Relient K — Relient K

Relient K started as three church friends from Canton, Ohio, who couldn't decide if they wanted to be a punk band or a ska band. They ended up as one of the best-selling acts Christian rock ever produced, with a top 10 album on the Billboard 200 and fans well outside the church. Singer and songwriter Matt Thiessen and guitarist Matt Hoopes are still at it more than 25 years later.

A youth group band

Thiessen, Hoopes and bassist Brian Pittman grew up as casual friends at the same church. In the fall of 1997 they started playing guitars for their youth group's worship on Wednesday nights. "We were like, 'Well, we're all here. Why don't we play some stuff that we make up?'" Thiessen told Pollstar. "So we started writing our own songs."

Thiessen had picked up the guitar at 14, while he was busing tables at an Amish restaurant. "I was bored," he told liveDaily. "I was like, 'Man, I need a hobby.'" It was the grunge era, and he taught himself on Silverchair and Nirvana songs because they were easy to play.

The band took its name from Hoopes' car, a rusting old Plymouth they used to ride around in. Thiessen later remembered seeing the ska band the O.C. Supertones at the Alive Festival, after which Hoopes and Pittman were convinced Relient K should be a ska band too.

The demo that got them signed

Hoopes had a crush on a girl down the street, and her dad was Mark Lee Townsend, guitarist in dc Talk. The boys spent a lot of time at that house, and they eventually talked Townsend into recording a demo for about 200 bucks. Thiessen called it "cruddy." But Townsend passed it to his dc Talk bandmate Toby McKeehan, a partner in Gotee Records, and Gotee signed them.

"If we wouldn't have met him at 16 years old, we would have never made a demo, and TobyMac would have never heard this demo and signed us," Thiessen told the Canton Repository in 2022. Townsend went on to produce their records, and Hoopes later married his daughter, Danielle.

What started as a development deal didn't stay that way for long. "This isn't a developmental deal project," their manager remembered telling the label. "This is an A-level Gotee release." Their self-titled debut came out in 2000, and by Pollstar's account Relient K became the top-selling new Christian rock act of that year. They were playing 200 shows a year, and in October 2001 Pollstar reported they'd make their first trip overseas the following January, to play for fans in Australia and New Zealand. The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek followed in 2001, with "Pressing On" on it.

Two Lefts and Mmhmm

Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do came out in 2003 and reached number 38 on the Billboard 200. Its lead single was "Chap Stick, Chapped Lips and Things Like Chemistry."

The next record changed things. Mmhmm arrived in late 2004, with a Capitol Records distribution deal behind it, and debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200. It went gold. Thiessen said a hard year on the road shaped it. "There were some things going on that weren't the best experiences we could have hoped for," he told liveDaily. "So, all of that stuff, going into recording, made it more of a serious record for us." liveDaily heard punk bands like MxPx and songwriters like Ben Folds in it, and Thiessen called Folds a huge influence. He'd also started bringing a piano out on stage.

The band never hid its faith, but Thiessen was wary of the label. "I wouldn't go around saying that we're a Christian rock band because there are a lot of connotations that go along with that," he told CCM Magazine. "If I told someone who doesn't know about Christian rock music that we're in a Christian rock band, he'd think we're up there preaching, and we're not like that."

Five Score and the peak

Their fifth album in seven years got the title Five Score and Seven Years Ago, a nod to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. It debuted at number 6 on the Billboard 200 in March 2007 with 64,000 copies sold in its first week, a high-water mark for the band, and topped Billboard's Christian albums chart. Its singles included "Must Have Done Something Right." The Los Angeles Times noted that every Relient K album had sold more than the one before.

Forget and Not Slow Down

In 2009 came Forget and Not Slow Down, which debuted at number 15. It was a break-up record, and critics called it a big artistic step forward. "Forward Motion" is on it. Collapsible Lung followed in 2013 and reached number 16.

Two Matts and Air for Free

By the time Air for Free came out in 2016, Relient K was down to its two founding Matts, with friends joining in as needed. It's their longest album, with 16 songs, and it reached number 44. Hoopes talked about "redefining what Relient K is," and said the band was now "Matt and Matt plus whatever friends we have." He put the plan simply. "We're not going to tour 250 days a year in clubs right now," he told chorus.fm. "But we still are going to play shows and have fun when we do it."

They've kept that promise. In July 2025, as the band lined up a return to Ohio's Alive Music Festival, where they'd played in their early days, Thiessen said they'd definitely play songs from Mmhmm. "I'd love to record some new music and keep playing shows," he said. "I've been working on lots of new songs, but as of now, we don't have any plans to get into the studio."

For a band that began playing worship songs on Wednesday nights, they've had a long and surprising run. "Growing up in Ohio, it's such a special place," Thiessen told his hometown paper in 2022. "I'm sure a lot of bands think their story is special and miraculous," he added, but he believes theirs is too.

Watch

Five official uploads trace the band from youth group punks to grown men. "Pressing On" is from The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek, "Chap Stick, Chapped Lips and Things Like Chemistry" from Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do and "Must Have Done Something Right" from Five Score and Seven Years Ago. "Forward Motion" is from Forget and Not Slow Down, and "Air for Free" is the title track of their 2016 album.

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