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Relient K Frontman Replaced By A Teenage Girl

Role Matt Thiessen was supposed to play in new video ended up going to young woman.

Oftentimes, when videos make the leap from ink-stained initial treatment to shiny, ready-for-TV final cut, they undergo massive changes. Such is the case with Relient K's new clip, for the song "Who I Am Hates Who I've Been," in which gangly frontman Matt Thiessen underwent a fairly drastic transformation: He became a woman.

Well, not exactly. Seems that somewhere in between the time MTV News spoke with the band at this summer's Warped Tour and the first day of shooting, Thiessen's character in the clip had somehow morphed into a teenage girl in cutoff shorts.

"Yeah, basically, I'm walking down the street, and when I stop, the whole world around me stops, and when I start moving again, everything moves twice as fast," Thiessen explained backstage at the August 12 Warped stop in Camden, New Jersey. "And there's a car crash, and I have to try and save the day. It's cool. You'll see."

We did see the clip, and Thiessen's not walking down the street at all; rather, he and the rest of Relient K are rocking out on a rooftop, while Thiessen's replacement makes her way down a busy sidewalk, seemingly controlling time with her every move. As she walks forward, a woman stumbles and spills a stack of books into the street, a man drops a television set and a boy is hit by a car. But as she stops or backtracks, the action pauses and rewinds.

The whole thing -- including the idea of replacing Thiessen with a teenage girl -- springs from the mind of director Jon Watts, who helmed the bizarre clip for Death Cab for Cutie's "Soul Meets Body" (see [article id="1506653"]"Death Cab For Cutie Admit Magical Forest Video Is 'A Little Weird' "[/article]). But Watts' wild imagination didn't just start running when the film was loaded into the camera; in fact, it was his unique take on the traditional concept of a treatment that won Relient K over in the first place.

"Jon was so excited to do this video that he made this really weird treatment for us. Instead of a normal treatment, he submitted a video camera and videotaped himself explaining how things are going to work," Thiessen said. "We were all kind of watching it going, 'O-kaaay ...' "

So they went with Watts ... and while they didn't end up getting what was initially promised, they've got to be happy with the finished product -- or maybe not. After all, they weren't really big fans of their "Be My Escape" video (see [article id="1506069"]"Relient K Kind Of Like Getting Flipped The Bird"[/article]). In the end, the band just wanted another video, because it gives Capitol Records another reason to send them back out on the road.

"We're going on tour with MxPx and Rufio, starting on October 8 in Ohio, and we're super excited," Thiessen said.

Relient K tour dates, according to Capitol Records:

  • 10/8 - Kings Mills, OH @ Paramount King's Island
  • 10/9 - Whitestown, IN @ Eagle Center
  • 10/11 - Nashville, TN @ Rcktwn
  • 10/13 - Springfield, MO @ Shrine Mosque
  • 10/14 - Grand Prairie, TX @ Nokia Theatre
  • 10/15 - Austin, TX @ Stubb's BBQ
  • 10/16 - Pryor, OK @ Pryor Creek Festival Grounds
  • 10/18 - Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
  • 10/19 - St Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Landing
  • 10/20 - Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
  • 10/21 - Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues
  • 10/22 - Doswell, VA @ Kingswood Amphitheatre
  • 10/23 - Buies Creek, NC @ Saylor Park
  • 10/25 - Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
  • 10/26 - Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
  • 10/27 - Atlantic City, NJ @ House of Blues
  • 10/28 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
  • 10/29 - New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
  • 10/30 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
  • 11/1 - Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus
  • 11/2 - East Lansing, MI @ Michigan St. University
  • 11/3 - Big Rapids, MI @ Wink Arena
  • 11/4 - Detroit, MI @ State Theatre
  • 11/5 - Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
  • 11/6 - Chicago, IL @ Congress Theatre
  • 11/8 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave/ Eagles Club
  • 11/9 - Saint Louis, MO @ The Pageant
  • 11/10 - West Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom
  • 11/11 - Saint Paul, MN @ Roy Wilkins Auditorium
  • 11/12 - Fargo, ND @ Playmaker's
  • 11/14 - Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
  • 11/16 - Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Amphitheatre
  • 11/17 - San Diego, CA @ SOMA
  • 11/18 - Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theater
  • 11/19 - San Luis Obispo, CA @ Cal Poly St. Univ.
  • 11/20 - San Francisco, CA @ SF Weekly Warfield
  • 11/21 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
  • 11/22 - Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
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