Rilo Kiley

Rilo Kiley performed their first concert at Spaceland in Los Angeles in January 1998.[2] Their debut EP, Rilo Kiley (later reissued as The Initial Friend EP), was released in 1999. The band signed with independent label Barsuk Records for its first full-length album, Take-Offs and Landings, in 2001. The band later signed with Omaha's Saddle Creek Records and released The Execution of All Things in 2002. In 2004, it released More Adventurous on its own imprint, Brute/Beaute Records, which was distributed by major label Warner Bros. Records. 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 The Postal Service's Give Up. 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's Heatseekers Chart, and was promoted with appearances on 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 band's fourth album Under the Blacklight was released August 20, 2007 in the United Kingdom[3] and the following day in the United States.[4] Its first single is "The Moneymaker". For the video, the band cast "real-life porn stars", who Lewis says were told they were auditioning for "soft core porn".[5] The second single is "Silver Lining".

On September 6, 2007, the band began a North American tour in support of Under the Blacklight. On this tour, it was joined by Orenda Fink (of Azure Ray) and Kristin Gundred (of Grand Ole Party and Dum Dum Girls).

The group was 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. In 2007, the band contributed a t-shirt, which was designed by de Reeder for the Yellow Bird Project to benefit the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund.[6]

2004 live performance

The apparent first use of Rilo Kiley music on a television show was also the last time that Sennett and Lewis acted on television. In 2000, they played fictionalized versions of themselves on ABC's short-lived drama Once & Again, with the band also performing "The Frug" on the episode. Since then, the band's music has been used multiple times across several television programs.

• Both "The Frug" and "85" were used during an episode of Dawson's Creek, "Barefoot At Capefest" (S03E46).
• "Pictures of Success" was used in episode No. 114 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, entitled "Older and Far Away".
• "Breakin' Up" was featured in season four of Grey's Anatomy.
• "Portions For Foxes" was used in the pilot of Grey's Anatomy in 2005. In 2009, the song was used in the seventh episode of season one of Dollhouse, "Echoes". In 2023, the song was used in an episode of Barry, entitled "Tricky legacies".
• "With Arms Outstretched" was used at the end of the pilot episode of Weeds in 2005. To bring the show full circle, it was the final song played in the series finale in 2012. For a second-season episode of Weeds, Lewis sang the theme song ("Little Boxes") with Johnathan Rice, who was touring with the band.
• "Silver Lining" was featured in the pilot of Women's Murder Club. The song was also used in the second season of Girls.
• "The Moneymaker" was used on an episode of Nip/Tuck that aired on December 11, 2007, and on an episode of Samantha Who? that aired on April 16, 2009.
• "The Good That Won't Come Out" was featured in the background of the Season 4 Episode 4 episode of Heroes "Hysterical Blindness" on 10/12/2009.
• "A Better Son/Daughter" was featured in the trailer for the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black. It is also featured at the end of Hannah Gadsby's 2018 Netflix special, Nanette.
• "The Execution Of All Things" was featured in the Six Feet Under episode "Terror Starts at Home" (S04E06).
• "Go Ahead" was featured throughout the 2013 film Very Good Girls.

On the syndicated radio show Loveline in August 2005, Sennett explained that he had a dream in which he was being chased by a sports almanac: "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?"[13]

In 2005, Sennett told the teletext magazine Planet Sound that the name came from a Scottish athlete. On a 2005 episode of the MSNBC entertainment show MSNBC Entertainment Hot List, the female host stated that the name came from "old Scottish sports almanacs". In the interview segment that followed, Sennett stated "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, Sennett stated that Rilo Kiley is named after a character he'd met in a dream who had predicted the date of Jenny Lewis' death.

Final line-up

• Jenny Lewis – lead vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar, bass (1998–2013)
• Blake Sennett – lead guitar, keyboards, backing and occasional lead vocals (1998–2013)
• Pierre de Reeder – bass, rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals (1998–2013)
• Jason Boesel – drums, percussion (2001–2013)

Former members

• Dave Rock – drums, percussion (1998–2001)
• Mike Bloom – pedal steel, additional guitars (2004–2005)

• Take Offs and Landings (2001)
• The Execution of All Things (2002)
• More Adventurous (2004)
• Under the Blacklight (2007)

• "The Frug" (1999, directed by Morgan J. Freeman)
• "Wires and Waves" (2001 unreleased, 2007 released, directed by Morgan J. Freeman)
• "Bulletproof" (2001, directed by Liam Lynch)
• "Portions for Foxes" (2004, directed by Brian Lazzaro)
• "It's a Hit" (2005, directed by Andrew Bruntel, Matt Enlow)
• "The Moneymaker" (2007, directed by Autumn de Wilde)
• "Silver Lining" (2007, directed by Autumn de Wilde)
• "Let Me Back In" (2013, directed by Rilo Kiley)
• "Emotional" (2013, directed by Austin Nagler)

• Jenny Lewis / Blake Sennett / Jason Boesel
• Bright Eyes
• The Postal Service
• The Elected
• Mike Bloom
• Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins
• The Watson Twins
• Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
• Johnathan Rice
• Jenny and Johnny
• Night Terrors of 1927
• Nice as Fuck

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rilo Kiley.

• Official site
• http://www.scenepointblank.com/news/splits/rilo-kiley-no-longer-on-hiatus-but-broken-up
• Rilo Kiley discography at Discogs
• Rilo Kiley discography at MusicBrainz