I haven’t listen yet but Hoopes talks about touring Inside the Pedal Lab with Relient K’s Matt Hoopes
Yeah them playing six shows in 2025 is on par with the 5-6 shows they’ve played in 2023 and 2024. But maybe they’re catching the bug again…
I feel like the general instability around Hoopes' business ventures is probably his priority, leading to RK being left up in the air. His wife was on Instagram talking about how they might have to close their retail store. I know Hoopes just moved his workshop out of the back of the retail shop.
I always got the impression that he does the business ventures in part because he wants to but also because the band isn’t as active anymore, not the other way around. I don’t get the impression that Hoopes is the one who isn’t as into the idea of touring and recording, but what do I know.
I think his pedal business has done well…it starting in 2018ish certainly coincided with a period when RK stopped touring and making music. I spoke with Jack a couple weeks ago at a Bayside show and he said Hoopes has sold 12,000 pedals and Jack’s made 9,000 of them himself. So the demand is there, enough to hire someone to build them for him. I do still think the band is a side-side project for both Matts, and it’s probably a little more challenging to both record new music at this juncture in time, and play shows - not just logistically but also motivation-wise…the vast majority of the songs they play live are from a time in their lives that must feel like entirely different lives to them now. And what does RK sound like in 2025? Hoopes and Thiessen may differ on that, behind the scenes- who knows? But I love that they’re doing exactly what they want to do when they want to do it. I think most of us love RK for how pure they are, for lack of a better phrase. And I hope they never change that about themselves.
From Nashville to Alive Music Festival. Relient K on comeback trail Interesting tidbits from Thiessen in here. He says he’s been working on a lot of new songs, but as of now they have no plans to go into the studio…
I’m glad they were asked to be a bigger act at the festival, which they turned down. It seemed disrespectful of them to be so low on the bill.
Great set. They played Getting Into You lol. Had some new merch too. 3 throwback designs and a couple new ones. Feels good to have gone for free and be home in time to see an early showing of Superman hah
Nope. They also covered Ohio by Damien Jurado which was really special. The rest of the set was the usuals.
Upside: they won't hit the studio until they have songs they're really proud of. Downside: they won't hit the studio until they have songs they're really proud of.
If any of the new shirts make it online, I’m goin a pick one up. When I saw them last year they didn’t have any merch.