James Montgomery - MTV.com

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 “Death Cab For Cutie Admit Magical Forest Video Is ‘A Little Weird’ “). 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 “Relient K Kind Of Like Getting Flipped The Bird”). 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