Relient K Band • Page 90

It's been a while since I've really been "in the know" with RK, but lemme see if I can remember it right (it's a lot of dirty laundry and hearsay but it's what I got). It was really Thiessen leaning hard into making CL and Ethan and the Jo(h)ns not being onboard with the direction he was taking them.

After FSASYA they were dropped I think? Thiessen was engaged to a woman named Shannon who was a radio host from Savannah GA, and Hoopes was going through a rough patch with his wife, i unfortunately forget her name, who was the daughter of their long-time producer Mark Lee Townsend. Thiessen then cheated on Shannon (i hear rumor it was with katy perry while on 2008 warped tour) and their engagement ended. Thiessen locked himself in a remote cabin after that in early 2009 and began writing FANSD. He was almost completely secluded and really the only interactions he had were bandmates checking in on him every so often. RK began recording at dark horse studios and released the album. It was a really really trying album for them to make and Thiessen was sick almost the entire time they recorded and you can hear it in his voice.

After touring on the album they kind of took it easy for a bit. Hoopes began going through a divorce with his wife and wasn't on tour for a good while from like 2010-2011. They had Justin York fill in for him. Late 2011 they go into the studio and I'm not really sure what happened with that material but their label at the time, Jive?, dissolved and they moved to RCA. They went back into the studio in 2012ish with a new producer that wasn't Townsend and from what I hear it was a pretty......heated process. Ethan Luck wanted to continue building on FANSD and Thiessen wanted to go in the pop direction that we got with collapsible lung. They got into it quite a bit from what I hear. Obviously Thiessen "won" and we got CL.

They played a holiday show in December of 2012 in Nashville that I believe either Pittman or Dave was coming to and playing with them at the show. Rumor is backstage Thiessen and Luck's "creative differences" came to a head over Ethan trying to take more control of the band and being unhappy with what they were about to release and Thiessen basically told him he's out of the band.

I think it was around February 2013 that my ex's friend who is/was close to the band sent us CL before it even had a title, artwork, and most of the track names were different. We sat on our bed and were just...confused how it was so bad. I remember legitimately laughing at how awful can't complain was especially that god damn line about his puppy back home haha. We thought these were just dumb demos and studio goofs and asked her friend if it was actual the real album they were gonna release. It was.

Then the whole lead up to the actual release was a cluster fuck. They announced the name of the album and said it was coming soon and Ethan played his last show all at Easterfest. Ethan shortly later announced he was leaving and even his announcement said he tried to not let it happen. The album got delayed at least once from what I remember and I'm not sure why. The Jo(h)ns also took their silent exit from the band before the CL support tour.

So yeah, that's basically what I know about what I view as when, how, and why they lost their steam after FSASYA

 

Thanks for sharing. Rumors or not it’s nice to have some clarity. The band’s connection to their fans and management of the band has just been flat out bad for like almost a decade now lol. Hard for me to even say that because I adore them.

 

Honestly makes it even more amazing that we got Air For Free and that it was great!

 

I should have waited with my response, yours was much more in depth! I'd heard bits and pieces of these things but seeing it all laid out like this helps explain things. I wonder what the direction of the band would have been if Ethan/John/Jon stayed with the band and CL didn't happen. FANSD was so good and they could have really built off that. Of course we might not have had AFF so...

Speaking of Ethan Luck, I saw Needtobreathe on their acoustic tour last week and he's touring with them playing guitar. Good to see him back in action! I think he's been a guitar tech for Kings of Leon too

 

It just blows my how Thiessen could possibly have thought CL was even kind of good, especially in comparison to FANSD. I don’t mean this as a criticism but I think he’s just one of those artists that doesn’t judge their own work well or isn’t able to accurately gauge what his fans want. I read that he had to be convinced to put Empty House and Man on AFF. Also, Runnin’ was written as three different songs and it was Townsend’s suggestion to put them together. Thiessen didn’t think it would work. Those are all in the top 5 of the album and some of the best songs they have ever put out.

 

Yeah, after knowing all that and then CL being real, I just kind of put the band off. I listened to AFF once and it was...fine.

 

i still don't understand why they brought in co-writers for CL.

 

CL get's too much hate for simily being an RK album. It should have been a solo album honestly. Matt was always very aware that he was making pop songs because of where he was in his life and there's still a fair amount of enjoyable stuff on there, but it really doesn't feel like an RK album aside from the first and last tracks.

 

But even Wind Up Bird doesn't sound like CL.

 

I don't think that makes a difference. The point is that the album gets judged harder for being under the RK moniker, which is justifiable. It was released under any other name I don't think people would love it, but I don't think it would be judged as hard

 

CL's first song is mediocre and the title track is decent but suffers from some real clunky lines imo. the other songs are all really bad

 

I really think the title track is top tier RK. Don't Blink is fun. I can get down with If I Could Take You Home, Part Time Lover, Disaster and When You Were My Baby

 

Collapsible Lung is a great record and this is definitely my favorite hill that I've chosen to die on

 

PTL and When You Were My Baby are great songs, don't @ me. FANSD and AFF are two of my favorite albums ever, I just listened to them today and they are perfect.

 

I agree with all of this.

 

CL is a mediocre pop album no matter who put it out. It’s just not good IMO. Can’t Complain is especially horrible. It sounds like a terrible copycat of what Bruno Mars was doing at the time. Even the best songs on the record are not even close to the band’s best work.

 

Id take CL over the first 2

 

I think CL has 4-5 good to great songs and I enjoy the album as a whole. One of their weaker albums for sure, but a good listen none the less I'd say.

 

I still really enjoy CL!

 

Wait, is Forget and Not Slow Down no longer on iTunes? Did I miss this completely?

 

Agree. It's very bad.

 

“Don’t Blink” is a wonderful song, and it’s a shame none of the others match it in quality.

FANSD hasn’t been on Apple Music in awhile. I wound up syncing my hard-file with my iCloud so I could have it. Despite all the bullshit that created it, and the in-fighting during recording, that album is damn near a masterpiece.

 

"Don't Blink" is a top 5 Relient K song for me, pretty easily. "Collapsible Lung" is dope, too. The rest is inconsistent, but it's alright for what it is & has some nice moments. I'd honestly take mid tier pop RK over most top tier pop punk RK, outside of a few exceptions.

But, yeah, FANSD is far and away their best album, obnoxiously good, lightning in a bottle, etc.

 

FANSD and AFF are basically tied at number 1 for me for very different reasons. I absolutely love both.

 

FANSD is their best record by a comically large margin. I tried to talk myself into CL being good at the time but it's really not