![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Hoopes offered a possibility, pointing out that in trying to “be a big rock band,” they were also “trying to be more vanilla, more watered down…trying to toe the line between pop punk but not too much,” and that perhaps the record suffered from that noncommittal musicality. But sadly, without a single as strong as “Be My Escape,” the album failed to connect with the public in the same ways as its predecessor. The songs indeed got bigger – “ I Need You” – but also, more “radio” – “ Give Until There’s Nothing Left To Give” – more ambitious – the 11-minute epic “ Deathbed” – yet still maintained the sensibilities of classic Relient K – “ Come Right Out and Say It.” And it should have worked. Helmed by super-producer Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, Daughtry, All American Rejects), Five Score is a document of a band actively “ trying to make a big record,” as Matt Hoopes discussed on The Local Wave podcast. – Five Score And Seven Years Ago ( 2007) – Mmhmm on steroids. Matt Theissen expressed some reflective self-awareness on this issue in a 2013 interview, stating, “when Mmhmm came out…pop-punk was a genre that had a time limit on it, and that was…right about when it was going to get really old for a lot of people, so we kind of caught the tail of that.” But casual listeners tuning out after Mmhmm was a grave mistake because this is where Relient K’s discography gets interesting. It catapulted those silly guys I saw in Second Baptist Church to TRL! For me personally, I knew Relient K were an important band, but after Mmhmm, I knew I was a lifer.īut sadly, as it happens for so many, just as soon as they came, many of the casual fans that jumped on the Relient K bandwagon after seeing “ Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been” on MTV or hearing it on the radio, were quick to jump right off and tune out. Yes, “ My Girl’s Ex-Boyfriend” holds Mmhmm back from being a complete departure, but Mmhmm was different, and it connected. The sheer songwriting power of that song and its lyrics had me dumbfounded: “Just two years prior, hadn’t this band released a song entirely in gibberish?” Mmhmm’s song-craft was a massive quantum leap from the band’s previous albums, and it displayed that frontman Matt Theissen was far from some cheeky Ohio youth group goofball. As the song continued, going from double time to half time to drum-less breakdown and back, startled, I pondered, “ this is Relient K?” Then they released their now-signature song, the perfect, “ Be My Escape,” and I found myself asking that same question for a different reason. It all began one night on PureVolume when I heard a new song called “The One I’m Waiting For.” In its first few seconds, the first thing I noticed was the significantly higher production value in the drums and the shuffling, almost Edge-like guitar riff, but then the whole band kicked in and its breakneck tempo knocked me on my ass. However, it was 2004’s Mmhmm that changed everything. Their next two albums, The Anatomy Of The Tongue In Cheek and Two Lefts Don’t Make A Right…But Three Do certainly held on to the cheese, but each still saw the band push their music forward, bit by bit. The songs were definitely cheesy, but those cheeseballs wormed their way into my skull and never left. Nevertheless, we bought their self-titled debut CD directly from them at their merch table – I distinctly remember guitarist Matt Hoopes’ signature being – but as the weeks went on after the show, much to my surprise, I couldn’t get the songs out of my head. They had silly songs – like one that hadn’t come out yet that they played that night and sadly followed them the rest of their career, “ Sadie Hawkins Dance” – their bass player looked like he was having a seizure while they played, and, at that time, they seemed like awkward blink-182 wannabes. Now, at the time, frankly, I assumed I would never see or hear from them again. Not so much by the band, per se, but by the embodiment of punk rock that was before me at that moment. That’s right: in a church sanctuary, kids were moshing in front of the altar and crowd surfing off of pews to songs like “ Hello McFly,” “ Staples” and “ Softer To Me.” Someone even had to stop the band’s set to tell kids to stop. Supertones, Switchfoot and Relient K in a church may not exactly be Strike Anywhere and Ignite, but Relient K’s set was my first exposure to mosh pits and crowd surfing. It sounds silly, but this was truly my first punk rock show. ![]()
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