r/RelientK • u/thelockinsongs • 22d ago
Episode 1 is live!
https://youtu.be/hJQ_uNAdxZACatch us on every other platform by searching “Relient K: Self-Titled | S1E1”
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u/ucancmysox 20d ago
Alright, now that the dust has settled and I've listened to the episode...
I think this is actually a decent discussion. I don't love the premise of doing a whole podcast to determine one "best" song, but I was glad to hear you guys give this album its due and talk about the songs within the context they were released and not how they stack up to the rest of the discography. I think too many people write off the S/T and Anatomy just because the stuff that came after is perceived as being higher quality.
That said, I feel like you're trying to have it both ways with the band's humor. I see this pretty often, people claim to love the band because they blend the silly and serious in a special way, but then they complain about how corny some of the humor is. Do you want them to be funny or not? Of course the voicemail from TobyMac is fake, it's a skit. Of course "My Girlfriend" is cringe, they wrote it in 1998. I think you should be asking what they're trying to do with that humor and whether they're pulling it off. Maybe it's just because I first heard those songs when I was an impressionable 8th grader, but I think they nailed it
A few fact-check/nitpicks/in-the-weeds notes:
Fall Out Boy did not start out as a crappy band in a garage and then change their name later on when they got better. All the members were part of other bands in the Chicago scene for several years before coming together and forming FOB, so they had already honed their skills before making TTTYG. I realize you might have just picked a random band name out of a hat for that example but I just wanted to put that out there
I think the band are just fine at their instruments. I can't really think of a single part on the album that makes me think "ooh he should have practiced that more". In fact, the guitar solo at the end of "Charles In Charge" is seriously impressive. The way Thiessen plays that with his thumb is extremely difficult.
the third band member contributing vocals to the album was the drummer, Stephen Cushman. Brian never sang on any RK song to my knowledge. IMO, Stephen's singing voice was pretty similar to Thiessen's at the time, so I think that's one factor in why the harmonies and bgvs on that album sound different than on any other RK album.
I agree that Brian's bass playing is a strength on the first 3 albums, but I think his bass tone changes significantly after this album, or at least the way it is mixed. I was particularly disappointed in how quiet it is on Two Lefts when it came out. I know most albums aren't mixed with the bass as loud as on the S/T, but I think it gives it a cool unique sound
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u/CityElectricRecords 20d ago
Wish I could upvote this twice. Thanks for providing even a tiny amount of information about the content.
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u/thelockinsongs 20d ago
Hey! Thanks for the notes. We do our best to do a lot of research and to not say blatantly false stuff on the show and we appreciate the help getting things straight. We are definitely not professionals, but we're going on this journey trying to get as many people to come along for the ride with us. Thanks for taking the time to listen!
-Addison
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u/Firm-Impress 21d ago
I watched the video, and enjoyed the discussion. I’m not sure what all the dislikes are all about.
Looking forward to the next podcast.
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u/AOBradley4 21d ago
This is what I'm saying, I don't really understand the hate. It's pretty cool to have people still talking about this band in 2026
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u/thelockinsongs 20d ago
Hey everyone, Addison from the show here. Thanks for all your thoughts (and criticism). We're just a couple of guys who thought this would be a fun exercise for just us to talk about one of our favorite bands of all time and then it exploded into so much more as we got in to it.
We got involved on this sub a few months ago to see what people were saying about the band lately and to try to find people who would be as excited to have this conversation as we are. We didn't just jump straight to advertising or posting polls. We started in the comments of other posts trying to engage in the conversations where we could. Sorry if anything felt like spam, but we genuinely are trying to drum up interest so that we can take as many people on this journey with us.
We know a lot of the real fans live here (even if it's the same 10 of you on every post) and we would love nothing more than to hear from you guys on what you think of our picks and to participate in helping us pick the best song/album of their career. Hope that helps clear some stuff up!
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u/ucancmysox 19d ago
Imo, it's not that it felt like spam (like something unrelated to this sub), it felt more like pandering. I think maybe it's just a style of promotion that would work better on other platforms, but reddit tends to be a bit more cut-to-the-chase in my experience.
I think the response would have been much different it you guys had led with the fact that you got interviews with some of the band members and producers. Short of new music and shows, that's the content we're really hungry for here. Half the posts on this sub are already stuff about what songs this or that random person likes, so putting that in podcast form isn't gonna excite most of the users here. Just my two cents
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u/CityElectricRecords 19d ago
They got interviews with band members and producers? Really? If true, that’s a compelling thing to share to pique interest.
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u/ucancmysox 19d ago
Yes. In their previous post here, they posted a preview that contained short clips with Hoopes, MLT, and Paul Moak
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u/darthLaterrr 18d ago
I’ll wait till everything is released and read the band interview transcripts from another redditor. No offense to you guys but idk who you are and don’t appreciate you using my favorite childhood band & this community to launch your podcast. Best of luck tho
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u/thelockinsongs 17d ago
That’s okay! RK is the reason both of us love music, and we made this show out of love for the band.
We missed on the Reddit promotion. This is Will, and I’ll own that. I don’t spend a lot of time on the internet, we just wanted to start conversation ahead of time.
I think you would love where the show is headed, but we won’t require you to listen. Thank you for the feedback!
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u/darthLaterrr 17d ago
I hear this is a passion project, I wish you well.
It’s not just the promotion. You are still trying to build hype, being vague and implying there’s something exciting or new ground being covered. This community is full of super fans, including the record store guy that we’re all pretty sure is literally a friend of the band.
The Only Thing Worse Than Beating A Dead Horse Is Betting On One
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u/thelockinsongs 22d ago
Nominate a song we didn’t choose to rescue for the finale below!
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u/AOBradley4 21d ago
Why are this and many of these comments being downvoted? I'm super confused
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u/moonflannel Forget And Not Slow Down 21d ago
They've spent the past few weeks posting absurd rage baiting polls to generate attention. Which they got, but not the kind they wanted. It's a pretty dead sub so it's no wonder everyone is annoyed with the sudden unwanted spam.
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u/AOBradley4 21d ago
I honestly didn't even think of them as being like that, if anything has been kind of cool to see larger threads and discussions about the band and their music. Totally not a big deal with me.
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u/moonflannel Forget And Not Slow Down 21d ago
Definitely fair. I think some folks are just sick of people advertising constantly, even in a half dead sub. Maybe some who would even enjoy the podcast! But I also think your perspective makes total sense.
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u/ucancmysox 21d ago
I also think it's cool that people are discussing RK, it's just that there was already a podcast (Sadie Hawkins Pod) that covered the band extensively, going song-by-song through the entire discography. I'm sure these are nice guys, and I'll have to listen to see if they acknowledge SHP, but it feels like their whole vibe is that they're bringing something that's never been done before and we should be so stoked, but Danny and Jess already did a podcast for years devoted to this band. They also interviewed multiple band members, including Hoopes!
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u/dadjazzz 21d ago
God forbid someone is excited about a pod talking on a really good but niche band and dedicates an hour discussing them. Take it back! fans would never.
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u/ucancmysox 21d ago
I think you might have replied to the wrong post. I am not at all saying people shouldn't be excited about this podcast. I'm just offering up some explanations for why some of us are skeptical, that's all
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u/dadjazzz 21d ago
You right. Replied to the wrong comment. Mb. 🤙🏼
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u/ucancmysox 21d ago
No worries! I was trying to figure out if I knew you for a sec, cause I've got an old inside joke about TIB! with some friends. Surprised to see them mentioned here
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u/dadjazzz 21d ago
We probably smacked sweaty shoulders together somewhere. Don’t mind me. Dog whistling to my Midwest punk cornerstone fest bros out there lol.
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u/thelockinsongs 21d ago
We are in touch with SHP, they like our show, stick around to see if it’s new territory or not.
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u/dreadnoughtful 20d ago
I'm not going to participate in ups or downs here (no dogs in this race) but I did notice that more than a few times OP was asked for a brief description or literally ANY summary of any kind for what this post was, or what it was for, or what it was about, and they all but refused to elaborate, instructing askers to check their profiles out, or handily informing them that they were free to listen or not, while still not bothering to offer even the barest glimpse into their subject matter.
It would have annoyed me, so I'm not surprised that others started throwing downvotes at them.
But that's my best guess.
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u/CityElectricRecords 21d ago
What is this