RILO KILEY

'Rilo Kiley' is a Los Angeles-based alternative rock band. Band members include Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder and Jason Boesel.

Contents

History

Origin of the band's name

Band members

Discography

See also

External links

History

Fronted by former child actors Lewis (''Troop Beverly Hills'', ''The Wizard'') and Sennett (''Salute Your Shorts'', ''Boy Meets World''), the band originally signed with Barsuk Records, an independent label, for their first full-length album, ''Take-Offs and Landings'', in 2001. Rilo Kiley went on to sign with Omaha's Saddle Creek Records and released ''The Execution of All Things'' in 2002. In 2004, they released ''More Adventurous'' on their own imprint, Brute/Beaute Records, which was distributed by major label Warner Bros.. The band later signed directly with Warner Bros.
2004 saw a great increase in recognition for the band, as Sennett and Boesel released an album with their band The Elected and Lewis sang backup on Ben Gibbard's indie electronic Death Cab for Cutie side project The Postal Service. Lewis toured with The Postal Service before heading out on two tours in support of Rilo Kiley's ''More Adventurous'' in the summer and fall of 2004. The album spent late 2004 high on Billboard Magazine's Heatseekers Chart, and promoted with high-visibility appearances on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live. The band opened for Bright Eyes on the international leg of Conor Oberst's tour for 2005's ''I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning'' and was the opening act for the North American dates of Coldplay's Twisted Logic Tour in Fall 2005. "I Never" and "Ripchord" (from ''More Adventurous)'' have been featured in several feature films, including ''Must Love Dogs'', ''Conversations with Other Women'', and ''John Tucker Must Die''.
The group's songs have frequently been used on television programs, such as ''The O.C.'' and ''Dawson's Creek''. Both "The Frug" and "85" were used during a third season episode of ''Dawson's Creek'' (#46, "Barefoot At Capefest"). Commenting on this, Lewis said, "We felt honored and grateful to have our music on a show with the integrity and credibility that Dawson's Creek has so rightly earned. We feel proud also that they chose to play our songs during such poignant points in the episode." [1] "Pictures of Success" was used in episode #114 of ''Buffy The Vampire Slayer'', entitled "Older and Far Away", and in 2005, "Portions For Foxes" was used in the pilot of ''Grey's Anatomy'' while "With Arms Outstretched" was used in the pilot of ''Weeds''.
The group is also known for its charitable contributions, particularly to the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund, in honor of the late singer and friend of the band. Sennett and Lewis participated in a memorial concert for the singer shortly after his death in 2003. Bassist Pierre de Reeder contributed a t-shirt design to the Yellow Bird Project and the band chose to direct the funds to the Elliott Smith memorial fund. Sennett and Lewis also contributed to the 2005 UNICEF benefit song, "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?".
The band's fourth album, titled ''Under the Blacklight'', was released August 20, 2007 in the United Kingdom[2] and the following day in the United States.[3] The first single from ''Blacklight'' is "The Moneymaker". For "The Moneymaker" video, Rilo cast "real-life porn stars", who Lewis says were told they were auditioning for "soft core porn."[4] The band has announced a North American tour in support of ''Blacklight''. On this tour they will be joined by Orenda Fink (of Azure Ray) and Kristin Gundred (of Grand Ole Party)
Rilo Kiley will be on the 33rd season premiere of Saturday Night Live on September 29, 2007.

Origin of the band's name

Over time, the group members and fans of Rilo Kiley have speculated and asserted many different, and conflicting, stories that explain the origin of the name "Rilo Kiley." It is pronounced with long I's where rilo is like "High-Low" and kiley is like "Smiley." Since there is no official explanation of the name, speculation continues.

★ On the syndicated radio show Loveline in August 2005, Sennett explained that he had a dream where he was being chased by a sports almanac and "when it got me, I leafed through it...and I came upon an Australian-rules football player from the 19th century named Rilo Kiley, it's kind of embarrassing." When asked by co-host Drew Pinsky if he had ever seen this name in reality, Sennett said "I don't think so, I don't think that character exists...If you Google 'Rilo Kiley' you just come back with a lot of pictures of us." On how this imaginary name became the name for the band: "I wrote it down on a blotter, an office desk when I woke up, and, I don't know, I came back to it when we were trying to think of a name and we thought we'd use that for one show then change it, 'cause who'd want that name? Who can remember that anyway?" [5]

★ In 2005, Blake told Planet Sound Teletext Magazine that the name came from a Scottish athlete.

★ On a 2005 episode of the MSNBC entertainment show Hotlist, the female host states that the name "Rilo Kiley" comes from "old Scottish sports almanacs." In the interview segment that follows, Sennett states, "We just looked in there and the name of one of the star players from the turn of the century was Rilo Kiley."

★ In an interview published in Q magazine in September 2007, Blake has this explanation: "Rilo Kiley is named after a character he'd met in a dream who had predicted the date of Jenny Lewis's death."

Band members

★ Jenny Lewis (vocals, keyboards, guitar)

★ Blake Sennett (guitar, vocals)

★ Pierre de Reeder (bass guitar, keyboards, vocals)

★ Jason Boesel (drums, percussion)
'Former members'

★ Dave Rock (drums, percussion)

Discography

Main articles: Rilo Kiley discography


★ ''Take-Offs and Landings'' (2001)

★ ''The Execution of All Things'' (2002)

★ ''More Adventurous'' (2004)

★ ''Under the Blacklight'' (2007)

See also

★ The Elected

★ The Postal Service

★ Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins

External links

★ Rilo Kiley's Official website (Requires Macromedia Flash)

★ RKNet - Rilo Kiley multimedia and information

★ Filter Magazine interview with the band

★ Platforms Magazine interview with the band

★ All Music Guide entry for Rilo Kiley

★ Lazy-i Interview: October 2002

★ Lazy-i Interview: September 2004

★ Rilo Kiley MySpace

★ Rilo Kiley at DAZ

★ Under The Blacklight Review

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