & Anaheim, CA

Posted on Fri, 20 Apr 2007 03:06:04 GMT

4/11/07 San Diego, CA

Posted on Thu, 19 Apr 2007 06:14:25 GMT

The venue was in a basement today, and unfortunately our celly phones didn't work. It made for an interesting day. I finished up the audio portion for Episode 2 of Woodland Forest. Hopefully we'll get the animation done soon, and get that posted. We've got a few "shorts" in the can as well, so when Episode 2 is done, it shouldn't be as long between updates. We had a really good time playing the show... I told a joke.... I'll share it with you now. "Why shouldn't you eat your toasted breakfast waffle on the beach?" ......... "Cause you'll get a sandy Eggo!" Jon Schneck didn't get it. I don't get him. :-) Tonight we realized our cover of Weezer's Surf Wax America goes over better in California. Thats good. It must be because there's an ocean upon which San Deigians can surf. Catch a wave and you're sitting on top of the world.
Matthew T.

4/10/07 Tempe, AZ

Posted on Thu, 19 Apr 2007 06:19:00 GMT

Today was awesome. We got to go to the Phoenix Science Museum and hang out with our friend Logan. It was a nice break from the routine. Other than that, nothing too crazy happened today. We had a really fun show, and met some really fun folks. My good friends The Transit War opened up the show in style. Whoo hoo.


Matthew T.

4/9/2007 Albuquerque, NM

Posted on Thu, 19 Apr 2007 01:04:02 GMT

4/7/2007 Houston, TX

Posted on Wed, 18 Apr 2007 03:35:41 GMT

4/6/07 Arlington, TX

Posted on Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:53:24 GMT

I've been awakened by screams more often than I can recall. I think almost every time that this has occurred, the shrieks have been coming from a roller coaster ride that my bed had been parked beside. We had a good day today. it was chilly in Texas, which I don't like. But we were at Six Flags Over Texas, which I do like. House Of Heroes played with us this evening. And those guys... well... I love em. We rode a pair of roller coasters with the Sherwood and HOH boys. Fun stuff. Sherwood also presented us with our very own Bocce Ball set. For this, they shall be placed on a pedestal and showered with compliments. "Hey Sherwood. That pedestal looks nice on you...I mean... you on it? Whatever... Thanks!!!!"

I don't know if I've talked about it on here before, but we have a rule that whenever we're playing an outdoor show in inclement weather, we're not allowed to mention it from stage. We do this so we're not up there complaining about how cold, rainy, windy, or whatever it is. Its rock and roll, not the RK whiny hour. The penalty for breaking this rule is twenty push-ups on stage. Tonight, the weather was frosty. I could actually see my breath when I was singing (I had a fun time pretending that I was our fog machine). Cold weather makes it hard for fingers to play the piano, drums, and guitars. It also makes guitars go really out of tune very quickly. At one point in the set, Hoopes was complaining about how his acoustic was really out of tune. In an attempt to get him to do some push-ups, I kept inquiring as to why he thought his guitar was especially out tonight. He wouldn't bite, so as an apology to the crowd (for wasting their time with an inside joke while they too were freezing) I explained our little rule. Of course the explanation put me in breach, and I ended up doing the calisthenics.
Matthew Thiessen

4/5/07 Oklahoma City, OK

Posted on Mon, 13 Aug 2007 23:16:00 GMT

Mae wasn't able to be with us again today, so we had our good friends Run Kid Run and The Wedding play in their stead. It was a somewhat uneventful day (aside from another several games of bocce ball), but the show was a good time (as usual).

Matthew Thiessen

4/4/07 Tusla, OK

Posted on Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:00:35 GMT

Tulsa, or "the city of dance" (as referred to by me), was founded on the principle that the Salsa dance and the Tango should no longer be rival dance moves, but an amalgamation of sweat, dance, and pasión. Hence, the Tulsa dance was born. Soon after, a city comprised of devout students and teachers was established.

Coming off of an 8 day break, we were excited to be on the road playing songs for people that would not just listen, but DANCE! We were also equally as fired up about our special guests tonight..... Copeland. They were gracious enough to take Mae's place in tonights line-up. Mae had previous obligations in the recording studio.
We were additionally psyched about our forthcoming reunion with Sherwood. I didn't realize that being away from them for over a week was going to be so difficult. By "so difficult", I mean relatively "easy as pie", of course. However, Nate did crack out the Bocce Ball set, and cordially invited John Warne, Matt Hoopes, Ethan Luck, and myself to play. We had a blast. We played game after game, and then Aaron Marsh from Copeland joined up for a match. We said "Hows about a bout!?". He said.................. "Yes!". Aaron won his first and only game to date. Grrrrrrrrr. I didn't do all that great. I kind of botched up my bocce.
Matty T.

3/25/07 Nashville, TN

Posted on Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:57:41 GMT

Crosby, Stills, and Nashville... 
The first leg of our spring tour has led us to an end in the city that never sleeps, before 10 pm anyways.  We played the venue/skatepark/coffee bar Rocketown, and we had a very good time.  I dont know if any of you know this, but Hoopes and I both reside in Nashville, so it was kind of like a hometown show for me.  We played the show, and it was cool.  The venue was sold to capacity, and everyone seemed ready to have a grand time.  After the show, Hoopes challenged me to a skate-off of who could get the most air off of the 12 ft vert wall.  The rules were THERE ARE NO RULES!!!!  Hoopes started off the contest, falling on the first two of his best of three attempts.  On the third try, he scored a massive 17 feet  of vert off of the ramp.  He almost hit the roof.  Just as it was my turn to challenge him with my mad skillz, his baby started crying and he had to go home, so he forfeited the contest, and gave me ALL seven of his nachos.  What is the lesson learned?  Wait until you get all of your skate competitions out of your system, before you take a stab at fatherhood.  Skate or die?  More like Skate or Cry... Sorry you werent included in my title, Mr. Neil Young...  But you just wouldn't fly with my sly.  Keep on rockin' in a free world. js

3/24/07 St. Louis, MO

Posted on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:22:00 GMT

Cowabunga K fans! This is totally like Randy and Todd from the totally awesome world of skateboarding! We are dynamic dudes. Don't believe us? Check the photo.


DYNAMIC! Todd totally surprised me and bought me a bodacious ticket to the totally tubular RK show tonight! It was AWESOME!!! They played like the Pageant in St. Louis. Its totally in this way rad area of St. Louis called The Loop. WHOA YEAH!!! The Loop! Also totally the name of a gnarly skateboarding trick Todd invented!!!! Anyway, The Loop has like everything. Record stores, food stores, clothes stores, and like two mega-tastic SKATEBOARDING stores!! I saw Matt Thiessen hanging out at some rice bowl store with Zach and Jacob from Mae. They looked like they were having a totally deep and like mind blowing conversation. The weather was like AWESOME today! Todd and I got to skateboard all over town, work on our radical tans, and totally make the hottest of chicks go ga ga.

Okay, we gotta go get our pizza on! Keep skating, and don't forget to tie your shirts in a knot in the front... Oh yeah... and also like totally don't forget to like wear huge knee pads and stuff!
Later sk8ers!
Randy and Todd

3/23/07 Chicago, IL

Posted on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 05:20:08 GMT

Two of us, two of you... It's kind of like when Marty goes back to 1955, and he wears that silly leather coat... Well, actually it wasnt like that at all, but I'd like to think it was. We played the second of the two Chicago shows, and it was very cool. I am told that the second show was the original show, so the people attending were the patrons who bought tickets early, so they were well ready for the show. We had a real good time playing in Chicago. The coolest thing about playing two nights in a row at a venue is being able to leave all of your stuff in the dressing room and when you wake up the second day, not having to haul your suitcase up four flights of stairs. Very nice. We always have a great time playing in Chicago, and this was no different. Thanks for everyone that came out, and I hope that we will see you all again next time. Peace, Love, and Harmoniums... js

3/22/07 Chicago, IL

Posted on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:15:26 GMT

Today is day one of our double header in Chicago. We're quite glad that the tour drummed up enough interest to warrant two shows at Chicago's House Of Blues. The dressing room was 1000 flights of stairs away from where we parked. I'm not in terrible shape. I like to run for recreation. I've been known to log 6 or 7 miles in an outing. For some reason, 1000 flights of stairs was too much for me. Every time I had to go up or down them, I felt as if my heart had a short, lit fuse, and it was about to explode in my chest. That would've be bad..... I'd look silly, and I'd probably ruin a shirt. The show was fantastic. It was funny, because the stage would bounce when the audience bounced. It was as if we were on a trampoline, and someone was catapulting us. If you've never been on a trampoline, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. Also, you've probably never had a day of fun in your entire life. During the set, I kept getting my own hair in my mouth. It was gross and hard to sing. We finished our set, but there was a resounding request for us to play more songs... I was backstage with John Warne, with my hand in my mouth, trying to pull a hair out of the back of my throat so I could sing more. I almost threw up three times. John was not pleased about witnessing the event. Maybe I should've let him try to reach down my throat. He probably felt excluded. Sorry John.

Ohio State played Tennessee tonight, and I bet some random guy twenty bucks that Ohio State would win (despite them presently being behind by 14 points). The guy took my bet, but then disappeared. I won the bet, but he was ultimately the winner. He should've bet me fifty bucks that he could disappear. I would've taken that in a second.
Matthew Thiessen

3/21/07 St. Paul, MN

Posted on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:13:02 GMT

3/19/07 Milwaukee, WI

Posted on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:11:28 GMT

I just realized that we're playing a lot of the same venues on this tour that we played on the Mxpx tour AND the Nintendo Fusion shindig. Today's was another threepeat. Not too much went on today. A lot of chilling intertwined with hanging out and bro-ing down. The show was my favorite of the three previous at this place. Its actually one of the toughest stages on which to have a good show.... Thats all due to audio technobabbledeegook that I don't feel like explaining.
I've never explored anything using only a torch to light my way.
I want to. I think that is a reasonably obtainable goal that I can set for myself. Not tonight though. I have nothing to explore except for the vast worlds of my dreaming subconscious. Nighty night.
Matthew Thiessen

3/18/07 Indianapolis, IN

Posted on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:09:32 GMT

I think I'm an honorary citizen of Indianapolis now. Oh wait... can you be a citizen of a city? You'd think... the word "citizenship" is derived from the latin expression "city son's ship", right? Sailing right along.... I spend a lot of time in this wonderful city. I have a lot of really great friends here, and a girlfriend with a washing machine and dryer. Sounds to me like a good place to be. Before our show, there was an afternoon event in the venue. It was a touring kid's show (something akin to the Television Tubbies, I guess). I think they're called the Doodlepatrol or the Dingleberries or something. I'll have to check. Anyway, our buddy Ethan snapped a photo of the marquee, and it looked like the Dufusdunders were OPENING for us! How awesome would that have been? Not a rhetorical question, by the way. Would it have been really awesome? Not awesome? An intermediate amount of awesomeness? Who knows. I bet the Dopplarbungles know. Anyway, we had a fun show. Super Phat Mikey from Radio Now 93.1 played tambourine on Surf Wax America with us tonight. He was bad. Not at the tambourine... just bad in general. Downright naughty. He played mischievous pranks and hid our car keys. Good thing I'M not driving to Milwaukee.

So, I forgot to mention that in Toronto the other day, Will Kent (our lighting guy) and Dave decided to spar. They put on boxing gloves, mouth pieces, and headgear, and all of us headed out into the city streets to witness the fight of the century (at least the fight of the century between Will and Dave.....so far). Will got a bloody lip. We laughed at his misfortune. Tonight, they went at it again. This time, Will fared a bit better, but was penalized for an illegal blow to the back of Dave's head. Now Dave is convinced that he should go on a pilgrimage to tell the whole world about the beautiful marriage of Frank's hot sauce and kettle cooked potato chips. Good luck, Dave. We wish you all the best.
Matthew Thiessen
City's son of Indianapolis

3/17/07 Columbus, OH

Posted on Thu, 05 Apr 2007 01:53:23 GMT

3/16/07 Detroit, MI

Posted on Thu, 05 Apr 2007 07:28:00 GMT

Sorry for the delay. We've been blog tied. I've been waiting to post some tour journals, cause we've been trying to change some things on the site. We're still waiting, but I figured we should start getting March's up before we start playing the April show(er)s.

The last three times we've played Detroit, we've played the wonderful State Theater. All three shows were great times, but today's definitely thieves the pie.... I mean... steals the flan... I mean takes the cake.... no... I actually did mean thieves the pie. However... speaking of taking cake, today was my gf'sm'sbday. That's sexy lingo for "my girlfriend's mom's birthday". Mamma J (as she's been dubbed by her daughters and their boyfriends) turned 38 (boyfriend lingo for 51) today. My girl flew in from Indy and we had a widdle birfday pawdy at Hockeytown. (wow, that word looks like potty). By the way, I'm the mayor of Hockeytown. I won the election because my platform had so many obtainable "goals". The "icing" on the cake was the way I "faced off" my opponent with my "left and right wing" perspective on the debate. Ouch. Hockey jokes are hard. I should go to the "penalty box" for high "schticking".
Well, thanks for reading the worst tour blog I've ever written
I'll try to do worse, but It'll be tough.
Matthew Thiessen
Mayor of Hockeytown

3/14/07 Toronto, Ontario

Posted on Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:43:00 GMT

Playing in Canada always makes me feel wanted. I guess because I'm a citizen of the country, we always seem to get a lot of interviews and fun stuff to do when we venture north. We went to my favorite Toronto radio station 102.1 The Edge. Bookie gave us a really fun interview as always. From there we went to Much Music (that's Canadian for MTV), and they were having "March Break" (that's Canadian for spring break). They had a bunch of kids riding a mechanical bull, and answering easy questions. One of 'em was like "What's Ryan Seacrest's last name?". The girl on the bull was like "I don't know!!!". Funny stuff.
Before we play, I always try to suck down a sugar free Red Bull. It represents the drugs portion of Relient K's famous "Schnecks, Drugs, and Rock and Roll". Unfortunately, I had no red bull, so I ran across the street to purchase one from a convenient store. Unfortunately, convenient was an imprecise description for the store, because they did not have Red Bull. Instead I got some Canadian energy drink with a crazy looking beaver on the can. The beaver was also inaccurate when he described the drink as "dam good!" (that was actually printed on the can). It was not. I did avoid throwing up, however, so that was nice.
The show was a really good time. It was one of the "Casual Friday" shows of the tour. It wasn't Friday, but it basically means that I tell 60% more bad jokes. After the set, I got to hang out with some family... Always a good time. Well, thats aboooooot it, eh? Later
Matthew T.

3/13/07 Montreal, Quebec

Posted on Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:46:00 GMT

Bonjour. We played on a funny little street in Montreal today. When Hoopes walked off of the bus he said "I think we took a wrong turn and ended up in war torn Yugoslavia". The alley behind the venue was crusty. However, the venue was rad, and the kids that came to see us were AWESOME. We'd only played in Montreal once before (Warped Tour '05), so we didn't know if anybody would know us well enough to come out to the show. The best part was that not only did they show up, but they sang along to every song (even the new stuff). That meant a lot, considering English is not the predominant language. Sebastian from Simple Plan came and hung out with us (which was nice considering we hadn't seen him since Warped Tour '05 either). After the show, in an attempt to spend our silly Canadian per-diem, we went out for some delicious pizza. John ordered some FRENCH fries, with a side of FRENCH toast, drowned in FRENCH dressing, and two loaves of FRENCH bread. He sat down to eat next to a FRENCH couple FRENCH kissing while a FRENCH horn solo was playing in the background. Okay, I lied. He didn't put any dressing on the toast.

Merci beaucoup to all that came to the show. We had a great time.
Matthew T.

3/12/07 Boston, MA

Posted on Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:53:00 GMT

The last few times we played in the Boston area, we played in a town called Worcester, and not actually Boston. It was a nice change of pace to play in the city again. Thanks to yesterday's day off, and the magic of anti-biotics, I was back to feeling around 92%. The last time I felt that good, was when I was only 8% sick. The show was such a good time. I kept remarking about how remarkable it was that everyone was so rowdy and rambunctious on a Monday night. The vibe was more that of 3:45pm on the last Friday of school before summer vacation. We should've played an Alice Cooper cover. The venue was next door to a venue called The Axis (we played there in the autumns of 2001 and 2002), and across the street from this curious little sporting facility. Our buddy, Ethan, snapped a photo of it. I'll post it below (when I figure out how).



The highlight of my day (which unfortunately I do not have photographical evidence to support) was definitely the transvestite techno dance party that was going on at The Axis right after we played. I wasn't in attendance, but there were so many colorful characters parading around near our dressing room, that I felt like I was a presenter backstage at the Barnum and Baily Bearded Lady Of The Century Awards. No offense to our transvestite fans, of course. Anyway, I'm off to bed... Then off to Canada. Both are nice. Matty T.

3/10/07 Philadelphia, PA

Posted on Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:59:00 GMT

3/9/07 New York City, NY

Posted on Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:03:00 GMT

When I think of touring, the things that first enter my mind, are people, and places... but not necessarily in that order. I immediately check our schedule the day it gets posted and look at what cities we will be playing. My eyes always wander to the north east section of the dates, and lock in on a little place called New York City, then I smile, and take a nap. We definitely had mixed emoticons about starting off a tour in the big apple,( :o( (o: ) considering the inevitable technical kinks in the Relient K chain that must be ironed out, but we (someone else) boldly ignored our (their) better sense and decided to have a kick off in the city that never sleeps. We did have a few little things here and there that could have flowed a bit better, but overall, I think it went alright. During the day, Hoopes and I took a trip down to Midtown Comics, and to a very obnoxious pizza by the slice place owned by some dude named Tony, or Rocco, I forget which one... but it was the kind of greasy goodness only to be found in NY. Later, after we thawed out from the pizza trip, we did some reminiscing with the guys from Mae and Sherwood, and had a meet and greet with some kids that helped us hang up posters all around manhattan. We played the show, and Scott decided it would be a good idea to get more pizza, so I ate, and ate, and ate... then I took a nap. To sum it all up, we came, we played, and we ate, napped, and we had a great time, in the city called New York. Thanks to everyone that came to the Nokia and hung out for a few hours, we had a good time with you... see you all again soon. I'm gonna go nap. js

Lancaster, PA

Posted on Mon, 19 Mar 2007 18:12:00 GMT

A really good reason that its taken me so long to post this tour journal, is that this is the second time I am crafting it. Therefore, since I already wrote about this day, and it was digitally eaten by a digital dog (with 20 digits sporting digital claws), its taken some time for me to initiate the appropriate amount of tenacity required to redo an optional activity that had already been done.
Another good reason, is that I was really sick when we did this show, so there's not a lot of good stuff to recall from said day. One thing that happened, is that we played our first ever myspace secret show.. And, just like our album, something leaked. There were hundreds of people in attendance. Not much of a secret if you ask moi. Regardless, I was happy that people found out about it. I hate playing shows for zero amounts of people.
Our new record came out two days before the show, and we were looking forward to playing a bunch of new songs. I think we ended up playing 5 or 6 songs for the first time. Since I was so sick (we're talking... floating around town on a puffy cloud made of prescribed medicine and a weakened immune system), it was difficult to do any of the songs well. Fortunately, that provided the band with a "we can't go anywhere from here but up" attitude. I guess that'd have to be the silver lining to that puffy medicine cloud. Those present at the show were very supportive and fun to play for. Also, I didn't pass out and fall off of the stage. More pluses. Not really anything else to report. I better post this before that digital dog comes back and gives me a megabite. Matthew Thiessen

RK Widgets

Posted on Thu, 15 Feb 2007 22:27:43 GMT

Throw Another Blog On The Fire

Posted on Wed, 22 Nov 2006 07:13:05 GMT

Ha... I already used that blog title on our myspace, but its so fitting for this time of year. The tour is over. We hardly did any tour journals (blogs... whatever) for the whole thing, and for that I apologize. I think that after we get our holiday vacation out of the way, we'll be a bit more refreshed and more proactive about stuff.

The last few weeks of tour was easy breezy. The Vegas and Portland shows were a total blast. I don't know what spooked Washington state, but hardly anyone came out to the Halloween show in Seattle, and the Spokane outing was totally sold out (and totally terrific). Normally those two cities work the opposite way. Maybe its because I was wearing flip flops. Its a bit of a shame too, cause Emery dressed up like old men for the Seattle show, and not everyone and their mothers got to see. They were so convincing, that (in costume) Devin walked up to me and said, "Hello there, young man", and I turned the other way and thought, "What a creepy old homeless man. Who calls someone a 'young man' except for pervs!?" I didn't find out it was him until hours later. The remaining eight shows were all about the same. Fortunately for us, they were all really fun.

So now, we're about to make a new video, take some new photographs, record some bonus DVD footage, finish the recording of some B sides and acoustic versions of new songs, run around and ask radio stations to kindly play our new single, and get ready for a new,(and [I think] a really really great) spring tour. We're going to announce the spring tour name and support bands shortly (I hope). In addition to all of that, we're going to try and get everyone excited about our new stuff, by posting some on our myspace and iTunes. Makes me sleepy just thinking about it. Oh wait... I'm sleepy cause its 3:00 in the morning. Here's where I debate posting this now, or waiting until tomorrow to see if any of it makes sense. I vote now.
Matthew Thiessen

Maybe This Will Blog Your Memory

Posted on Sat, 28 Oct 2006 01:22:49 GMT

Well... Its been another week.... and we've been pretty weak about updating the ol' weB LOG. Playing in New Orleans was incredible. We haven't played in New Orleans proper since 2000, and we didn't know what to expect. What we got was an amazing group of kids who seemed to get into all the bands (which doesn't happen enough on this tour). The next two shows were in TX. We LOVE playing in Texas, and this venture through the "State of The Arts" (thats their slogan) was enjoyable. Our show in Arizona was the most unique of the tour. One of us had a death in the family, and due to flight limitations, we played second out of the five bands. We had to cut our set as well, but doing so made it possible for travel to the funeral. Despite being bummed about the circumstances, we really enjoyed the show. The crowd was really understanding and very good to us. After the show, some people (that will remain anonymous) decided to relieve their bladders and repeatedly stab (with a knife) our Merle The Squirrel backdrop. All I can do is laugh about that. Poor Merle. Hawthorne Heights' basketball hoop was also destroyed. When they found out, there was a lot of basket bawling. The next few days took us through California. We got to meet up with a lot of our really good friends from bands such as Mae, The Rocket Summer, Over It, and Melee. There's nothing better than seeing good buddies in the middle of the tour. It makes you feel almost at home. The Anaheim and San Francisco shows were really between two and three tons of fun.......... The LA show was..... *sigh. Tonight we're going to play San Diego, which was named after St. Diego. (Although there's been some debate about that). Matthew Thiessen.

Blog Eat Blog (Nintendo Fusion Tour Up To Date)

Posted on Wed, 18 Oct 2006 20:33:53 GMT

So... I'm in New Orleans and isolated to the back of our bus due to an extreme downpour of precipitation. The venue is about 3 blocks away, and I don't feel up to swimming there yet. That means I have cabin fever and enough time to sit down and blog a bit. We never really got rolling on the tour journals for this tour, so the farther we got behind, the more intimidated we became at attempting to do any. Nervous laugh... *Tee hee. I must say, however, this has been a substantially uneventful tour so far.
The first thing to report is that we found out a few weeks ago that the official release for Five Score And Seven Years Ago is now March sixth two thousand and seven. Despite being bummed about the push back, we're very excited to have an official date to get this thing out there.
As far as the tour goes, the shows have been a blast. Some better than others, but a blast none the less. We're kind of playing warped tour style on this tour. No soundcheck... just jump up on stage and play for 40 min. We're playing a new tune called Devastation and Reform. Its one of the darker ones from the record, but since we're playing with Emery, The Sleeping, and Hawthorne, we figured it be fine to do something like that on this tour. The Atlanta kids have probably been the most enthusiastic of the tour so far, and the Jacksonville show was probably the most awkward for us (3pm show in a shake your booty club..haha...).
So.. what have we been doing with ourselves? Not too much... We've been playing 6 player Mario Kart on our Nintendo DS LIte's. We've been watching A LOT of football. The best was hanging out with Dave of The Plain White T's during the Chicago/Arizona Monday night game this last week. He's a native of Chicago, and he was flipping out during their crazy comeback. We've cracked out the poker table a few times, and I won the first two tournaments. Yay for me. We've also decided to be a chorus line for Halloween, so we've been collecting feather boas and sequined hats. The choreography is in desperate need of improvement, however. That, dispersed among trips to an alligator farm (Myrtle Beach) and the Atlanta Aquarium, about sums it up.
Now that I've initiated some activity on this blog page, updates should follow with an air of consistency.
later, brothers and sisters.
Matthew Thiessen

Around

Posted on Tue, 26 Sep 2006 22:56:48 GMT

Ok... So I've been planning on writing a little update for a while now, and I'm finally getting around to it. This summer has been SO crazy. I slept in my own bed for only 3 nights of it. Not that I'm complaining... Its been a lot of fun writing and recording this new record. We worked our tails off trying to get it done for a November release, but a few weeks ago, we got word that Capitol wants to push it to February. Its a big bummer for us (because we hate going more than a year without putting out new music, and we worked so hard to meet the deadline), but in all honesty, I think this is by far our best recording. We just want to make sure that we have plenty of time to let people know the new album is coming out.

The album title is going to be Five Score And Seven Years Ago, and its going to have between 12 and 14 songs (I haven't decided yet). Its a pretty diverse album as far as songs go. There's some heavy songs, some mellow tracks, some really happy stuff, an a cappella song (with a cappella drums), and an eleven minute story song (which happens to be my favorite thing we've ever done [by far]). Mark Townsend's thoughts can be found here - http://zilchonline.com/journal.htm

We had a really good time making the album in LA and Nashville, and we got to have some friends guest on the record (Jon Foreman of Switchfoot etc...) Tonight we leave to go on the Nintendo Fusion Tour with Hawthorne Heights, Emery, The Plain White T's, and The Sleeping. We're super excite biked to get out on the road and have some fun touring again. We'll being doing the old tour journals, some podcasts, and hopefully getting another couple episodes of Woodland Forest going (it kind of went on hiatus while we were making the record). Later, friends. Matthew Thiessen

Orlando, FL

Posted on Fri, 15 Sep 2006 20:34:06 GMT

i had a request to blog about rock the universe in orlando florida. wellllllllllllllllllllllll................ i thoroughly enjoyed myself. being from the orlando area, i got to see some old friends and my family. we had the privilege of getting a n escort through the park for all of the rides, and we had a good time doing that. my wife was able to come down for her first time at the park. the show was good for us not having played in a while, and the kids were awesome. we will be back at universal in october at hard rock live for the fusion tour... should be fun. thanks for everyone who came out to see us play... it was awesome playing again with mxpx... they are eternally entertaining. see you soon. jon schneck

Long Ol' Update

Posted on Fri, 15 Sep 2006 20:31:00 GMT

6/17 Ichthus Festival - Wilmore, KY




6/23 Alive Festival - Canal Fulton, OH




6/28 Creation Festival - Shirleysburg, PA




7/6 Spirit Song Festival - Kings Island, OH








7/7 Cornerstone Festival - Bushnell, IL




7/8 Lifest - Oshkosh, WI




7/14 Sonshine Festival - Willmar, MN





7/26 Creation Festival - George, WA





8/19 Purple Door Festival - Lewisberry, PA




9/2 Revelation Generation Festival - Frenchtown, NJ

Atlanta, GA

Posted on Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:59:33 GMT

Catching up

Posted on Fri, 02 Jun 2006 19:23:57 GMT

Home

Posted on Thu, 20 Apr 2006 20:13:05 GMT

Well, since they changed the name from "Tour Journal" to "Blog", I guess I'm allowed to write here even if we haven't played a show. So..... I'm writing. Not too much is going on with us. I'm at home writing some new stuff, and waiting for the other guys to come visit so we can start seeing the new songs take some shape. I'm excited about getting to work on a new record, even though we're in the scary "I don't know how this is going to turn out" stage. As far as new stuff, we just recorded a cover of DC Talk's 'Between You And Me' for Gotee's 'Freaked' tribute album (6.20.06 - www.gotee.com), and Dave and I are contributing some side project songs for a compilation on Mono Vs. Stereo called 'My Other Band VOL. 1' (6.27.06 - www.monovsstereo.com). We have songs up on our respective myspace pages. www.myspace.com/agnesmusic and www.myspace.com/matthewthiessenandtheearthquakes. Whew. Look at all that information in that little tiny space! I must have magical powers. Matty T.

Columbus, OH

Posted on Thu, 06 Apr 2006 23:44:37 GMT

Newport Music hall. The last day of a tour is always a little bit like the last day of school. you all walk around getting phone numbers and email addresses and signing each others year books... okay well not the last part, but you get the idea. We couldnt have asked for a better send off than our show at the Newport. the show was sold out and the fans were amazing. it was really one of the best shows so far. in all seriousness though, it is indeed a sad moment. To put it in terms you may be able to relate to... take saved by the bell, for instance. if saved by the bell was our tour, as amazing as it is, once its over, there are a few possibilities of what can come... you may get saved by the bell, the college years... a tour geared for an older audience, with the introduction of an ex pro football player teacher. you could get saved by the bell, the new class, a rehash of the same tour, with a few different bands... or you could get mark paul gosselaar in NYPD blue, which is the tour that starts off weird, but then ends with a sense of belonging. whatever the case may be, this was a great tour, and i hope we have another great tour to follow, and i wish everyone involved the best, even you mr belding, cause remember, the last 3 letters of principal, spell pal. love, mathletes prez.. jon schneck c/o 99.

Pittsburgh, PA

Posted on Thu, 06 Apr 2006 23:42:53 GMT

with a name like club zoo, you can only hope to expect the very best in entertainment. lets break it down.... C is for cheese sticks, my favorite food, and also my meal before the show. L is for lousy, for the way cheese sticks plus playing a show makes me feel. U is for uncomfortable, see previous reply. B is for Boxing, a sport i always wanted to try, but my parents would never sign the release. Z is for Zany, the way i feel when im with my 4 good buds in RK. O is for Outer space, which is where lance bass never made it. and Finally, O is for obvious, which means its obvious it was a boring day. but thanks for EVERYONE who came out to the show, we had fun sliding around the perspiration covered stage. see yall soon. j to the schneck.

Urbana, IL

Posted on Mon, 10 Apr 2006 09:18:00 GMT

Madison, WI

Posted on Mon, 10 Apr 2006 09:13:00 GMT

Grand Rapids, MI

Posted on Tue, 04 Apr 2006 07:14:11 GMT

Clifton Park, NY

Posted on Mon, 03 Apr 2006 11:51:32 GMT

Today was a mixed bag. Our trailer had broken down in CT, so these dudes were supposed to fix it, and then tow it the 100 or so miles to Clifton Park. They said they'd be at the venue around 9pm. That would've been awesome, because we could've left NY early enough to get to our destination of Ohio at a reasonable time. I was really excited to get back to OH, cause I haven't been home since the Super Bowl. UNFORTUNATELY, the trailer didn't show up until 5am, and my day off at home had the duration of about 5 hours. Boo. A good thing about today is that I started singing 'TV Family' with The Rocket Summer. I had been wanting to sing with them for a while, so I'm glad that it happened. During our show, there was so much condensed sweat in the air, that the pipes above my head were dripping on me the entire time. If we didn't have a great show, I'll make like Milli Vanilli and Blame It On The Rain. Matthew T.

Hartford, CT

Posted on Mon, 03 Apr 2006 11:47:00 GMT

So, I was in the dressing room talking to Tom's (from Maxeen) girlfriend. She asked me if the crowd noise was ever a factor in trying to play a show. I quickly explained that my in ear monitors are molded to every contour of my ear canal, and that I can really only hear my voice and guitars when we play. The sheer irony of this conversation was that as soon as I walked out onto the stage, it felt like someone was pumping a million decibels of "Girls Screaming, Volume I" into my ears. New England is one of my favorite parts of the country to play. They're always so happy to go to a show. That makes me happy to be a part of one. Matthew T.

Farmingdale, NY

Posted on Mon, 03 Apr 2006 11:41:45 GMT

Today we played really close to Long Island. It was pretty fun. They had NCAA Championship basketball playing during our set, and I have to admit I was sneaking glances at the score board a little more often than I should have. I just recently (the last 2 years or so) started eating sushi. Its on my top 10 list of favorite things to ingest. I've toured our great country (and a few other almost as great ones), and I've sampled the wares of many a sushi artist. I thought I'd had it all until today. Matthew Hoopes and I were escorted by a friend to sit a the table where I would eat the best sushi I've ever had in my life. Hoopes (a more experienced sushi eater) agreed with my claim. Matty T.

Allentown, PA

Posted on Thu, 30 Mar 2006 22:39:27 GMT

All i have to say is, im from florida. the alligator capitol of the word... over a million alligators, one for every 10 people... ive been on several gator hunts, and fishing excursions and i have this to say... i have never, ever seen an alligator rock. apparently, though.... the crocs do. at least thats what they kept telling us at the crocodile rock in a-tizzle p-dizzle. the venue itself was half restaurant, half performance hall. it was awesome because if i jumped on stage, i hit my head on the ceiling... it made me feel really tall. it reminds me of that one time that i went to bangladesh... we were playing a show at a medieval festival on the kazi an alol stage, opening for usted ayet ali khan, and the trim on the ceiling was 7 feet. man, were those meat kalia curry milkshakes delicious. i love mcdonalds, but ill tell you what... thats the last time ill ever eat a McRasho-gollah... mecka lecka hi, mecka hiney ho. jon schneck.

Norfolk, VA

Posted on Thu, 30 Mar 2006 22:38:46 GMT

if youve never been, get on that there interweb, go to your favorite travel website, and book ya some flights to Norfolk. while youre there, go to the norva. definitely one of my very mostest favorite rock and roll clubs in the U S of A. a while back, we did a promo show at a place called Fahrenheit, in norfolk. we did a little christmas acoustic show for about 250 people. it was fun. anyways, we met the owner of Fahrenheit and he told us any time we were in town, to call him up. guess what we did! we called him. he was awesome and gave us some pizzas and snacks and was an amazing host. so, if youre looking for a cool place with good food, check it out. the show was awesome, and we got to hang out with some of our very best friends, the guys in mae. im not sure how many of you are aware of this little known fact, but zach, the guitarist from mae, and myself, grew up together in a little town in florida. were pretty much the best friends two boys can be. its always awesome to hang out with him, and the others from the band. on a lighter note, ive been doing a lot of thinking. what would i do if i had a billion dollars? ill tell you what i would do..... i would move to hollywood, open up a movie studio, and cast good actresses in comic book movies. yes, i went there again. l.a.a.f., jon schneck

Charlotte, NC

Posted on Thu, 30 Mar 2006 22:38:01 GMT

today we had some friends of mine on our show. they are called the class of 98. theyre on militia group, and just put out their first record. www.theclassof98.com. enough about them, lets talk about the new superman movie. first of all... can we please get a petition started and ask hollywood execs to start casting GOOD actresses in comic book movies. i dont ask much in life, but i do ask this. lets think about recent comic to screen adventures, then think about the heroines involved in these such films. kirsten dunst in spiderman. bad. jessica alba in fantastic four. bad. katie holmes/cruise in batman. bad. and now, in one of the most anticipated returns to the big screen, we get kate bosworth, to portray the beloved lois lane... we snatched this one from such great movies as blue crush, and win a date with tad hamilton. both heavily overlooked by the academy. all that i want is this superman to live up to its potential of being an awesomely awesome movie. this, is all that i hope. oh well, at least we get portman in V. jon schneck.

Louisville, KY

Posted on Thu, 30 Mar 2006 22:37:21 GMT

today was a rad show... Hoopes and i actually got to go home after the memphis show and hang out in our own rooms for about 5 hours. it was awesome. the show was at jillians which was really cool. we (all the bands on tour) had some time before doors opened, so we were all hanging out in this one room which we thought was a dressing room. it was fully catered and awesomely delicious, with buffalo chicken fingers and salad and burgers and all kinds of stuff. after we (all the bands on the tour) got super stuffed and felt very satisfied, we were informed that the food was indeed not for us, and we had 2 minutes to evacuate the room, because it was for some radio contest winners. oops. all i have to say about that, is im sorry that i ate your (radio contest winner) chicken. if you were wondering, it WAS good... if i ever meet you (radio contest winner), i will take you to KFC, and treat you to a meal. i am however, going to assume that i will never meet you, take the money that i would spend on that meal, and go buy a flashlight in case the power goes out... it will go out... someday. love, noj kcenhcs.

Sparks, NV - Las Vegas, NV - Albuquerque, NM - Oklahoma City, OK

Posted on Sat, 25 Mar 2006 20:36:57 GMT

Ok Ok. We got WAY behind on the tour journals.... Duh. So we gotta get caught up. I'm going to do another four in one sort of deal. Boo Yeah. Sparks, NV - Good show. We played here last year about this time, and I lost my $500 in ear monitors while crowd surfing during our set. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have announced from stage that they were worth $500. I should've said that my earwax is poisonous to the touch, and if you hold my monitors for more than 5 minutes you'll be eaten alive from the inside by fire worms. Maybe someone would've returned them then. Who knows. Today the only thing I lost was the track of time because I was having so much fun. (Oh, and about 20 bucks at a blackjack table). Hee hee. Las Vegas, NV - Note to self; do not bowl three games before attempting to play guitar and piano in front of a live Jillian's audience. We played this huge arcade/restaraunt/bowling alley called Jillian's. Its nice. We played there last time we were in Vegas. My biggest problem was that I magically turned my wrist from muscle and bone into rubber band cartilage. How, you ask? By showing Vegas some of the hottest bowling that they'd ever seen! (by a tall, pale, Canadian that moved to Ohio when he was six and plays in a rock and roll band). I bowled 3 games and was averaging up in the one thirty somethings. Thats pretty good for a guy who has been nicknamed Gutter Ball Sally. Jon and John accompanied me on our adventure... as well as our manager, Jeff and A&R guy from Capitol, Jaime. We got to see some good Vegas friends like my boy Will from Fenix TX (not literally my boy). I watched my friends play craps and tried to learn. I always thought that craps was the game monkeys played when they flung their poo at each other. Hmmm, I guess this world is big enough for two kinds of craps games. Albuquerque, NM - Its always good to get back to Albuquerque. This was our third time playing the Sunshine Theater, and it was probably my favorite. Not a whole lot went down today aside from the usual sound check, find some food, drink a Diet Coke, play dress up with John, and play a show with the other boys from Relient K routine. I met a security guard named Lance that was sponsored by Gatorade. He was an Empire State Building of a man, and he was also an Ultimate Fighting fighter. I made sure he was on my side. Now, no one can mess with me. Not even my friends. I'll have them crushed. Oklahoma City, OK - Again, we played a venue that we've frequented before. Yesterday's show and today's were both in places that we played last year with Mae. Needless to say, they were riddled with fond memories of tour dates past. I remember the one time we were in OKC and Dave from Mae and I got into a fight over who's nose was the most button-like. He punched me in the face, and then promptly won the argument. The blood of defeat tastes the same as the blood of victory, however. We had a grand ol' time playin' our usual licks and pickin' our guitfiddles and whatnot. Bryce Avery (from The Rocket Summer) brought his family with them, and we got to meet them. We hoisted his sister onto our shoulders and conducted a parade. I think it was of the ticker tape variety. Seventy six trombones and the da da da... don't know the words and don't want to look them up. Keep singing! (*Seventy Six Trombones plays in your head as you log off the internet and go outside to do something productive with your life. The song will be in your head the rest of the day) Matthew Thiessen

Orangevale, CA

Posted on Fri, 03 Mar 2006 04:06:16 GMT

So... We toured through mountains, snow, sleet, plummeting Celsius temperatures, and The BIGGEST MALL IN THE WORLD... all to get to sunny California and bask in the tropical climates and talk like Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Unfortunately, our only CA stop was filled with rain, fear, and chilly temperatures. How depressing. Fortunately for us, the people that came to our show cheered us up and brought us smiles from home. I had Round Table pizza for dinner, and that made me talk like Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So... I guess I accomplished SOMETHING today. MT

Eugene, OR

Posted on Wed, 01 Mar 2006 03:37:00 GMT

welcome race fans.  this is my first tour journal of the tour.  today we played in eugene oregon.  also, today we almost missed our show in eugene oregon.  i think it was about 7 am i heard a rumble and felt our bus pull off to a stop.  at this point, i assume were at the venue, and its around noon, roll back over and go to sleep for another 3 hours.  though for some reason today, i.. actually, well, i guess i did that.  BUT... at 3 pm i woke up anxiously anticipating a fast food burger or slice of grease pizza, and walked into the front of our bus, to see the beautiful tall trees of washington.  yes, we in fact broke down.  the story i heard goes as follows...  there was an angry driver that we cut off somewhere in canada.  he followed us over the border and attempted to ram us off the road, but he was in a 83 Volkswagen, and we of course a bus.  he actually went under the bus (think chevy chase in vaction), and jumped out of his car and held onto the undercarriage of the bus (think keanu reeves in speed).  he somehow maneuvered his way towards the back of the bus, and onto the trailer...  he then took a swiss army knife (this is in fact an assumption, i didnt actually see the swiss emblem, it could have been a cheap knock off), and using the little scissors, he cut off one of his pants legs, and in a desperation move, managed to get it caught, and tangled in the axle of the trailer...  AND THEN ** warning: if you have a weak stomach, you should stop reading...                                           ** i watched a kirsten dunst movie...**  Ok, back to the story...  he jumped and did a barrel roll into the woods, never to be seen again...  our tailer bearings locked up, and we started basically dragging our trailer... luckily a good ole washington farm boy with a pick-em-up-truck stopped to save the day.  he graciously carted our bus driver not once, but twice to the auto parts store to get us up and running.  we kindly paid him in hummus and 8 bags of doritos that we had on the bus.  he grinned from ear to ear showing off all 3 of his teeth.  we pulled into the venue 30 minutes after maxeen was supposed to go on, did a quick in, and got the show up and running.  it turned out to be a great show, it was sold out and the kids were awesome.  thanks everyone for coming!!!  ps.  i love the pita pit. love always. jonathan david schneck

Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada)

Posted on Wed, 01 Mar 2006 03:36:00 GMT

The Vancouver show was by far the roughest and toughest of our Canadian performances. I think we were about due for an extra crunchy show (*peanut butter reference. Extra crunchy means it wasn't smooth) The weather was pretty great, though, and that always makes the corners of my mouth turn up. While in Canada, the Canadian Olympic Men's Hockey Team totally blew it, and everywhere you went you saw weeping women and children, bars filled with depressed men drowning their despondency, and riot scarred buildings smoldering in the ashes of what once was excellent Canadian architecture and pride. Don't let your sled dogs keep their tails between their legs for too long, Canada. Its just a hockey match. Haha. Matty T.

Edmonton, Alberta (Canada)

Posted on Wed, 01 Mar 2006 03:35:00 GMT

By the time this journal is posted, the podcast for today will probably already be up. We played THE BIGGEST MALL IN THE WORLD today. I think we say that 18 times during the podcast. Anyway... the show was equally as packed and enjoyable as yesterday's. We played in this venue called Red's. They had a bunch of arcade games and bowling and stuff. It looked fun, but the cruelty of Father Time prohibited us from indulging in such game-like activities. I watched a bunch of kids sweating their butts off to Dance Dance Revolution all day. I think they were playing that game for about 6 hours straight. If I had found a magic genie lamp amidst the stuffed animals in "The Crane" game, my first wish would've been for an air-rifle with a scope. Sniping nerdy DDR obsessed kids would've made my little day. My second wish would've been for infinite wishes, of course. Matthew Thiessen

Calgary, Alberta (Canada)

Posted on Wed, 01 Mar 2006 03:33:00 GMT

Today was our first of three Canadian shows. Talk about pros and cons. Our cell phones cost like 70 cents a minute up here, which means they're off limits. Which means my Mom and I don't get to gossip about old lady McCleary and the mysterious "mail man" that shows up daily without any mail. BUT. Today's show is the biggest of the tour so far. Who would've guessed!? Calgary! Somewhere that we've only played on the Warped Tour. We had a really fun time playing the set. (ha! that sentence sounds like an excerpt from a 5th grader's "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" report). John Warne got the idea that we should make a cartoon, so we started working on Episode 1 today. Its going to be pretty funny, I think. We'll keep you updated Matty T

Salt Lake City, UT

Posted on Mon, 20 Feb 2006 07:44:31 GMT

Today was our 3rd time playing in SLC. Everything was great today... the attendees, the other bands, the venue ... everything. We met a couple of kids that came from Alaska. We fed them cake. It was something that they had never seen before. They tried to eat it like a bear would, but we taught them to master the plastic fork utensil. Silly Alaskans. Not a ton of other stuff went on today. I honestly can't think of anything interesting. Maybe I'll tell a tale of a more eventful day. Years ago, on the day I turned six years old, my father came to visit me at my Mom's house. He gift wrapped some Transformers with the funny pages from that Sunday's newspaper. We got to go for a ride in his hatchback, and since I was the birthday boy, I got the coveted "I'm sitting backwards making faces at the drivers behind me" seat. I played with my new toys the whole way from St. Catherines, Ontario to Toronto. The drive is an hour our time (an eternity - 6 year old boy time). Moments prior to arrival, my pops finally revealed the secret of our destination. It was Paramount's Canada Wonderland (a theme park). It was the first time I had ever been to any place of that nature. After riding the Scooby Doo Ghoster Coaster and meeting The Flinstones, a sunny memory had been branded into my impressionable mind. A memory that I still reflect upon often. So, if I didn't say it back then.... thanks Dad. Matthew Thiessen

Kansas City, MO

Posted on Fri, 17 Feb 2006 01:59:00 GMT

Hey hey! Back at it again. After a two month lull, we played our first show of '06 yesterday. Of course (as most of you are probably aware) it was Matthew Hoopes' birthday. We had a lot of fun celebrating, and we're looking forward to maintaining that celebratory attitude for the ENTIRE REST OF THE TOUR. We hope you decide to come join us. Also, one of my least favorite things is talking to kids outside the venue that didn't get their tickets before a show sold out. Its a heart breaker. Don't break my heart, please. Maxeen and The Rocket Summer were excellent, by the way. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. It will be an excellent compliment to the tour journal. Matthew T.

SLO, San Fransisco, Portland, and Seattle

Posted on Thu, 01 Dec 2005 03:11:04 GMT

Sorry for the lack of tour journals. As soon as tour ended, I jumped on to a plate of turkey and never looked back...... Till now. So... The last four shows were a ton of fun. Portland had an amazing crowd, but a TON of technical problems. My apologies go out to those that had to endure my frowny face. The Seattle show was amazing for several reasons, but mostly because for Mxpx's second to last song (Heard That Sound), there was about 20 of us out on stage playing with them. Banjo, Bells, Acoustic guitars...soooo many instruments. John Warne fulfilled a life-long dream of playing bass w/Mxpx. I sang back up vocals. It was SO much fun. I know we always say it, but this tour was our favorite of all the 5 years worth of touring that we've done. We love all the bands and crew that we were on the road with more than anything. I'd mention all of them, but I don't think they read our tour journals :-). Big props (like the kind Carrot Top uses) to everyone that came out to catch the Panik With A 'K' Tour. We heart you most of all. Matty T......

Los Angeles, CA

Posted on Tue, 22 Nov 2005 21:32:34 GMT

Today was a crazy day. We could see the iconic building in which resides Capitol Records from the venue. Hello run on sentence. We went over there and recorded a bunch of liners for radio stations. Basically I sat in a room and said. "Hey, whats up. This is Matt from Relient K, and you're listening to 108.4. The place for all the hits." One of them was funny. They wrote... "Hey this is the guys from Relient K, and you're listening to the station that plays us back to back with Kanye West". After that, we got to hang out with all the nice people over at Capitol, and some of them even high fived us. We stayed pretty busy all day, meeting with our friends and stuff. Before the show, the sound system was being weird, and the lighting board crashed 3 times. We went on about 45 minutes too late. Thankfully, nobody in the crowd threw a brick on stage with a message that said "I was supposed to catch a bus home about 15 minutes ago. You owe me $4.35 for the bus ticket and a new brick." Matthew

San Diego, CA

Posted on Tue, 22 Nov 2005 21:31:09 GMT

I was hanging out with my good buddy Jon Foreman on our bus, and he explained the San Diego rock and roll scene as "chill". That was evident during our show. Though we were plagued with technical problems early on, (I was having guitar issues and forgot to sing about half of High Of 75), we had a fun show. The one thing that was kind of bugging me was the difference in the crowd in comparison to our previous 30 some shows. They were (as previously noted) chill. During our set, the impression that I received was one of lackluster disinterest. However, the people here were just being true to their San Diegoan selves. My BFF Joe Marlett was also at this evening's show. He engineered our record and then befriended me for life (hence the BFF). To our surprise, Go Betty Go dropped off the tour today. We don't know why, but rumor has it that they will be calling it quits. Over It has rejoined us for today, tomorrow, San Fran , and Seattle. House Of Heroes will be doing SLO and Portland. This tour journal was brought to you by the letter "E" and the number 3.14. Matty T.