Relient K

Matt Thiessen wants you to forget and not slow down. Then again, that’s also what he’s telling himself. With a brand new album on a brand new label (all their own), the guys in Relient K are ready to rock out again but the lyrics this time around come from Thiessen’s recently broken engagement. Thus, an album title that’s both a message for fans and yet for himself as well.

Thiessen recently spoke with SA Editor Matt Conner to talk about the new album, getting a new band member for the first time in years and how he hopes you’ll move on from “Sadie Hawkins Dance.”

Soul-Audio: Lyrically, where did Forget and Not Slow Down come from?

Matt Thiessen: This is basically a relationship album. I was engaged in December and I’m not engaged anymore. So that’s where all of these songs came from basically – that one situation. [Laughs] When everything went down with me and the girl, I thought that I could either get depressed about it or I could find a way not to get depressed about all of it and that’s basically what this whole album is about. Instantly, I was like, ‘I’m just going to forget it all and not let this impact my life in a negative way.’ And I hit the ground running with that.

This album is about remembering the good stuff but if something is worth lamenting about or being depressed about or being sorrowful about, then it’s really an act of selfishness. You’re not making the world a better place and you’re not making yourself a better person by just being sad all of the time. Grieving is one thing but depression is another. So this album is about avoiding that selfishness, I guess.

SA: You’ve said you had the most fun making this album, so that seems a contradiction of sorts.

Matt: The two months of being alone was definitely a great buffer. These lyrics were not easy to write. Fun is a relative word. I had fun even when I was sad in this whole thing. I had fun just expressing certain things out of my system. And for the recording process itself, I am in a band with four other guys. When you put a bunch of people together, you’re trying to accomplish a goal. You do work together and you kind of get sick of your co-workers sometimes. But we didn’t this time around. We had the most fun ever making a record because it was laid-back. The songs were already done, so the recording was really fun and really easy.

SA: It almost sounds as if the title is as much for you as it is for the music.

Matt: Yeah, it really is. The whole idea is this purging thing. It’s like whatever baggage you don’t want to carry with you in your life, just get rid of it. Just drop it off, forget about it and don’t slow down. You can’t keep anything that keeps you from improving. I probably sound like a broken record for how many times I’ve talked about how we need grace to forgive ourselves and get over our mistakes. But it’s definitely a good thesis for writing music and that’s how I got through all of this.

SA: Let’s talk about the new drummer. How’d you guys land on Ethan after having Dave Douglas in the band for so long?

Matt: Ethan was actually my guitar tech for a year-and-a-half or two years before Dave decided to leave the band. So he was already implemented into the system. He’s an amazing guitar player. He played for the Supertones and this band called Demon Hunter. He played for a bunch of other acts, but he’s also a phenomenal drummer. He was drummer for a band called The Dingys who Matt Hoopes and I actually bought the record of whenever we were 15- and 16-years old. So we’ve known about Ethan for a long time – about 10 or 11 years. And we’ve known him for eight or nine.

He’s a great, great drummer and that’s one of the first things people complement the record on. They say that Ethan did great and all of the drums are killer. My friends certainly validate him as far as a musician and I obviously think he’s great. As far as his personality, he loves being in the band and he loves being on the road. He loves what he does and he loves all of us, so it’s all a very good situation.

SA: This is the first new band member for some time, so how does that affect the chemistry?

Matt: Yeah, we try not to change members, but Dave wanted to go do this new thing with his wife. So I hope Ethan’s the last drummer we ever have. But we do all gel really well together, so there’s no issues at all.

SA: Dave’s new project… is that Gypsy Parade?

Matt: Yeah, but I think they’re actually called Attack Cat now.

SA: So what’s happening around the album now?

Matt: We’re just going to put it out and then we’re going out with Barcelona and Copeland this fall. We go out for about three weeks with them. Then we have some dates in November and December as well. Then we’ll just sit back and hope people like the record and then we’ll go out and support it.

SA: Any nerves at all, or do you feel that you have this down?

Matt: I don’t know really. [Laughs] Honestly, the most popular thing we’ve done to this moment is a song I wrote when I was 17 called “Sadie Hawkins Dance” so I mean, I just hope people like it better than that. [Laughs] I just don’t want to be known for something I wrote at 17 when I’m 29, I guess. So I’m not nervous at all, but I just hope people don’t think about the old stuff all the time. You want to be appreciated for what you’re doing in the moment.

Photo Credit: David Bean

↓ 2 comments

#1 10/8/09 « Christian Music Zine on October 8th, 2009 at 4:18 pm

[...] is an interview with Relient K.  Here is another.  Check em [...]

#2 tyler h on October 28th, 2009 at 5:50 pm

how many times did you interview these guys that week?
http://www.cmcentral.com/interview/9306.html

you write for a lot of sites/publications, dont you? i know this is your site, but i’ve seen your name in several other places

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