Say Anything will be putting on a special record release show to celebrate Anarchy, My Dear on March 12th at The Viper Room in Los Angeles, CA. Check out additional details for the show below by clicking “Read More.”
Related Stories:
Say Anything Stream New Album
Max Bemis Discusses “Admit It Again”
POZ Interview : : Say Anything
PropertyOfZack had the chance to speak with Max Bemis from Say Anything a few weeks ago for a great interview. Max and I discussed the band’s break between albums, changing labels, the possibility of writing and releasing too much material, and other projects. Check it out and enjoy!
Say Anything has been quiet for a while now, longer than usual. But things are finally heating up once again with the album and tour coming soon. Are you pretty excited to see all of that on the horizon?
Yeah, definitely. It was getting to a certain point within the past couple record cycles where we had been doing things non-stop for a really long time. We’ve been working on a lot of stuff behind the scenes for the past couple of years, but we definitely have gotten time to ourselves to be real people for a while. So it’s kind of nice that we had that and now I feel really recharged and ready to get into it. We have a lot of stuff coming up so I’m excited about that.
It does feel like you guys did step away for a while to record that album and all of that and to enjoy life. But was the writing process for this album longer than it has been in the past?
Not really, I think a lot the record came about once we had a label involved and when I knew the kind of record I wanted to make to some degree. It was really inspirational once we started working with EVR. We were already going down a certain road in terms of a direction and the material but once we got the OK and knew we had a label that would support us in that direction it kind of flowed mostly from there. That was still a while ago, but it wasn’t that long ago when we closed the deal with Equal Vision. I’m the type of songwriter that when I know I’m writing for something in particular, even having a deadline, it actually helps me and inspires me, so a lot of the bulk of the record came after that.
The self titled album was poppier than the past few albums before that, and was a change definitely for the band. Fans seemed to be into it overwhelmingly. Are you still proud of that album a few years later?
Yeah, very much so. I’m proud of all our albums, and especially that one. We put in a lot of time and effort into making it what it was. I’m really proud that we got to make a record like that in our career. It was the type of record where we went with a bigger producer and a big mixer and got to record in a bunch of really insane studios and we spared no expense making it. And it was a really cool experience doing that, it’s just not necessarily something I could see myself doing with the next couple of records. I’d like to think that a lot of my favorite bands have records like that. You know, everyone gets to try their hand at it once, making a big pop-crossover record. Thankfully, we made one that wasn’t cheesy, hopefully. It was just poppier and had a more mainstream appeal. We got to keep our integrity and still experiment with that type of production.
This new album, even by name, is more edgy and rough like some older material. Like you said, you enjoyed doing that album, but was it nice to get back to something you might have been more comfortable with?
Very much so. I can’t say which I’m more comfortable with in the long run, but I can definitely say that I don’t even know if I was capable of making another Say Anything record given the circumstances, if it hadn’t gone in this direction. Because there was a few times where we talked about continuing to go with the thread we had begun with the last record and certain situations where we almost would have had to; especially if we had stayed on Sony, if we had stayed on RCA, then we would probably have had to go even poppier. But because we had this time period where we redefined where we were as a band to each other, especially me and Coby. One of the things we decided was that we need to refocus on the longevity of the band. That being said, it was really exciting to sit down and write songs that enveloped classic Say Anything material, stuff that just would be fun for the sake of being who we are as opposed to trying to be something to somebody else. It was mostly like “What are we about? What is the essence to our band? And what means the most to the people that are dedicated to the band?” That was kind of how we went about writing this record so it was really exciting to get back to the nitty gritty of it. And in general, in terms of it being a rougher, more angry record, I think that was also really fun to write because it’s kind of the stuff I felt like should come out at the time.
Say Anything are currently in the process of shooting a new music video for their new single, “Say Anything.” You can check out a tweet from Max Bemis below by clicking “Read More.”
Say Anything’s new record is called Anarchy, My Dear, and frontman Max Bemis has written up a new essay to discuss his views on “anarchy” and how important of a concept it is for him. You can read the full essay below by clicking “Read More.”
Say Anything’s Max Bemis has started a new record label called Rory Records that will be an imprint of Equal Vision Records. Tallhart is the label’s first signing and their new EP was produced by Max Bemis, Tim McTague (Underoath), and Dean Tidey (Feeder). You can read a press release for the announcement below by clicking “Read More.”
Two Tongues have remained relatively silent since they released their 2009 debut via Vagrant Records, but Max Bemis has confirmed that they will eventually be recording a follow-up album. Check out a tweet from Bemis below by clicking “Read More.”
A family that recently received a Song Shop track from Max Bemis of Say Anything was kind enough to share it with the world. The track is called “This Year” and you can stream it below by clicking “Read More.”
Daytrader
Twelve Years
Mixtapes
Somewhere In Trinsic
mewithoutYou
Ten Stories
Citizen|Turnover
Split 7"
