Hoopes just opened a brick and mortar store in Nashville…the Video Store. It’s not really open much right now but between that, his pedal company and huge family I think we’re still on track for my prediction of 2028 for anything RK-related.
This reminded me that they got Mmh20mm guitar picks made that came with the pedal. Feels like the type of thing they’d get made for a tour. But, I guess not?
Not sure if this was mentioned, but there's an interesting podcast interview with Mark Lee Townsend on Church Jams Now and they go into depth about a lot of Relient K history and information that I wasn't familiar with. I found it insightful. It made me miss the band so much though. Link to Apple Podcasts
Back in RK world is still not the most active. Sounds like there’s no plans currently from this interview, but would love to be surprised.
That was a great interview with MLT, definitely learned some new things about Relient K and his time with dc Talk. Those were my two biggest bands in middle/high school so it's cool he has that connection to both. He really needs his own podcast to share all these stories from his career. And yes, we need anything from Relient K. An album, a tour, an ep, I would even just take a single at this point
That part was super interesting to me, knowing it's one of their only records they did without him. I appreciate that he didn't hold back on his opinions, even though they weren't very positive, because I've always wondered what he thought of the results of their work with Howard Benson. Must Have Done Something Right is really cheesy, though, I agree with him there haha
Haha I knew he would ruffle some feathers with that. I won’t lie, I really disliked Howard Benson at the time because of the Five Score and Mae Singularity albums. I felt like he ruined my favorite bands lol. I’ve definitely come around on Five Score big time. Singularity not so much. A MLT produced Five Score would be a fun contrast to hear though but it is a great album as is. The real question is what does he think of Collapsible Lung
Five Score has always been great. It’s never been my favorite, but it just has some stiff competition in that regard. Come Right Out And Say It, I Need You, and Devastation and Reform are all time greats for me. I’ve never been huge on Faking My Own Suicide though. It’s fine.
I would cut "Forgiven," "I'm Taking You With Me" and "Faking My Own Suicide" and it'd still be a solid 40ish minute album.
I kinda just mentally think of "Don't Blink" and "Collapsible Lung" as Relient K songs and the rest as solo tracks to get into it more. Obviously they are RK songs, but if I convince my brain that it's a different project I enjoy it more.