With the Vans Warped Tour coming to Los Angeles on Wednesday, Relient K drummer Ethan Luck spoke with Daily Bruin’s Marjorie Yan about the evolution of Relient K, expectations for the Warped Tour and the band’s future plans.
Daily Bruin: Relient K started in 1998. How would you say you’ve changed since then?
Ethan Luck: We’ve changed quite drastically. If anybody has heard the first three records, it’s pretty obvious that, especially on the first two, Matt (Hoopes) was a teenager when he wrote these songs and now he’s 30, so that’s almost 15 years. It’s interesting to listen to those things and see how our lives have changed. There’s always those fans that always say they wish our songs were like our old stuff, but as a 30-year-old you can’t put yourself in the same mindset as a 15-year-old or 18-year-old. You’re dealing with different things at the time.
DB: You have fans that have been around since the beginning. How do you feel about having people growing with you and your music?
EL: It’s cool. There are always bands that, no matter if they come and go, there’s always a core fan base that sticks with them, which is great. They understand that we have to progress and if the band wrote the same record over and over again we probably wouldn’t be Relient K. It’s always nice to meet fans that tell us that they’ve seen us perform at the last Warped Tour or when they point out specific performances where they like a drum part I did in a certain song.
DB: Do you have a new album coming out soon?
EL: We just released a cover EP that is “Relient K is for Karaoke” and there are seven songs on it. We recorded more and we’ll release that in the fall and while that is being released, we’re gonna work on a new album. The karaoke EP features covers and covers have always been part of the band’s live show.
DB: What is your favorite song to perform and why?
EL: My favorite song to perform with the guys is this song called “Deathbed” which is off of “Five Score and Seven Years Ago.” It’s about a 12-minute song and it’s last on the record. That one is really fun to play live because it’s really long and most of it is really mellow. There (are) different tempo and key changes so musically it’s fun and challenging.
DB: What is it like to see bands on smaller stages, knowing that you were once there?
EL: It’s really awesome to see them play because, on one end you could see them and they may never get past that or you may be watching the next big band and in three years they could be headlining. You just never know. There’s a band called The Exposed that’s on the tour that I really like. They’re kind of like old-sounding, rancid “¦ punk rock ska stuff.
DB: How do you decide which songs to cover?
EL: We all kind of chose songs we enjoy or some songs that are hits. The newest one is we did a cover of Justin Bieber’s song “Baby” because we thought it would be fun. The idea initially came up because of our guitar player Matt Hoopes. His four year-old daughter loves that song and Matt said we should do that because (his) daughter likes it. We’ve (also) been doing “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cindy Lauper.
DB: Relient K opened for Paramore in 2010. What is it like to see bands go through conflict and what advice do you have for bands looking to avoid internal strife?
EL: I think when, at least (in) my experience, members quit … a lot of times there are very valid reasons for it. In my old band, the trumpet player at the time had three kids and a full time job at this church. It was just tough for him to tour, especially financially. At the time we weren’t making much money, so that’s understandable. A lot of time people get so used to and so comfortable with the touring lifestyle, not that it’s glamorous all the time. Sometimes band members get comfortable and forget why they even started. If something better comes along or something that seems better or just being home seems better, they’ll quit. It’s like a marriage, and I’ve been married six years and communication is number one. That’s the same thing with a band. You deal with problems and if you don’t talk about it, it’ll explode at some point. I think communication and respect and love toward one another is huge. If any of those go away, there’s gonna be problems at some point and it may end up with your band breaking up and a bunch of members quitting.