Matthew "Matt" Ryan Hoopes is an American musician, guitarist, singer, and songwriter, most known as the lead guitarist of

Relient K Relient K is an American rock band formed in 1998 in Canton, Ohio, by Matt Thiessen, Matt Hoopes, and Brian Pittman Board Message during the band members' third year in high school and their time at Malone University. The band is named after ...

. Hoopes has played lead guitar and provided backing vocals for Relient K since 1998 and is one of two constant members of the band, the other being lead vocalist

Matt Thiessen Matthew Arnold Thiessen (born August 12, 1980) is a Canadian-American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer known for being co-founder, lead singer, guitarist, pianist, and primary songwriter for the Christian rock band Relient K. Wit ...

Biography

Along with

and Brian Pittman, Hoopes co-founded the band during his junior year of high school at

Canton McKinley High School McKinley Senior High School is a public high school in Canton, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Canton City School District and has two campuses: Downtown Campus (mostly known as Early College High School or Timken High ...

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

. He met Thiessen when they were in the Church choir together in second grade. Matt Thiessen once said in the book ''The Complex Infrastructure Known as the Female Mind'' that Hoopes and Brian Pittman were the athletes in high school, and while they were friends with Thiessen, they were also probably considered cooler than Thiessen. While lead singer Matt Thiessen writes almost every song, Hoopes wrote the songs "Those Words Are Not Enough", "Don't Blink", "You'll Always Be My Best Friend", and "Candlelight".

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...

, also a native of Canton, is subject of their song " My Girlfriend" although they are not acquainted. MattHoopes

Relient K was named after Hoopes' car, the

Plymouth Reliant The Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries are mid size cars introduced for model year 1981 as the first " K-cars" manufactured and marketed by the Chrysler Corporation. The Reliant and Aries were the smallest cars to have the traditional 6 passeng ...

K. When they started in 1998, Hoopes originally did not want to do any singing in the band. However, Matt Thiessen pushed him to do it, saying that he had a great voice. Hoopes has been the primary backing vocalist for the band ever since. Besides playing for Relient K, Hoopes has also done backup vocals for certain Matthew Thiessen and the Earthquakes songs, and has been a guest guitarist at concerts for the band My Red Hot Nightmare. Hoopes has said he is currently learning to play lapsteel, which would probably be used for the band. While the band refers to him as "Blanche" to keep from confusing the two Matts, some fans refer to him as "Matty H", or just "Hoopes". Matt Thiessen has said that they can either usually tell who is being asked for when someone says "Matt", or they tend to use a lot of last names. Matt Hoopes normally plays his guitar in one position (as seen in the picture on the left), so much so that certain fans have called it the "Classic Hoopes Stance". He has said he enjoys root beer and playing golf. For several months in 2010, Matt Hoopes did not travel with Relient K. However, he remained very active as a team member and band-mate. He still practiced with the band and managed their record label, Mono Vs Stereo. He produced ''

Deas Vail Deas Vail () was an alternative rock band whose lyrics are influenced by their members' Christian faith. The band's name is a combination of Latin and old French, roughly translated as "humble servant of God." Their eponymous third full-length ...

'' for the

Mono vs Stereo Mono vs Stereo is an independent record label based in Franklin, Tennessee. It was founded in 2003 as an imprint of Gotee Records. While Gotee signs mostly rap, hip-hop, and pop-rock artists, Mono vs Stereo leaned more towards indie music. Hi ...

label. Hoopes resumed touring with Relient K in May 2011, as he performed with the band for their acoustic concerts before the

Vans Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...

Personal life

Hoopes was married and then divorced. In May 2017, Hoopes announced through Instagram that he was now married by posting a picture of his wife with the caption Wifewatch, and she confirmed by changing her last name on Instagram to Hoopes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoopes, Matt Living people 1981 births American performers of Christian music Relient K members American rock guitarists American male guitarists Lead guitarists Musicians from Canton, Ohio Guitarists from Ohio