It’s chapstick, and chapped lips, and things like chemistry
I’ve loved Relient K’s music for quite a long time. I bought their self-titled album shortly after it was released in 2000, but didn’t give it too much of a listen. It wasn’t until the Three Tops Toonie Chicks got me Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right, But Three Do for Christmas one year that I really got into them. I back-tracked and picked up The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek, and then began collecting and listening as they came out… and I was just so into each album. Every release was different from the last – they’re a band that are so hard to wrap in a genre, because they break out of whatever you label them as with their next album!
Their most recent album, The Birds & The Bee Sides was a double album that contained the Nashville Tennis EP and the aforementioned CD, which contained a bunch of b-sides and demo recordings. Pretty cool… but it was the original stuff they recorded on the Nashville Tennis EP that I was most hooked on. It was the first album that Ethan Luck (former OC Supertones guitarist) played on as their drummer. The drums were incredible – so tight, loud, and just brilliantly complex. But what I most loved about the album was the general direction that it took – country. RK showed just how you mix a country flavour with their brand of, I guess, pop punk. And it was amazing to listen to. Again, it was because it was so different to everything they’ve released before that I think I’ve loved it so much.
And only 12 months down the track, they’re releasing a new album, Forget and Not Slow Down, will be released in early October. Something that I can’t wait to hear.
And finally, after 7 years of visiting Australia, they’re heading back in the coming months. I can’t wait. They’re playing at the Big Exo Day… a pretty cool Christian Skate/Music Festival aimed at teens. I’m desperately hoping they play a sideshow… but I’m doubting it. Might just have to pretend to be 18 again…