The adorable Christian pop rockers (or at least they were when I listened to them) Relient K is celebrating their 10th anniversary with a new EP set to drop on Gotee Records July 1st and touring all summer on the still-going-strong Warped Tour. The Bird and Bee Sides EP includes a whopping 26 tracks (70 minute run time!) with 13 brand new songs and a series of B-sides from the band’s 10 year history.
Before the EP hits store, Relient K will launch an online scavenger hunt giving fans a chance to download a number of B-sides that won’t be included on the new record. The hunt begins June 16th on Relient K’s MySpace page and will continue through June 30th.
“We were just trying to think of what our fans would want from a b-sides record,” explains lead singer/guitarist/pianist Matt Thiessen. “We’re like, they probably just want everything – so let’s try to give it to them.” Along the way, the band decided to include some new tracks, a concept that quickly morphed into “hey, why doesn’t everybody in the band write a song?”
All five members wrote songs and take turns on lead vocals. It’s perhaps Relient K’s most diverse effort to date, including Thiessen’s alt-country “At Least We Made It This Far,” bassist John Warne‘s “The Last, The Lost, The Least,” which is explosive both sonically and in its social commentary, and new drummer Ethan Luck‘s punk rock reggae “No Reaction,” to name but a few highlights.
As a co-headliner for the Vans Warped Tour ’08, Relient K is eager to get back on the road. “This is the first time we’ve been out for the entire endeavor – it’s going to be a blast,” says Thiessen, who relishes the Warped tour’s “hot, dirty summercamp awesomeness.” They’ll be bringing along a representative from Blood:Water Mission, a non-profit organization working to promote clean blood and clean water efforts in Africa, tangibly reducing the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic while addressing the underlying issues of poverty, injustice and oppression.
Catch Relient K co-headlining Warped Tour all summer and look for The Bird and Bee Sides EP on July 1st
Tracklisting:
01. Where Do I Go From Here
02. The Scene And Herd
03. At Least We Made It This Far
04. The Last, The Lost, The Least
05. The Lining Is Silver
06. There Was No Thief
07. No Reaction
08. Curl Up And Die
09. You’ll Always Be My Best Friend
10. There Was Another Time In My Life
11. Beaming
12. I Just Want You To Know
13. Bee Your Man
14. Up And Up (acoustic)
15. Wit’s All Been Done Before
16. The Vinyl Countdown
17. For The Band
18. Nothing Without You
19. A Penny Loafer Saved Is A Penny Loafer Earned
20. Five Iron Frenzy Is Either Dead Or Dying
21. Five Iron Frenzy Is Either Dead Or Dying (ska version)
22. Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been (acoustic)
23. Here I Go (demo)
24. The Stenographer (demo)
25. Jefferson Aeroplane (demo)
26. Hope For Every Fallen Man (acoustic)
