Matt Thiessen

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Matt Thiessen bigraphy, stories - Musician

Matt Thiessen : biography

August 12, 1980 –

Matthew Arnold Thiessen (born August 12, 1980) is a Canadian-American musician, known for being co-founder, lead singer, guitarist, pianist, and primary songwriter for the Christian rock band Relient K. With Relient K, he has released seven full-length albums, including three that were certified Gold, and three that peaked in the top twenty on the Billboard 200. Outside of his work with Relient K, Thiessen maintains a low-profile side project called Matthew Thiessen and the Earthquakes. In 2009, he co-produced and collaborated on Owl City’s album Ocean Eyes. He co-manages an imprint of Gotee, Mono Vs Stereo, along with Matt Hoopes. He has done guest vocals for Deas Vail, John Reuben, Owl City, The Fold, and Run Kid Run, to name a few. He also works as a producer, along with Mark Lee Townsend.

Musical career

Relient K

Thiessen founded Relient K in 1998, with guitarist Matt Hoopes, and bassist Brian Pittman,

and recorded the demo All Work & No Play the same year. The recording attracted the interest of Toby McKeehan who signed the band to his label Gotee Records. Between the years 2000 and 2003, Gotee released three full-length albums, one Christmas album, and four EPs with Relient K. In 2004, their fourth album Mmhmm was released on both Capitol Records and Gotee, and peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard 200. After recording another EP in 2005, Mmhmm and Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do, their 2003 album, were certified gold, followed by their 2001 album The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek in 2006. In 2007, Gotee, Capitol, and EMI released Relient K's fifth studio album, Five Score and Seven Years Ago, which peaked at number six on the Billboard 200. After the release of the double EP The Bird and the Bee Sides in 2008, the band signed with Gotee's Mono Vs. Stereo imprint, on which they released their sixth studio album, Forget and Not Slow Down, again reaching the top twenty of the Billboard 200. Thiessen and the other members of Relient K have taken up A&R positions for the label as part of the record deal. 

For all of Relient K’s history, Thiessen has been the lead vocalist, frontman, guitarist, primary songwriter, and sometime co-producer. Because of this position of musical leader, he maintains the most creative and artistic control of the band members. He has also been credited with piano in most releases, beginning with The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek in 2001. Since the release of Mmhmm in 2004, his piano playing started becoming more prominent, and he began including a piano onstage as well.

Solo projects and collaborations

In addition to being in Relient K, Thiessen plays in his own solo piano project called Matthew Thiessen and the Earthquakes. The project has released a total of five songs on various samplers and compilation albums from Gotee and Mono Vs. Stereo, and several songs written for the project have been re-recorded on Relient K releases. In 2010, after the release and supporting tour of Forget and Not Slow Down, Thiessen announced that he would begin work on a full length solo album.

 Although he had previously expressed interest in recording a studio release, he had placed his priority on Relient K, and relegated his solo work to his free time. 

Thiessen has occasionally collaborated with Jon Foreman of Switchfoot. After initial interest in recording vocals for a Switchfoot song, it instead worked out for Foreman to contribute vocals for the Relient K song "Deathbed" from Five Score and Seven Years Ago.

 He later contributed songwriting and vocals to the Switchfoot release "Rebuild" in 2007, in conjunction for the Appetite for Construction Tour. 

In 2009, he contributed vocals, songwriting, and production to Owl City’s major-label debut Ocean Eyes, which has sold over 1,500,000 copies worldwide and reached the top ten on the Billboard 200.