Matt Thiessen

Apple B Sides Served Medium Rarities

Posted on Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:12:00 +0000

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

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

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

Some highlights include

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

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

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

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

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

Street Dogs (classic Warped punk rock)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Matty T.

This Means War

Posted on Sat, 21 Jun 2008 06:12:00 +0000

ped Tour Has Begun


Photo by Jered Scott


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

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

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

Matty

Bird & Bee; Flight In Formation

Posted on Tue, 27 May 2008 23:04:00 +0000

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

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


Meet the new EP.


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

The first thirteen make up The Nashville Tennis EP.

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


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


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

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

Stay tuned!
Matty.

A While Indeed

Posted on Mon, 12 May 2008 04:14:00 +0000

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

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

Getting close on an album cover too.

More smiles.

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

Matty

The Hiram Terriers

Posted on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:00:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

And this is my nephew, Hudson.

In a hat.



Matty

Dear Everyone That Pays Attention To Our Band,

Posted on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:33:00 +0000

Hello. Hope everyone is doing well.


We're doing well. Amongst other things.

One of which is recording.
We are not recording the next full length Relient K record, however we have tracked thirteen new original songs that will be going on an EP. We're calling it The Nashville Tennis EP. We know its a lot of songs for an EP. Whatever.


As well as the EP, we're going to put out a B sides record. I'm not totally sure of how many tracks we're going to put on there, but we're aiming for 20+ for sure. As of right now, we're calling this The Bird And The Bee Sides.


The two albums together are going form a new release also called The Bird And The Bee Sides. We're hoping to release it on the earlier side of the summer.


In addition to this, we've got a bunch of other tricks up our sleeves. We just gotta run it all past the suits first. God bless 'em.

Hopefully this gives all of you a little idea of what we're up to. I wish we had a little more confirmation on the details, but we'll clue you in when that happens.


Relient K





Details


The Nashville Tennis EP

I'm really excited to release this EP. We're recording it with Mark Lee Townsend (MMHMM/Deathbed) and JR McNeely (Underoath/Anberlin) is going to do the mixes.

We're calling it The Nashville Tennis EP because there's a bit of a alt country flare to some of the tunes, and because a lot of the songs have ties to the city of Nashville, TN.

One of the cool things about the EP is that its going to have the feel of two separate EPs. Seven of the songs are rock and roll tunes complete with some fun curveballs. The other six lean more towards our acoustic side. I can't wait to finish it.
Matt Hoopes, Jon Schneck, John Warne, and Ethan Luck have all written songs and are singing lead on them. I'm really happy with the results. You will be too.


The Bird And The Bee Sides

This album is pretty predictable. We're compiling a lot of remixed/remastered songs that did not appear on our five full length releases. Anything from the acoustic version of Up And Up to the demo of Sadie Hawkins Dance (my voice cracks really bad on it... pretty funny/stupid). It will contain a bunch of songs from The Vinyl Countdown, The Employee Of The Month EP, The Creepy EP, and a ton of other stuff that you can't even find on the internet. At least not yet.

We'll post track listings and all the other good stuff when they're done. Just thought it'd be nice to give everyone a heads up.


Sing It.


Matt's Favorite Hat. (Top Hat)


I Am A Human Water Bottle


Slip Slidin' Away


PSP-oed

Much love,
Matty T.

Studio

Posted on Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:15:00 +0000

So, we're in our favorite Nashville studio, S-S-Studio, recording some new jams.

Why?

We'll fill ya in soon.

Much love, Matty

Morocc Obama

Posted on Thu, 03 Apr 2008 08:17:00 +0000

April Fools. Canadians can't vote.


My friend Andy (who is in Morocco) sent me a little interview. Thought I'd share. I do reply to good myspace messages once in a while. :-)

(Obama) Tracy Morgan's recent Saturday Night Live commentary was pretty silly.
No link. Find it if you like SNL.

Sorry about the smiley faces and capitalization issues.

Cough cough...

ANDY!!!! Ha.



1. who's your best friend of all time?
Hoopes.

2. any chance i could replace him?
Nope. Sorry.

3. how about is there any chance of me taking matt hoopes's place as guitarist for relient k?
Sorry.

4. how do you pronounce "pwned"?
Yuck.

5. what do you think there's more of...stars in the sky or grains of sand on the earth?
Cool question.

6. what is your favorite flavor of skittles?
Strawberry, but I try to steer clear.

7. if you were trapped on an island and could only bring one book, what would it be (apart from a hollowed out farmer's almanac filled with the bare essentials for survival of course)
Without stating the (I hope) obvious :-). The Shack. Oh yes, oh yes, The Shack. (When I finish I may deliver a blog book report)

8. in a fight between a grilled cheese sand
wich and a taco, who would win?
Depends on what mood I'm in.

9. did you ever find bugs bunny attractive when he put on a skirt and acted like a female bunny? (i didn't either just for the record...just a harmless wayne's world quote)
I didn't remember that line. Good flick.

10. how do you prefer your hamburgers done?
Medium Rare Plus. :-) But for my birthday, I'll have a Filet at Morton's with Shannon, James, Steven, and Kevan, please. I love steak.

11. how would you like to come to morocco for a little jam session sometime?
Hmmm.

12. which bear is best?
Friendly.

13. what is your name?
Matthew.

14. what is your quest?
Love and Grace.

15. what is your favorite color?
Blue.

16. what is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Not fast if swallowed by a mighty Monty Python.

17. what is your favorite type of pop tart?
Nope. Special K breakfast bars.

18. what is the average time it takes you to write a song?
15 minutes for the part that counts, but that 15 minutes can take a week.

19. what is the average time it takes for the band to either go with it or say "back to the drawing board"?
We always finish what we start. Everyone plays their part in making sure the song is something we all enjoy.

20. who is your favorite super hero?
Great question. John The Baptist.

21. what is the best movie you've ever seen?
Harold And Maude.

22. more importantly, what movie was the biggest waste of 2 hours of your life?
The Stepford Wives or some crap?

23. when you reach the age of retirement down the line and are looking for someone to carry on the relient k legacy, what would your criteria be?
Weird. I guess we'll talk then. I hope that its not for a good while though... A good long while.

24. have you ever gotten sick of playing sadie hawkins dance at every one of your shows?
Yes and no. It just has a campfire sing along feel. There's not much art to it. Who doesn't like a little Kum Ba Yah?

25. did marilyn manson really eat your girlfriend?
This girl I liked bought into some of the lyrics. She didn't understand the theatrics of Manson's work. She was consumed by the words in a literal way. Its just good music, honey bee. Ha.

28. what does a half-dead flower have to do with MMHMM?
We were pruning and flowering at the time. We grew some new guys, new labels, new management, and new audiences. We also replaced a bass player and old management. It felt pretty symbolic.

29. last but oh most certainly not least...will you remember me on july 18 at the warped tour in detroit and let me hang out with you for a while?
I would hope so. My girlfriend has a lot of family in Detroit, and I'm often going out to dinner or something with them to escape the occasional monotony of the hot, dirty, summercamp-awesomeness that encompasses everything I love and like about Warped Tour. I'll be hanging out.
Much love,
Matty T.

Trip McNeely

Posted on Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:43:00 +0000

I'm off to do some extra-curricular traveling. 2 hours ago, I definitely had a dream that Matt Hoopes and I were on a plane plummeting from the sky. We never crashed. Sweet.


See ya soon.

Matty.

Jesus.

Posted on Sun, 23 Mar 2008 02:16:00 +0000

I love this time of year, because I watch stuff on TV that remind me of how human Jesus was. He was a real guy that whether you believe in the spiritual side of him or not (I do), was probably really cool to hang out and talk to. At least from what I've read.

Listening to XTC - Poor Skeletons Step Out


Happy Easter Everyone.

Matthew.

Cause We Make A Good Team?

Posted on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:22:00 +0000

Shannon got me a present.
Auction. Charity.
I'm stoked.

Signed (with certificate) and apparently previously worn. I suppose all of this certifies me a Lebron James nerd. Glad to be one.

Big pictures for a big jersey.








What a pick up line that turned out to be.
Thanks boog.

Matty

Irish I Was Irish

Posted on Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:00:00 +0000

The shows were some of my favorites we've ever done! Ethan was marvelous, and our new crew guys (Derek, Travis, James, and Tyler) helped make everything run nice and hitchlessly.

Even though we always wanted to, we had not yet played a show with New Found Glory. The show Friday was pretty special for that and more.

I had a really great time meeting everyone in my path this week. Thanks for taking the time to come to a show and say hi. The Wedding and Rookie Of The Year were tops, and pre-existing friendships were made stronger still.

There's so much more to tell of, but my internet time has expired for this evening. I've got bags to pack.

O'Matty

Sticking Out Like A Sore Thumbs Up

Posted on Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:54:00 +0000

I had a really wonderful night tonight. It was definitely not our best display, but I don't remember having this much fun in a long time. I mean, it HAS been almost 3 months since we've played a show. Ethan did well, and all of us were glad to be on stage together again.

Welcome To The Good Life.

The Beat Of A Different Drum

Posted on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:33:00 +0000

Er....

Not much to report other than we're busy in Nashville preparing for some upcoming shows.

Ethan is doing a great job with the tunes, and we're definitely throwing him some curveballs. Since we're only doing a few shows next week, we're sailing into some unchartered waters with the set. We hope no one will mind. We also hope that we don't run into pirates.

I've been listening to the song Beautiful Beat by Nada Surf all week. Its good. The rest of the songs on the record take their turns hitting or missing.

Time to rest.
Matthew

Cupidity

Posted on Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:20:00 +0000

Valentine's Day was great. I scored some amazing Thai food (take-out... no reservations needed), and my best girl and I watched Ocean's Thirteen. Since she doesn't watch Lost, I made a personal sacrifice in the name of love. Merry Valentine, everyone.

I've been enjoying the company of my friends in Rookie Of The Year, lately. Melodies are palpable.

We picked a new drummer.

Its gonna be a fun year.

Matty

Ill Eagle

Posted on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:26:00 +0000

I was outside this morning, and I saw an eagle soaring above me. He was looking for breakfast or lunch... whatever meal eagles eat at 10:45am. Anyway, he kept circling directly overhead, so I squinted my eyes and pretended I was holding a kite string that led all the way up to him. I got to fly that eagle for about six minutes, and as he flew farther and farther away, I thought, "Wow. That is a lot of kite string."

There will probably be more news today.
Matty

Bad Luck Chuck

Posted on Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:43:00 +0000

A street light flickered on as I was walking beneath it tonight. It could have been motion sensitive, but I like to think that it was something special. Not good luck or anything... just a happy coincidence.

A friend of mine was talking about coincidences that hold the reputation of being ill faring (like strolling under a ladder or encountering a black cat). I love that stuff. I broke the mirror in my travel-kit. I laughed out loud.

There is no bad luck... just trials traveling in packs. When it rains it pours, but after it pours it stops.
Matty

Oilman

Posted on Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:42:00 +0000

Not too much going on with me. Kind of.
However, I did see an amazing movie yesterday
There Will Be Blood is probably one the best films that I've recently experienced.

Its about an oilman.

So is this.


"How are ya, dude? I'm Oil Man"
"Eh... I'm ok. Lost my pants a few miles back.."


"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY PARENT'S LIVING ROOM!!!!!????!!!!
"Its me, Ricky. Your stepfather! You need to take the trash out, dude."


rough translations
Matty.

Kids Stuff.

Posted on Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:04:00 +0000

I went to the premier of the Veggie Tales' newest cinematic endeavor, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. The folks at Big Idea were very gracious to us by giving our song a spin during the end credits. The movie was well done, and the forty toddlers in the theater ate it up. I also got to meet the guy who does all of their song writing. I admire him quite a bit.



Ok.
This is a Steve Irwin playset I bought. Not sure why they sell 'em.

I started drawing another hot dog picture the other day. I drew a burglar hot dog guy on a T-shirt one time, and thought I'd put him in another picture. This is just a screen shot of it.

I Am The Champion, My Friends

Posted on Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:44:00 +0000

I don't know why I'm disclosing this information weeks after my victory, but I won my fantasy football league. Much thanks to LT, Randy, Braylon, Reggie, and others.

What Happened When A Couple Thousand People Were Really Hungry?

Posted on Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:04:00 +0000

2008.
Happy New Year, friends.


There wasn't a whole lot of fantastic music released last year, but here's twelve albums that I listened to more than once. One of them was released in '06, but I just don't care. Haha.

The Little Ones - Sing Song
Silverchair - Young Modern
Manchester Orchestra - Like A Virgin Losing A Child
The Starting Line - Direction
Ruth - Secondhand Dreaming
Rufus Wainwright - Release The Stars
Surrogate - Love Is For The Rich
Sea Wolf - Leaves In The River
The Bird And The Bee - The Bird And The Bee
The Thrills - Teenager
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Nick Drake - Family Tree

Dave Douglasless

Posted on Mon, 31 Dec 2007 03:50:00 +0000

We just figured out that yesterday was the 7th year anniversary (to the day) of Dave's first show with us. Yesterday was also Dave's last show. We had a really good time playing together one last time. I think all of us were pretty emotional, but we were able to stay fairly composed. We were in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee for the last few days, and with band, crew, management, and wives, there was 18 of us playing Guitar Hero (which I hate), pool, Blongo, and hanging out in a gorgeous mountainside cabin together. It was a really great way to say goodbye to a really great friend.

Today is actually the ten year anniversary of Relient K's first show ever. I never thought we'd last a decade, but I couldn't be happier. Here's to another ten.
Matty

Football In The Neighborhood Of Make-Believe

Posted on Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:22:00 +0000

Well... It'd be a little weird if I didn't talk about the fact that I am one of two out of twelve people still fighting for the main prize in my fantasy football league. I go up against Mark Stuart this week. If I win, I WIN. If not, I still did better than ten other guys, and they'll still be mad at me. Thats a good thing. This was my first year doing fantasy, and I was pretty apprehensive. There's a lot of luck to it, but I did spend about $35 on fantasy football magazines before the season began. I hope I see a bit of a return on that investment.

The Browns are doing pretty nicely in hard-hitting, reality football. I thought this was going to be a rough year for us Browns fans.

Shows what I know. Fantasy or not, I reside in

Let's Make-Believeland a reality. Go Browns

Fievel Goes Blog

Posted on Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:49:00 +0000

The last two weeks have been super busy, but pretty great. Being preoccupied before Christmas is an amazing thing. The holiday sneaks up on me, and I'm always grateful when its here. I watched American Tail last night. Hence the Fievel themed comic blog.


Click here if you can't see the whole thing


Matty T.

The Browns, Giving Thanks, The Sounds, & Funny Pranks

Posted on Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:08:00 +0000

The reason for the drought is pretty simple.

I didn't really blog.

The Browns [Part I]
Some friends, April and Kelly, bought me a Browns jersey. They gave it to me a while back, and I've been wearing it every Sunday afternoon since. They put Clay Matthews' retired number 57 on it. They weren't aware of the legendary linebacker's accolades as a part of the Cleveland Browns franchise. They were just making a Five Sore... reference. They also put my last name on the back. Clay Matthews Thiessen. Very close. If I had a clone or a brother named Matthew, it'd be perfect. Love it. Thanks ladies.


The Browns played the at the Baltimore Ravens on November 18th. The Bands played at the Baltimore City on November 18th. For a while I had known I was going to be spending this brisk November Sunday merely blocks down the street from where Derek, Braylon, The Amazing Joe Thomas, Jamal, Mr. Jurevicius, and K. Winslow were clocking in. I had planned on watching them work in person, but I had fallen ill about five days prior. I wasn't quite up to sitting in cold weather and wearing some fan's spilled Bud Light. If you follow the NFL, you may remember that the Browns won the game with a crazy, last-second, tying field goal in regulation, and a victorious three point boot in overtime. Despite being on sleepytime meds and my 23rd cup of tea, there was much "jouissance" in reaction to this freakish act of ricochet.
I felt better.

I felt like I had enough voice to have a good show.

The Browns cured me. Football is awesome.

With this new found exuberance for life, I thought it fitting that I'd celebrate. I'll admit that I was a bit nervous waiting to walk up the steps to the stage where I would play my final song of the night, cloaked in my new Browns jersey. I boarded and struck my pre-meditated Heisman pose. The boos rained down like a bittersweet symphony. I walked to the microphone, confessed that I was celebrating a victory that was really big for the Browns, and then removed my jersey (under which I was wearing the traditional snap down collared shirt). While I did this, I said something to the extent of how I had had my fun, and I wasn't going to distract from the music with football tomfoolery any more. Then I spotted someone in the front row with a Todd Heap Raven's jersey. It appeared that as an act of good nature, I should wear the Raven's jersey while I sing the song. The thought was something shy of blasphemy. I kind of regret going through with the idea, but I did have thousands of people looking at me with laser eyes. I got chicken.

The next day began my Thanksgiving Week.

Giving Thanks
I was thankful to be off the road for a few days. I love touring (this tour especially), but its always nice to not live in close quarters with eleven other dudes for a few days.

The first thing on the menu was a little trim. I walked in the door, looked in the mirror, walked upstairs, and shaved my lip.

I got to say the prayer before we ate on Thanksgiving. I've never done that before. It made me smile... and kinda nervous.

I had a really busy time around the holiday. I spent most of it with my girlfriend, Shannon, and we visited three towns (full of friends and family) in three days. We spent more hours awake then we wanted to, and we did a fair bit of driving. It was all worth it, however, cause we got to see some wonderful people and have a blast hanging out with each other.

The Browns [Part II]
I came home to Ohio, and within two and a half hours there was a knock on my door. My buddy Joe was the first of some friends to arrive. We picked up some Crossroads Pizza (by far the most amazing thing to come out of Bolivar, OH), and he casually asked me if I'd like to go to the Browns game on Sunday. Thoughts of sitting in cold weather wearing some fan's spilled Bud Light were followed by an enthusiastic "yes". We made plans to head up to Cleveland Sunday morning. I was elated because I had not yet seen the Browns play (cause I missed out the week before), and I had never been to the Brown's stadium. All of this was unbeknownst to Joe, but I'm glad he asked me to go.

On Sunday morning I threw on six or seven layers of clothing (the topmost layer was browns and orange). Despite some congestion at the gate and a decent line for the bratwursts, we got to our seats with about eight minutes left in the first quarter. The game was awesome. The Brownies won, and I got to chat with the guy next to me about the offensive coordinator. I'm a nerd.

Casey
The worst part of the week was definitely finding out about Casey Calvert's passing. Casey was the guitarist for Hawthorne Heights, and we shared a ton of great times together on the Nintendo Fusion Tour. He was a great guy and a great hang. He was always laughing and making me feel good about myself. My condolences to his friends, family, band. I assume that losing a band mate is something akin to losing a brother. I can't imagine how torn up they have to be.

The Sounds
We had some really fun shows in IL, OH, PA, and NY, but because of my cough, they weren't quite what they could've been. I worked hard at recuperating. Lots of sleep, meds, and tea.

Because I hadn't played a show healthy in a while, I was really excited to fly out to the west coast to start this last week of tour.
The shows have been some of the best of the tour, and we're all having a really great time spending these last few days together. Dave is only going to be playing with us for a couple more shows, so its great that we're loving every minute of them.

A big thank you goes out to all the friends that have come out to these shows and showered Dave and the band with support. We got a rad scrap book and a cool youtube video from some fans. We looked at both things together as a band, and we had some good times reminiscing about some golden olden days.

We're going to try work some tour olympics into these last few dates. Events may consist of Bocce Ball, Darts, Sharp Shooting, Scrabble, karaoke, etc.

Funny Pranks
Its getting to the part of a tour where bands and crew traditionally start pranking each other. We've pranked some people quite nicely in the past, but Relient K policy has morphed into opting for the treat rather than the trick. I'd rather do something funny to a band than something malicious.
I suppose karma was paying us back last night, when Switchfoot's lighting engineer, Taylor, decided to "prank" us. During our rendition of Sleigh Ride, Taylor repelled from the 40ft tall catwalk to the stage while dressed in the customary Santa Claus outfit. He threw out candy canes (you can see em in the photo) as he descended, and he brought joy to the faces of the children. It was honestly the coolest thing that's ever happened to us on stage.


Till next time.
Matty