Goat Boy Goes to High
School
Relient K's Matthew Thiessen sings a lot about high school stuff. But ever
wonder what he was like during those years?
Todd Hertz - January/February 2005
Relient K's Matthew Thiessen often sings about high school stuff like Sadie Hawkins dances, field trips and things like chemistry. But ever wonder what Matthew was like as a high school student in Ohio? Mmhmm. We wondered too, so we asked him.
Me in High School: "The most consistent thing about me during high school was that I was kinda dorky (and still am). I was really quiet and bookish my freshman and sophomore years. Sometime during those two years, though, I started to come out of my shell. I turned into the funny kid in class who says stuff that's funny—but not funny enough for you to want to hang out with him all the time. However, I was famous in the halls for my impression of a goat."
My Friends: "We played soccer and listened to music a lot. During my junior year, Matthew Hoopes (RK guitarist) and I got pretty tight, and that is when the band started. Hoopes and I were way into the music scene. We'd go all over the place to see bands like MXPX, Slick Shoes and Squad Five-0."
My Most Embarrassing Moment: "For a week, my friend Greg went around the school trying to get enough donated cash to pay this girl I liked to kiss me on the cheek. I found out about it and almost threw up."
My First Date: "It was the perfect combination of the movies, a pretty girl and my folks picking us up in our minivan. I was 16, but license-less. The worst part was that when we dropped her off, I snuck a smooch on the cheek. The problem was that my parents were right there. That was pretty weird."
Stuff To Know:
Matthew writes a regular journal on relientk.com where you can read thoughts like this: "I just made an elephant noise with my mouth, and seriously contemplated how to spell it. It can't be spelled."
Matthew grew up with Relient K guitarist Matthew Hoopes. They went to church together and played guitar for youth group worship on Wednesday nights. They started the band in 1997.
Relient K's written a book for girls, The Complex Infrastructure Known as the Female Mind (Transit). In it, the guys tell personal stories and use biblical advice to talk about what they think it means to be a woman of God.